The Sad and Disconsolate Lack of Race Week

Tragically, I did not find a boat for last night's racing. Though I suppose that it is less a tragedy, and more a matter of my lackadaisical ride-finding effort resulting in an unfortunate but perhaps predictable lack of ride. What is really TRAGIC this week is that I am not in Martha's Vineyard with the team aboard 245 HAWK for Nationals. As a charter sail boat captain in Newport, I make most of my money on weekends; between weddings and regattas I have taken too many of the last several weekends off, and the bank account is feeling it. So, no Nationals for this girl. Sitting here writing this post this morning in Newport , though, and knowing the team is going into day one of racing today in Edgar Town, I am definitely feeling acute disappointment that I still haven't mastered being in two places at once.

So, no Nationals to report about, and no September 3rd race report either, though I know the boats were south of the bridge and it was a lovely evening.

In an entirely different direction but speaking to a race that I was actually a part of recently, Gloucester Schooner Festival 2025 this last weekend was epic. Harkening back to my roots as a classic schooner girl, I drove up to Gloucester MA and raced Sunday with Seth Salzmann on his schooner Malabar X, a John Alden design from 1930. It was a happy chaos of a race, and we won our class with second place line honors. I had sailed the boat once, and walked down the schooner-packed dock Sunday morning to step onboard into a flurry of sandwiches and confused sheet leads, photographers and topsails and distractible sailors all chattering at once. The race committee attempted to set a reaching course (because schooners and especially old schooners don't point for shit) which was a sisyphean task as the wind kept clocking. Marks got switched multiple times; a tanker nearly went straight through the whole fleet; on our "reaching course" we were beating for a time as well as going ddw wing on wing; we lost steerage when the wind died, and then when the sea breeze finally came up had a glorious comeback re-passing the competition and, on the last leg to the finish, setting a borrowed light-weight fisherman sail that had never been flown on the boat before to great effect.

It was great fun, and here's a picture of us on Malabar X looking pretty dang cool. Sorry I don't have much to say about shields racing this week except GO FOR GOLD 245(!), but hopefully back at it next week for a great Wednesday night!