Today's beer can found me still struggling to achieve some critical mass in my crew. Almost half of our people this afternoon had not sailed with us this season. But the real problem is with my pessimism. I have forgotten how quickly the younger set learn what has to be done and pitches in to find their role in their team's work. My key recruiting criterion has become that they just have to be physical fit amphibians.
Such is the case with this afternoon. A new main sheet trimmer materialized before my eyes. (Unfortunately, IT-Man goes on vacation in a week.) And, with my Spinnaker Maestro in Hawaii, we promoted a recent addition who has become a regular to the bow: Kiteboarder was a quick learner as a spinnaker trimmer. We had one returning guest who serves ably as Morale Officer. And a one-time guest, White Water Woman, was also put to important work in spinnaker retrieval and photography roles. So my crew of irregulars was happily kept busy.
Especially so today. Winds steady at 14-15 knots. Very close encounters with the Ranger-33 and the C&C-41. Just to mention a few! And not to mention the day's real hair-raiser: my really dramatic swerve into our slip while I was micro-managing IT-Man's rigging of a dock line. Das Boot survived, with her fresh new paint intact, finishing 10th out of 17 and correcting down to 13th. But that's not the bottom line.
We had a great sail and a great party in the bar with other crews afterwards. Sometimes a good wind is almost as good as a good win.
Such is the case with this afternoon. A new main sheet trimmer materialized before my eyes. (Unfortunately, IT-Man goes on vacation in a week.) And, with my Spinnaker Maestro in Hawaii, we promoted a recent addition who has become a regular to the bow: Kiteboarder was a quick learner as a spinnaker trimmer. We had one returning guest who serves ably as Morale Officer. And a one-time guest, White Water Woman, was also put to important work in spinnaker retrieval and photography roles. So my crew of irregulars was happily kept busy.
Especially so today. Winds steady at 14-15 knots. Very close encounters with the Ranger-33 and the C&C-41. Just to mention a few! And not to mention the day's real hair-raiser: my really dramatic swerve into our slip while I was micro-managing IT-Man's rigging of a dock line. Das Boot survived, with her fresh new paint intact, finishing 10th out of 17 and correcting down to 13th. But that's not the bottom line.
We had a great sail and a great party in the bar with other crews afterwards. Sometimes a good wind is almost as good as a good win.
It was a perfect day: warm, windy & wet. You should consider that you finished 10th out of 21 boats. Four additional boats did not compete. It could only be because they couldn't muster crew.
ReplyDeleteBeer can racing is sort of an adult remedial educational school of sailing. For many this replaces the absence of a sailing experience in their youth. In our fleet especially, everyone sails instructionally with an uncertified crew. With crew who will gradually graduate. Get used to it. Way itsupposedtobe...
ReplyDeleteA good wind is indeed as good as a good win. Venit, natio nationis, perfectus: You came, you raced, you finished. That should be happiness.
ReplyDeleteYou ought to see it out there right now. Has to be a steady 15 knots + !! The sun's out. And there must be a gazillion of boats out there and it's not even Wednesday. I don't understand why people who live here, even if they can afford to, go away on vacation. Why leave paradise? In the summer?
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