It's hard to believe that the Trifecta of Caribbean racing of 2019 has ended for us (sorta shedding a tear here). Dave would always say to me, "Don't blink, cause it goes by fast". His words sure ring true....
Dave and Stuart are taking Such Fast back to the USA - delivering it to Charleston, SC for Charleston Race Week that starts April 11th and runs through the 14th. They started out from Tortola on Monday, April 1st. Charleston will be the fourth and final racing Such Fast will do before heading back to Seattle. The winds don't look like much right now for the middle of their delivery trip so we're crossing our fingers they will make it back in time to race! It's over 1200 miles.
I've decided I'm a lifer with the Sea. It's got me and it's got me good. There's something magical about it that seems to breathe deeper life into me and I can't imagine my life without it now. Getting back into sailboat racing and onto the water has been a journey for me...I really haven't done it since my 20's and now I'm 50 and learning the ropes all over again. There's nothing like drinking out of a firehose with 11 days of ocean sailing for the delivery to St. Maarten! What an amazingly fun and complex sport. I may not process things as fast as I did in my 20's but I'm eager to learn and grow in my sailing skills. I really love it.
The Heineken in St. Maarten, STIR (St Thomas International Racing) and BVI Race Week is now in the books and in our past but amazing memories were made. We had crew come from all over - Washington, Oregon, Montana, Florida, Caribbean...crew with various levels of experience - which had it's challenges at times, but honestly, Dave and I were looking for fun, learning, competition and to just experience the island regatta's - with a group of people who could come together to enjoy such an experience...and of course, good rum drinks too! I think the themes of most of these regatta's were: Warm Waters, Hot Racing, Cool Parties. They didn't disappoint.
When I started sailing in my early 20's, I learned a lot about the sport and found it very exhilarating and complicated but loved it. I also learned that the more you know, the more you know you don't know. We did a lot of Puget Sound racing Fall through Spring and I was able to race in Swiftsure one year out of Victoria, BC. Those were really great memories for me during my 20's.
Then after seven years of living in Seattle we moved to the midwest and I stopped sailing.
What's crazy about life is how sometimes things come back around again. Most of the time you have seasons of "something" that eventually comes to an end, and that's okay. You mourn the loss of that a bit but you accept it. This coming back around thing, though, is exactly what has happened to me...and to Dave. Surprise!
When I sailed in Seattle, I crewed for Dave. We were both married then and just enjoyed a fun sailing friendship. Once a year we'd exchange our Christmas cards and that was it. Last year we reconnected (both of us single) and a fun friendship was reunited. Neither one of us was expecting each other. Then the great adventure of our relationship started. He took me out sailing, put me to work on his boat (haha), we traveled to Florida Keys, Costa Rica, Fiji...not stopping. It's been a whirlwind and one amazing year...and here I am, still landlocked in Colorado but I'm sailing again with an amazing man and loving it even more this time around!
Such Fast didn't race all that well in the regattas. We tried to be competitive but we were up against a lot of boats with professional, experienced crew. Our crew had never sailed all together before and we had various levels of experience. It really didn't matter to Dave or I at the end of the day. Nonetheless, it was an amazing experience and we have good memories for doing this.
In BVI, the Scrub Island Race was a fun day. We sailed up to Scrub Island where they had a beautiful resort with an awesome lunch and bar for the racers. We swam in the bay and hung out on the water trampoline for the afternoon as a crew before heading back. Such a gorgeous setting.
The second day of the regatta at Nanny Cay (BVI) we had absolutely no wind and the race committee cancelled racing. We, along with everybody else, took advantage of our amazing island setting, calm day and headed out to our various places. We opted for Virgin Gorda to swim in The Baths. We anchored out and enjoyed an afternoon of sun, swimming, lunch and beer. Very relaxing.
You can see where Dave and Stuart are on their journey to Charleston, SC here.
It was truly good to see the islands rebuilding after Hurricane Irma and Marie. Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands - along with so many other islands took a huge hit under a catagory 5 hurricane and are still trying to get on their feet on the ground...but they are rebuilding - slowly but surely.
May the waters stay blue and the drinks stay cold. Until next time...