Apr 02 2007
My First Sailboat Race
So I have had my San Juan 21 “Limpet” for a couple of winter months and had only sailed it once. With the cherry blossoms on the trees and the promise of summer in the air I have been jonesing to venture back to the water. So with more optimism than sense I rounded up some crew and headed for the first sailboat race of my life. I caught up with San Juan 21 Fleet 1 on Elliot bay for a day of fun framed by the Seattle skyline. My stout hearted crew with questionable decision making abilities was my good friend Ken. (Quick story on Ken… He is married to a great gal named Heidi and around my house we often refer to “Ken and Heidi.” My son, who has not picked up on the finer point of conjunctions, has taken to calling him “Kenand.”) Together Ken and I set forth some objectives for the adventure.
- No falling off the Boat
- No getting clocked by the boom
- No demonic possessions
Other than that we figured anything else must qualify as a success.
At the launch ramp the comedy of errors truly began. I couldn’t remember how half the rigging went, and when we finally did get the mast up, it was only to immediately drop it again so I could attach the wind indicator. When we finally got things together I headed for the ramp and was almost in the water when Chris (one of the best, most experienced sailors in the fleet) reminded me to crank up my keel. Slightly embarrassed, I quickly moved to crank the keel off the trailer when the true shenanigans began. “Wow I don’t remember the keel being this hard to crank, I wonder what…?” SNAP! The keel cable breaks like cheap (stainless steel) dental floss.
Now I am sure we are done for the day. I quickly tell Chris what happened, and he points out that it is very difficult to fix the cable with the keel up, and that If I can get the boat off the trailer it might be OK to race and then fix the cable. So I borrowed a large pair of vice grips and clamped off what was remaining of the keel cable hoping it would allow me to launch… it did. With the boat in deep water I crossed my fingers and let go the vice grips. Wooooohhh BOOOOM!!! I seriously thought the bottom of the boat would rip out. Note to self, “better to deal with the difficulties of fixing cables while up rather than risk sinking my boat.” Any how, with the keel down, we might as well get in some sailboat racing.
Of course the freefall of the keel has completely bent the stop bolt, and I can’t line up the keel bolt. Who needs a keel bolt anyhow… (some later post I will describe how this leads to sunkenSan Juan 21’s). It is 15 minutes to race time, and it is time to get on the course.
The outboard doesn’t start.
Shine it… we can sail away from the dock and worry about staring the outboard when we need to come back. (For my next trick I will just jump out of an airplane with a bolt of silk and a needle.)
Through all of this Ken never once raised an eyebrow or said “Hmmm you sure that is a good idea?”
We hit the course just in time for the first race count down, and then it was off to the races. The first race we came in dead last, but as the wind picked up and we figure out a little more about the boat we got better and better. We didn’t cross the finish line last again in 5 races. It was as fun as I hoped it would be. After the race the outboard fired right up…
On returning to the dock I immediately had Chris and Stephen in my tiny cabin with spare keel cable and pullies. I was blown away by the support handed out by these near strangers. I knew at that moment I had selected the right boat, with the right community. It is a moment I will carry with me for a long time. The keel was quickly fixed and Limpet back on her trailer. I look forward to the next race.
Special props to Ken for being such a salty mate through such a trying day!