The Stormy Regatta

September 29, 2020

The Stormy Regatta

One day I went to sailing class on my bike, to go race in a small regatta. I got to TCYC ( that is my sailing club )and met up with my team. We had a chalk talk ( which is like a team meeting ) and we walked down the dock to go rig are boats. We had a good sized fleet of nine optimists ( including me ) and two lasers. The regatta was not far away so we would not have to tow over. Once we were rigged quickly we hopped in our boats and sailed to where the regatta was happening. It was right past the end of our pier so we did not have to sail that far. 

There was a good amount of wing and once we got there we docked on the coach boats and waited for the other clubes to show up. It was about five minutes until the other clubs got there. The wind was really shifty and the race committee could not set a fair course. I started sailing around and looking at my competition and after about thirty minutes of waiting the lasers got in a starting sequence. I sailed over towards the lasers to watch them race. Our laser had a good start of the line but right as they were starting the wind shifted one hundred eighty degrees and the lasers started downwind!

The Lasers had to come back because the course was not meant to start downwind. The lasers came back and the race committee had to reset the course. By this time it had been about one hour of waiting and sailing around. I was really bored of sailing around and when the race committee set a new course and the wind shifted one hundred eighty degrees again. Now there was a big storm that had formed and was rolling in fast so the race committee decided to wait out the storm for a few minutes. Once the storm had passed overhead the race committee set a new course and the lasers started racing. 

Then it was our turn. The optimists we started a starting sequence. The starting line was really full but I got a decent start off the line. I started racing towards the upwind mark and I saw a shift on the water that no one else saw. I decided to try and use that shift to my advantage. I took the shift and used the shift well and I got to the windward mark fast. I had gained about five to ten boats by using the shift. I rounded the windward mark and I started sailing downwind to the leeward mark. I was gaining boats and I had about fifteen boats in front of me and twenty boats behind me. I was trying to hold off a boat that was trying to pass me. I held him off by asking for room. Then rounded the leeward mark.

 I got inside one boat while rounding the mark and passed that boat. I was now trying to head back up to the windward mark again. I decided to stick with where everybody else was and try to gain boats that way. I fought my way past two boats using that strategy upwind. I got up to the windward mark and rounded it. While I was trying to round the windward mark but  there was a boat that had gotten caught on the mark and everyone was trying to avoid them. I missed the boat caught on the mark by only a couple of inches and got ahead of one boat while rounding the mark.

All I had to do was finish now. I was sailing downwind fast but I did not gain any more boats.There was a boat right next to me the whole downwind but I could not get past them. I was happy to be placed at about twelfth place out of a thirty five boat fleet. I finished the race and was very happy to have placed well. The last of the fleet finished about fifteen minutes after me and the other lead boats. After the race finished a big storm rolled in and the race committee was trying to decide whether or not we should go in or stay out and wait. The storm was coming in fast and the winds were picking up. There was thunder but not lightning yet. 

Then the race committee decided that we should sail back to our clubs and that the racing was over for the day. The winds were at twenty miles per hour with gusts of over twenty five miles per hour. It was really hard to sail in, because I kept on almost flipping but I was sailing really fast. A bunch of my sailing friends had to get towed in because the wind was so strong and they couldn’t keep their boats from flipping, one person’s boat had a hole and almost sank! Then lightning had started and there was a lot of it so it was very dangerous on the water.

Once it got in and pulled up my boat onto the dock and started derigging. I watched Lakewood Yacht club ( that was the club that we were racing against ) sail in for a few minutes because they had to sail through the Kemah Channel and to their dock. As I started derigging my sailing friends pulled up their boats and started derigging too. We were all derigged in about twenty minutes and helped each other lift everyone’s boat onto the racks. 

Then we walked up to the Junior Club House ( that is where we have team meetings. ) We had a meeting and then I rode my bike slowly back to the house we were renting from a family that we knew at TCYC. As I was riding back to the rental house I thought about what had happened that afternoon. We had waited a total of two hours before and thirty minutes after. It had been one wild day, and once I got back I sprawled out on the couch and watched TV.