Bickering Our Way Through a Regatta

Would you believe me if I told you that these two pictures were taken within two hours of each other?  Skipper and I tried some big racing this weekend.  We went to the Sunfish Regional Championships.  Skipper told me not to expect much, because there were a lot of heavy hitters there.   He must have been fibbing, because a lot of the boats there were my friends from winter camp, and none of them are heavy, and they're all nice boats, none of them hit.

I also met some boats that I've never met before, and they were all nice too. In fact I met two very nice boats from New York who told me about sailing on giant lakes that are as big as all of Narragansett Bay. I can't imagine that much water without salt in it.

Anyway, it was a two day regatta. There is never any wind in New England in the morning, but they decided to send us out anyway. We got out to the racecourse and drifted around the course for the first race. Then the referees decided to wait until the wind came, so we waited for two hours for it to come back.  Then it all came at once, and it brought its evil friend, the waves.  My hull still hurts from all the pounding.

A sad sight.
She wanted to get in the water so bad.

Skipper and I were frustrated.  He kept fiddling with my sail, and he knows that I don't like that. To get him back I decided not to point.  He fiddled with my sail some more, so I pulled my outhaul line out of the cleat. Then I disconnected my mainsheet from my bridle. Nothing stopped his fiddling, so then I just decided to go slow.


So the second day, the referees decided to make us go out earlier. Now remember, New England has no wind in the morning.  So we hung around on the beach.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

For two hours!







Then they sent us out.

How to sail in the morning in New England

Then the wind and those evil waves woke up and decided to show their faces.  The wind was calmer than the first day, but the waves were just as grumpy.  Apparently Skipper's idea of sailing through waves is to make me do belly flops over them. Then he started fiddling with my sail again.  Then he had the gall to yell at me for going slow!

I'm so mad at him that I'm not going to talk to him.