Out of Retirement...I'm not dead yet

I had the good fortune to sail in the Puget Sound Sailing Championships (PSSC) a few weeks ago. This is a buoy regatta for keelboats held at Shilshole Bay in Seattle , with over 100 boats in attendance. This regatta has a reputation of being one of the best - good race committee, tight rating bands, and good close short course racing, you do well at PSSC, and you know you’ve earned it.

In the late ‘80’s early 90’s I sailed in the event every year, it was the end of the season for our boat – even though we always qualified for Grand Prix, we rarely sailed it- but that’s another story. Racing on the Laser those years was a total treat – we had fantastic crew work, the folks in the back of the boat were brilliant, I did foredeck – I hustled and worked hard to make sure we could do anything called for… gybe set, no prob – fake gybe, bring it on….windward douse- you betcha. It was a 28 footer with a fractional rig – something that a 30 year old guy who sailed 5 nights a week could horse through when the going got tough. The bow was elegantly rigged, I had control of topper, foreguy and with the pole stored on the boom, no worries about being clear to tack. … we did well, we frequently were first, and usually would win our class.

I left the world of keelboat racing about 10 years ago, and have been putting my toe in the water a bit here and there, I helped a friend out with a Ranger 22 on Bainbridge a few years ago ( I had a blast with that program) , did Center Sound when Kelly O’Neil died so I could throw daffodils at Blakely Rock, and have a 25 foot Santana525 that we play around with at Duck Dodge – but I haven’t really gone whole hog , until…..this year.

I got the e-mail in early October – from a friend who was wondering if I’d sail... one thing led to another, and I signed on for the weekend…The boat was an Olson 911S…the same type of boat that the Laser had had a dickens of a fight with… Steamer…….I was ready for the challenge !

All week long I looked at the weather, Fog, no wind , Fog, ARGGGHHHH !!!!!!!!! Emails were flying, Sailing Anarchy checked, I turned down three other rides… I was looking forward to sailing with compadres – Derek, the owner – super smart guy with a great wit, Fritz – my old neighbor, and a great friend who has a way of bringing out the best in me. Teri, a gal who I had only met once, and Phil- for Saturday-some dude who I knew nothing about.


Saturday morning …Fog, fog and more fog……I take the dog for a walk and think about putting a glow stick on her tail so I know where she is…………. I hit Starbucks for coffee and the Cell rings – Fritz is on his way, can he give me a ride ? I head back home, and I put my duffle in the middle of the street… I think of all of those going off to Soccer….I sip my coffee and smile…I get to go racing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We head down to the boat on “P” dock, as in pea soup…..Derek is in full lightening mode…”don’t think we are going to need the Number Three….” Soon a conga line is formed as we take multiple trips to the container…oh wait we are a low budget campaign, so the container is Fritz’s Prius, which is soon stuffed to the gills.

Its foggy, lots of moisture in the air – yet we all try to dry off the decks of the boat, but when any of us step on it it just gets dirty again…..and the toweling off begins all over again. Teri arrives with provisions - beer is prioritized, with Red Stripes and Stellas staying, lesser brews are placed in the dock box…as we hang out and wait, a Melges 32 next to us is being tinkered with by a very busy assembly of guys wearing TP 52 Glory togs…Scott Smith (who I haven’t seen in 12 years – but hasn’t changed) is directing the troops…tape measures are hoisted, crew is hoisted, numbers checked, “half a turn off the D2……blah blah blah…….Tuning is not my stong point, I like to “set and forget”…..Derek chats up the owner – “Philippe (Kahn) is getting it going on the west coast, especially since the boats are getting affordable we should see some traction” I think to myself…affordable ????? Ante has to be at least 150K, and then the care and feeding has to be something like 25 K per event……but then that says something about the whole racing culture. Back when I last sailed PSSC on the Laser, the class we were sailing in would have been on the bubble to be the last fleet North Big Boat course , or the first class on the south small boat course… now , our rating band was third in the small boat course, and boats that used to be in the middle of the big boat course were now down south… boats are getting bigger , faster, and more expensive, but those of us in the back are still having as much fun, just writing smaller checks.

Next it was a stroll up to CYC to make sure there were no changes to the race instructions, and to check out the scene…not much action, see a couple of familiar faces, smile and give them a nod……. After a quick chat with the RC to confirm nothing was going on until the fog lifted it was time to make the first good call of the regatta – Head off to Salmon Bay Café for breakfast. …too much fun hanging out over a bacon & cheese ommlette just talking about stuff – last nights concert (Mozart) , Fritz and his travel stories of the wild frontier of Oregon, other sailing stories. Soon it was time to wrap up and head back to the boat, the check arrives, and the high finance starts – exacerbated by the fact that Derek has forgotten his wallet. 20’s change hands, fives are past around, a ten here and there…some how I put 20 in, and ended up with 25 in change…bills are passed around again…tip is left and we’re all square…except the pesky owner , but we all know where he lives. Don’t even ask about the sweatshirt transaction…I’m sure it was a ponzi scheme somehow. Then there also was that trip to the grocery store on Sunday, but I digress…..

P dock still is shrouded in gray, but much like Elvis, the Meleges has left the building. Taking their cue, we cast off and head out to throw up the sails and see what we can do. As we go by CYC, both RC boats are showing now signs of moving, so this will be solely a tuning extravaganza. Past the breakwater, and visibility is about 100 yards at best, and a ominous fog horn is heard coming from the west, but the Sun is really working hard to poke through, golden gardens and the turning leaves are seen….the breeze is about 3 to 5, the sails go up, and we cruise around – a little sail trim here, but nothing to constructive…but lots of good conversation, Weather its about music, relationships, or just gossiping about boats – I am so happy. We see the Melges heading back in, but we stay out a bit longer- another Stella please ! Eventually its decided to call it a day, and hit the REI sale – me, I go home , play with the dog, work through the punch list of chores and get ready for a fancy pants party that night. Fritz is staying with me, and he rolls in takes a shower and we head off to a lovely birthday party at Wild Ginger. As we get into my car, both of us nattily attired in our sport coats, sweaters and slacks I think to myself “boy this looks gay” (not that there’s anything wrong with that)….After dinner the party migrates to the Triple Door for an evening of dancing to Soul Provider – a great band with strong vocals and strong horns. Its like the old days of going to see Duffy Bishop & the Rhythm Dogs at the Owl. The rest of the crew joins up with us and there are smiles all around…did I say I was happy ? The evening ends as we walk through the streets of Downtown Seattle at 1 AM, I feel connected to my city, I look around at all of the buildings I’ve worked in, all of the memories, all of my friends, the party, the prospect of racing, things just feel right .

Is it Sunday morning already ? Same as Saturday, Foggy, no wind…..rinse lather & repeat. We head down to the boat, I fully expect not to race, that we’ll hang around, have breakfast, wait until Noon or so and call it a day. So….I bring the dog. We walk around Shilshole, her tail is going 100 mph…. Noon rolls around, and the AP flag goes down…WERE GOING RACING !!!!!!!!! Dog goes into the car, windows open, I say goodbye, and eagerly cast off.

It’s turned out to be a gorgeous afternoon, wind is 10 to 14 from the south, flat water….up goes the medium 1, boy that’s a bigger sail than I’m used too..oh right it’s a masthead…..Derek drives, Fritz does main, that means Teri and I do everything else. We quickly try to come up with an arrangement for releasing, tailing and grinding. We knock off a couple of tacks… on the first one I release and come across to grind and skirt. The adrennelin is rushing, I come across , miss my foothold and partially pass through the lifelines, bash my leg , and chew up my hand….but get the jib in , rush to the high side and take stock. …I’m not the Kid I used to be…got to think more, got to realize my boots aren’t gripping, got to keep in control….poise is key. Another tack, lets get this one right. We go through it OK…When I sail I want to do things with hustle and efficiency, and smoothness -we’re not just messing around -those guys over there might correct out on us by a second because I didn’t grind hard enough…I release, Teri tails, and I grind, head down , muscle it through. While we are not at 100 % efficiency, for what we are working with , no one can doubt our spirit. After two more practice tacks, we crack off and head back to the line. On the way back, I tape up my finger, and throw on a life vest – that fall woke me up a bit.

We grab the course, W-L-W-L-F….. two sets, two douses, this will be fun. After a bit of confusion on the timing of our start we head upwind. Our heads are down, only thinking about mechanics, not think of tactics, but we stay in touch with the fleet. Our boat speed is OK, and our teamwork is coming together. Teri is a huge gamer, working hard and staying on top of things. Fritz is doing a great job in difficult circumstances - We are all focused, I’m on a rush, things get done, but it seems like I’m a bit more vocal than usual…and are there patches of red on the deck….is that blood ? We round, standard bear away - kite goes up…..eventually……seems that I didn’t loosen the Velcro quite enough ……We head downwind….gybe goes OK, but I need to get in sync with Derek, I’m having a hard time rolling into it, and the squaring back seems off, but I’m digging life on the pointy end. Half way down the leg we come up to the Start/Finish area…I know its restricted, but I’m not sure if its both or not…I give Teri the sheet to her surprise, duck below, pull the race book out of my duffle and see its all restricted, this puts us way left, setting us up for a gybe douse…. ARRGGGHHHH !

I used to always be really prepared – my watch was spot on, I knew the flags, I knew what he tides were doing, I understood the restrictions…I got rusty, and need to sharpen up. We round, chute is down , and we are clear to tack quickly….we stay right on the way back up… We miss a skirt on a tack and put a hole in the foot of the jib… oh if we only had one more set of hands life would be good, but we sally forth….rig for the next set, this one goes well and were back down hill……tug is good, burn the heat…up a bit, feeling soft…gosh I love this !!!!!!!!!!!!!! We stay with the fleet, but are off the pace and finish in the back… We douse the jib and review…My self assessment is – I haven’t worked this hard on a boat in a long time….and I love it. I need to hit the gym, get the cardio up, I need to get back in the groove of preparation, I really like sailing with this team – we all are focused while racing, but we all are very simpatico…

Chutes to pack, Vitamin Waters to chug, lines to run, time for another race. I stay below and run the tapes, Teri rigs the lines. In my professional world I have learned a few words to live by – “Document or die”, “Flexibility is the key to long life” and “Trust but verify”. As we get ready for the next start I take a quick look at the foredeck, Lines look good, halyard is ok, pole is set, and we’re good to go. But again I’m a bit rusty, while everything is mechanically right, tactically we are off. We are rigged for a port pole, with a starboard launch…..meaning on a port rounding that we are committed to a gybe set. Of course I realize this halfway up the weather leg………..

Did I mention that Derek nailed the start ? We were on the line, clean air, and moving fast forward. We played a nice leg, and rounded in first., rolled into the set, and while it worked, I think it put us on the wrong side of the course. The next douse and rounding was a bit rough, but we persevered and made it to the top again in the middle of the fleet. We were able to go for a plain vanilla set, which was captured by Cliff Estes of borrowed light, a nice sequence, and I think it was the best of the weekend. As we went off , pressure kept dropping….by the time we finished the whole bay was flat. We hung out for a while, but soon it was obvious that we were done -the beers came out the sails came down. Instead of being able to stick around, have that shot of scotch, and hit the club, I had to hustle to the train station to pick up the family.

But as I left I had a feeling of accomplishment, respect for my teammates, exhaustion, and a huge desire that has been missing in me –It was one of the best weekends in my life and I’m really looking forward to future events with Amicus . Its amazing how being with the right people, in the right circumstances, can change your whole perspective on things…….Tally Ho !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!