The tide was so low that morning that the bottom of the river was uncovered near the marina. The mud was trying to dry in the early sun. The dock was empty. I knew a few people who were going to do this race, I guess it was too early. I dressed up as if I was going skiing, and started preparing the boat. Installed my proudly home made lazy jacks and started to unroll the main sail into them. Wow, I was sweating after 2 minutes… So I removed some layers, I was not really going to ski anyway! This main is heavy, let me tell you that. Then I removed the intruments cover, the tiller cover and started the engine, with my other hands’ fingers crossed! It worked!!! Yoohoo!!!

At 8am, I was leaving the dock. Stuck in the mud because of the particularly low tide, it was not as pretty as usual. I managed to back up the wrong way (that prop pitch just wins over the rudder when mud is involved…) and u-turn around. That was the start of the adventure.

Winds were 10 to 15 kt out of the north turning to north east during the day. I thought hard about raising the sails to get some practice on the way to the rudder club. But motoring out there in an icesicle position, I had to remove my sailing gloves because the tip of my index and my thumb were frozen. When I put on the big mittains, the sailing option had frozen too. I kept looking back to see if anyone was following… no. The only other boat I saw was Ted, coming from the Navy Jax marina. We arrived at the rudder club at the same time. We were the first ones. Docking by myself at the rudder club was worrying me a little bit, but it went fine. As long as you line up that board against the mean pilling, nothing gets a scratch. Fiew!

Bill, who was in charge of the race, eventually arrived. The other boats too. We were 14 people registered. 3 of which were flying scotts and 1 lazer. At the skipper’s meeting, Bill announced that this was only the second time that a woman participated in the 18 years that this race has happened. The course was announced to be Start (E) – G5 – G7 – G9 – finish (E), all to starboard (approx. 8 miles). So everyone hurried to their boats, and here we went.

I motored off and raised my mainsail. Without a mast person, it takes some time and effort! I was able to raise it by hand until the last 2-3 feet, I had to winch the rest. Then the #3 jib, this one was much easier. I was so happy that the winds were strong enough for me to justify using the #3 that day! The #1 is so much harder to tack…

I made a few tacks around the start line area to get comfortable. I was surprised how easy it was to tack that jib. I had learned a trick at the Christmas party the night before the race. Dave Whites told me an easy way to figure out which end of the starting line is favored. You sail on the line and trim your main perfectly, then you turn around and sail on the line the other way around without adjusting your mainsail. If it is undertrimmed (luffing), the end in front of you is favored, if it is overtrimmed (too full), the end behind you is favored. Magic trick, I quickly figured out that the port end (the pin) was favored. Dave had also told me how the port starts are sometimes beneficial. I told him that I was not going to do it on that race because I did not think I would be quick enough at tacking in front of the crowd. Well, I did it anyway, just because there was too much traffic on the other end of the line. And it worked!!! I was the first boat on the line (almost over early, I had to fall off for a few seconds!) and I blew by everybody. I was ahead of the fleet for the first ¼ of the race. Then Whisper caught up with me because I went too close to the middle of the river where stronger currents were against me. I realized it while looking at a crabtrap… I hate them usually, but that day it was helpful! While we were heading towards G5, I was happy that Whisper was ahead, because I was not sure where the mark was. I had a GPS, but it was a little too far inside the boat. Whisper is faster than me on a closehaul. He was going away slowly, but he had his #1 genoa up. So when a good gust came along, he did not reach the main sheet quick enough, he rounded completely! His genoa popped the wrong way around, he was not able to come back. He had to let it go, tack and bring it back around. I’m sure he was not happy, this sail takes a long time to winch! I know because by the time he did all that, I had gotten closer and closer to him! I could almost see him sweat!!! Ok, not that much… but was I happy with my #3? Oh yeah!!! We tacked around G5 and headed to G7, then G9. This leg was a beam – broad reach. Sometimes I think I was gaining on him, sometimes not… It was tight. But the last leg, from G9 to the finish, was a running leg. That’s where he was happy with his #1… And I was not too fast with my #3… So I he gained enough on me to win… by 2 minutes 44 seconds. Not bad for my first single hand race! (Whisper is a C&C 38, with a handicap of 114, Salsa Verde’s handicap is 135. So he owed me 21 seconds per mile…) clic to see results.

Whisper and I sailed back to Julington Creek together on a broad reach under the nice warmer afternoon sun. It would have been fun to wait for the results at the Rudder Club, but the rest of the fleet was so far behind I would probably have had to come back after sunset! And I don’t mind docking by myself, but it’s safer in daylight Plus, why put the sails down, and up, and down again… too much work…

This day was a memorable one for me and for all the little muscles that I feel now and did not even know existed! Thanks mother nature for such perfect sailing conditions. The cold morning just made it a better adventure!
Watch for me next year… I’ll be prepared!

Magalie

VIDEO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Part 1 : Preparation

Part 2 : Racing