Lakewood Seahorse Regatta

At Lakewood Yacht Club, the Seahorse Regatta takes place each year in November. It is always a great regatta partially because of its somewhat close distance from our house. This year, though, there was an unfortunate turn of events early in the first day of racing. Before the event began, I got ready to race, and prepared for the 18 knots of wind predicted at the racing area. There were a total of 38 optimists* participating and soon after rigging we headed to Galveston Bay to race. 

Once we got out, we started up the first race. I did well getting off the starting line with a lot of speed and rounded the first mark in 6th place, but then disaster struck; my mainsheet** snapped as I went around the mark causing my wrist to get caught in the line. I was in a lot of pain, but still desperately trying to maintain a good position. I decided to sail the rest of the race, but despite my best efforts, I finished in a lousy 15th place. Once the race concluded, I decided to not finish the day of racing, and instead asked my coach if I could be towed in, ending my day entirely.

Once you “retire” from the day, the race committee marks you as [RET]. One of the support boats agreed to bring me in from the race course and my mom took me to Fondren Orthopedic to have my wrist x-rayed to make sure it was not fractured. The end result was that the injury was thankfully just a sprain, and I left with a support brace and no sailing for 2 days. The next day I went to the regatta, but was on the Coaches’ boat where I was a spectator. It was very interesting to watch from this perspective, as I was able to observe all of the action. I know that I was able to gain valuable information from this disappointment turned opportunity.

*optimists- a class of boat 

** main-sheet- the line that you use to pull in the sail on you boat