Commodore's Cup '05 420 Racing

For Tuesday's competition, the Cup was host to 420 racing. The storms of the previous day had brought in a cool weather system along with medium-to-heavy wind conditions. Michelle and Patrick raced for our team in the running for middle place. As they went out to compete, I jumped on a board to watch the event.

While making my way out, the Techno shortboard I had taken out was not giving me much stability to just hang out and be a spectator. In fact, the choppiness of the hurling waves was tearing me apart so I made my way in to trade for a trusted Melody board. From the deck, Juan challenged me to keep at it. His words were "if you don't get your butt kicked out there, you're not learning anything." He suggested that I'd be better off taking a Hi-flyer so that I could at least plane in the current conditions.

On the water, I got a few nice rides heading downwind. Out past the mooring field, the wind line grew more intense. In the direction of the hospital, a Tech had capsized and turtled over. When I got closer, I saw an older man being slammed into the windward hull as he tried to climb up the underbelly of the boat. In his struggle to get on top to raise the small yellow craft, he wrangled to keep his glasses on and lessen with his body the constant slam of the relentless force of nature.

Another Tech sailing close by came in but the sailor dared not to help him in fear of capsizing his own boat. I pulled up beside the flailing man and ditched my board and sail in the water--this gave the older man at least some flotation to catch his breath. Like many drills I've had in my experience at HSC, I used all my weight and strength to pull the boat back up. With the waves still pounding both of us, I had the man swim to the leeward side for protection and a better leverage to get into the ship. Success. Once he got in, he first lowered his sail so that Harvey (the Rescue Boat) would get his attention and come rescue him.

I sailed around on the Hi-flyer for some time until the 420 race ended. I saw Michelle and Patrick getting into some roll tacks and they accounted for capsizing twice and still finished the race. Once all the boats had come back in for the night, the windy conditions subsided and were fairly tame by sunset. As dinner was being served, I changed into my Quailman outfit and joined my team of Superhero Sailors, the Fantastic 420's for a night of dancing, drinking, and dare I say it, posing for glamor shots.

Fei-O-Meter
Activity: 3 | Energy: 2 | Friends: 3