The Big Race--Six Miles on the Ocean from St. Augustine

Sunday, Nov. 21 dawned.  The Captain's meeting was at the St. Augustine Yacht Club at 10:30.  Capt. Martha Bliss and her all girl crew were ready to board Brunelle, her lovely Catalina 440, not the sleekest, fastest boat around, but definitely with the smartest captain.  She had done her homework and plugged in the way points.  A former Olympic class sailor who had raced with King Constantine of Greece in her youth, Martha knows how to plot a course.  It was all gravy from there. 

Glen, Jay,Dan, John and Pete aboard Sevilla

Our boys raced Sevilla, who certainly should have been among the sleekest and fastest vessels, but we will let them tell their own story of why they finished fifth.



Betty McElderry





Kathy Bruzik and Martha Bliss

 Mates Kathy, Betty and I stood at the ready and delivered upon command.  I (wo)manned the starboard sheets and handled the winch.  It was a gorgeous day, with soft breezes and warm temps.  We got out of the tricky St. Augustine Inlet all right, all though my shots of our competitors aboard Sevilla gave a hint of how choppy conditions were.  We headed for the committee boat and circled around until the 1:10 start for the "non-spinnaker" class.

There things got a bit confused.  We thought we heard the starter's "long horn" at the one minute to go mark with the White Flag removed, and darted ahead, sails flying.   However, we were signalled back for an infraction.  It was really a "Horn" sound and the "Class Flag Removed" that we should have paid attention to.  (Who knew the difference?)  So Brunelle is then severely handicapped and has to return to the starting point and charge out again.



The Racing Buoy



Undaunted, Cap'n Martha decided to "split the tack," to take advantage of maneuvering Brunelle so that she took advantage of any little spurt of wind she could find.  We played all the sails to our advantage and made it to Mark A quite handily.   And so on to Mark B and back to Mark C--an outrageous victory for the female team.  You would think we would have been rewarded with champagne.  Wrong.  The Committee Boat asked us to go back out to Mark B and bring the damn yellow racing buoy.  The "thing" is shaped like a three dimensional triangle, is fat enough to nearly fill the cockpit of a pretty big boat, and is full of Viagra.  It had to be hooked, brought up the side and over the lifelines and then emptied of all that air.  That last was my job.  I sat on it, it wore gloves to push the nasty, sharp little valve to the side and release the hissing air.  I climbed on it and would have stomped on it if I had been able to.  

Maureen and the "thing"


Oh, and that wasn't all of our "reward" for being first.  We had to wait their until the last boats rounded the buoy so they could "finish" the race.  So we had time to sit out at sea and tell our life stories for quite a long time before we could even tackle the buoy.  By that time it was getting late and we still had get back through the Inlet, preferably before dark, and through the Bridge of Lions to our anchorage. And get ready for the Commodore's banquet at 6:00. 

What a time for the GPS to quit on us.  And the Auto-Pilot.  So Cap'n Martha brought up the IPAD with all the charts to help guide us back in the darkening afternoon.  Fortunately, the tides and the winds were with us and we made our way through the Inlet at dusk easily.  Quite a feat, since many Spanish galleons were beached in that particular stretch and floundered helplessly while waiting pirates plundered them for gold.

Bridge of Lions as we waited for 7p.m opening

It was totally dark while we were waiting for the Bridge of Lions to open, but we made the 7:00 p.m. opening, got to our mooring and into dinghies to take us to waiting cars, and then to our victorious entrance into the SAYC for the awards banquet.  We were so proud.  Wish you could have been there.



Maureen and Glen
St. Augustine, FL
until Dec. 1 or 2