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06/15/2003 Entry: "Overnight Race"

Back in my more adventurous youth, I was an avid sailor. Every weekend was spent racing in the very competitive environment of the Chesapeake Bay. It's been years since I had a chance to be part of that scene but an old friend offered me an opportunity to jump back in this weekend. He'd just purchased a J-36 and after outfitting her with a new set of sails, he rounded up a crew for the boat's first race.

The race was a 40 mile course starting south of Baltimore, heading down to Sandy Point Light near the Bay Bridge, up and across the Bay, back across the Bay again towards the entrance to Baltimore harbor, north to Poole's Island above Baltimore and then back down to Baltimore Light. Long enough to make for a good workout and present some challenging situations. To make matters more interesting, the race started at 4:00 in the afternoon, so the majority of the race was well after dark.

A new boat, a crew that had never sailed together before, a night race, and a forecast for scattered thunderstorms can make for interesting sailing. We lucked out on the weather, with only one brief squall to bother us. That was interesting enough, as we were on a downwind leg with the spinnaker flying. The photo was taken later in the race, when calm had returned but you can see the large sail ballooning out in front of the boat. It's amazing how much excitement a few hundred square feet of nylon can add to your life when it's caught by the rapid onset of a thunderstorm's heavy gusts.

I'm off to soak in a nice hot tub and get the kinks out of my aching muscles. Maybe more sea stories later.