12 Hours on the Water-A Sailing Race Adventure

It was a busy week at work last week. We're in the final stages of creating a 'relationship management' database through which we can begin to track and be accountable for, well, the relationships that we form and develop as a  Workforce Development Team. So I was very much looking foward to a lazy weekend of cleaning up the house and reading some classics through iBooks on my brand new IPhone (yes I finally made the switch from the old Blackberry, and while I miss my keyboard, the accessibility of applications via the IPhone are much worth it)

So there I was having a nice evening in on Friday evening. I cooked up a stirfy ensemble of fresh green beans, yellow squash, corn, celery, green bell peppers (my coworkers and I all pitched in for a weekly box of vegetables from local farms, very cool, check it out at http://homegrowngainesville.wordpress.com) and was watching the latest Harry Potter film when I got a call from a recent acquaintance that I had made through the Gainesville Power and Sail Squadron (a group here in Gainesville that hosts events and educational opportunities for people with boat). He happened to be entered in a "Mug Race" (http://www.rudderclub.com/mug.html), which also happens to be "the longest sailboat river race in the country". At a wopping 38.5 nautical miles, he informed me that there were many years that, due to lack of wind, no one would finish the entire race. And most years, it would take people nearly 12 hours to finish.  So, did I want to come along and crew his Sirius 21 foot sailboat with him?

With an opportunity like that, of course I said yes! So I planned to rise at 5:30 the next morning and hit the road to Palatka (about an hour away) where I'd meet him at a marina and jump on the boat to start the race at 7:30. 

Sunrise on the drive west to the St.

His boat is a definite fixer-upper. The two days prior, he had sailed the race course going the opposite direction and had found he had some problems taking on water. So we had some bailing out to plan to do if things got too windy. Other than that he explained that she sailed fine and that the jib (little front sail) was mine to man.

At 7:30 we were off, and after some initial complications with some of the rigging not being up correctly, we were on our way.  Partway through the course, Bill (the man I was sailing with) decided to go wide through one of the bends in the river and then cut across the top section. As crew I just followed along, but in my head, I knew that even if the wind was excellent we'd be putting ourselves way off course and likely fall behind anyway.  Well, it turned out the wind wasn't good like he had projected, putting us about 45 minutes behind the other boats. On a 12 hour course, that's understandable, but it still didn't feel good.

Notice how flat the water is-sailing on glass! Not a good thing!

And then...the wind died. We were sailing on glass, which essentially meant we were not sailing at all but sitting on the water and waiting.  Here and there for the next 4 hours we had some good runs with wind. But when we arrived at a long stretch that we expected to be blowing with wind it was totally dead.  Bill called a friend who was on land and asked him what kind of time we were making (if there was any way we'd make it by the 8:30pm race end time).



After some calculations, he reported that at the rate we were going, we'd make it to the finish in approximately 38 hours.

Ouch. So, with neither of us having a true agenda to be competitive in the race, we decided to sail a bit longer, and then motor on back to our start marina and then take my car to Jacksonville (30 minutes by road) and celebrate with those who had finished (not that we were expecting there to be many people).  After a free spaghetti dinner and some beer, 8pm rolled around and the first boats started to come in (remember, that's after over 12 hours on the water). The only people that ended up finishing the race by the cutoff were about 10 catamarans (who are always faster than monohaul boats) and the other 180+ boats were at various intervals along the river.

To say the race were a success would be false, but even without success I had a wonderful time and made a few new friends (and boy am I tan!)

I'm so happy to be involved in sailing here in Florida. It's definitely one community that I'll continue to be a part of throughout my time here. :)

A little bit of an update

I find myself in a bit of a funny position because in many ways I don't feel like I've been up to a whole lot since I've arrived here in Gainesiville and started working. But then again, I've been doing so so very much!

Every day after work I find myself running errands to various hardware, home and grocery stores to pick up little things that will make life a little bit easier. (A spatula being the most recent necessary acquisition). Nearly every day after work I'm off running errands or picking things up until nearly 7pm before I come home to cook myself a nice meal (in my one skillet or single sauce pan). I will say that as far as the techniques of cooking, having few tools to work with sure makes one become creative (think cutting up a pineapple with a butter knife and pair of scissors).  I've started to do the actual sewing on the few fabric projects that I purchased materials for, and while the 1960's sewing machine that I bought for $20 on Craigslist is winning against me in my struggles to make it work, I've gotten a bit better at hand stitching and have already completed a curtain and finished a few small pillows.

Really, everything so far has been a fun challenge in seeing how I could make do without the tools I'm used to using to complete the projects and daily operations that I'm accustomed to doing. I still need to buy some hangers and a small dresser, but in the meantime have found the boxes that some of my belongings were shipped in to be excellent substitute drawers and sometimes tables. It's really a story of making due with what I have.

You may be curious why I haven't just gone and bought all of these basic 'necessities'. Well, for start, I'm trying to be a responsible budgeter. But on top of that, Gainesville stores just do not have the quality or diversity of things that I would choose to purchase for my home! It's fascinating to me the amount of effort it took me just to find a pair of sheets that I really wanted! Now, maybe I'm a little bit picky, but never before have I had such a hard time finding things I like. And to top both of these things off, I find that I still have a large aversion to owning 'stuff'. It's somewhat funny, but I'm still having a hard time unpacking the last of my things from the suitcases that I've lived out of for the past year. I'm now in a place where I can do some real-time getting-settled-in-one-place-for-a-while, but it freaks me out to think of a life so...stable! It may seem silly, but the last year that I spent living out of a backpack with few things really worked for me!

On another note, I've kept to beign myself and have been sure to have a few adventures since I've arrived here. My first weekend I drove from Gainesville to the Atlantic coast and drove down along the water with my coworker Miriam. Last weekend I traveled to the Florida Key, Marathon, to spend the long Easter weekend with my good San Diego friend Kat, and this weekend I adventured out to St. Augustine, the US's oldest city, to explore cobbled streets and visit old lighthouses.

Work is going well as I'm getting more used to the company and the ways that it works, I'm still learning and waiting to find where I fit into the whole organization, but I can only say good things about my coworkers, the company, and their reception of me so far. I'm a pretty lucky girl.

Soon I'll have some updates on my travels (the Florida Keys were Amazing!) and some more insider scoops on Gainesville (and the groups I'm getting involved with including the Power and Sail Squadron and Alachua County Emerging Leaders). Hopefully I'll be out on my road bike soon (it's arrived but I have to pump up the tires) and possibly I'll be visiting some 'long lost' family in Alabama in not too long!  Lots to look forward to!