Lightning North American Championship 2008
Regatta Day Two - We woke up to a rainy, dreary day. Gary and I along with Sandy and Crissy left the mooring field around 10:30. It had stopped raining and it looked like it was going to clear up a bit. The race course was set up in the same area and just as we were reaching there the skies let loose. Sandy and I hung out down below watching out the windows trying to find Paul and crew. The wind was blowing around 20 and it was just nasty out there...and cold. Race two was in progress and the juniors were rounding the windward mark. The racing was exciting to say the least but there was no way I could get any video unless I had some sort of waterproof housing. As the boats made their way downwind, the wind increased to about 25 knots with some nasty gusts and there was no sight of Paul's spinnaker. I think about three boats flipped while others screamed down the course.
Still no Paul and I was totally in mom mode at this point because of the two girls (Paul would be fine). We had seen one boat without a spinnaker up and hoped that was them. As they got further down the course, we took turns with the binoculars trying to make out the numbers. The binoculars weren't of much use in this weather but we decided it had to be them. We could see the first number on the hull was a four and that kid kind of looked like Paul. The nasty conditions continued as the racers made their way back up the course. One of the boats that flipped not too far from us finally got up only to have a broken spreader. We watched from down the course as they rounded the windward mark once again. I think only one boat flipped this time. All I did was focus on finding my kids and Marissa. The weather let up a little and we could see the boat numbers a little easier as they came down to cross the finish line. No Paul.
We headed up to the windward mark to see if he had flipped or was having some problem. We had been tuned into the race committee channel and could hear the numbers being given of the boats that retired but none was his. Got up there and still couldn't find them. Maybe they retired, and we didn't hear it or they didn't notify the race committee. We headed back to the harbor and Sail Newport. Just as we rode passed Fort Adams and still couldn't find them, Gary gets a call. They're back in the hotel room, starving. Turned out they and another boat turtled downwind during the first race which we had missed (we were totally wrong on thinking that we had seen them on the first downwind). Thank God they were okay. My sometimes over reactive mom brain had been in total overdrive for the last hour. Told them to call room service for food.
The rain had finally let up and we were pretty wet and tired. We closed up the boat and headed back to the hotel. I opened the door to the room and it almost felt like a sauna. Wet clothes and sailing gear were all over the bathroom and a wet spinnaker lay over the chair. The girls were curled up in the beds eating and trying to get rid of the chill. Not a fun experience for them. A road trip to Team One would make everyone forget the events of the morning.
Afterward we took a walk down Thames, did a little more shopping and had a very nice dinner at a restaurant called Benjamin's. Back at the hotel, we went up to the seventh floor for dessert and ‘beverages’. It was then we decided to hang the spinnaker over the balcony in the atrium. Two security guys were standing next to the girls and I down on the main floor of the atrium. Marissa thought for sure we would get kicked out of the hotel but all the security guys did was laugh.
Next up - Day three.
Doreen
