HYC - Sailboat Team Racing

No. 95 Holding off an opponent (No.42)

Much of the summer the boyfriend and I have been painting and refinishing floors at my house in Norfolk which I plan on selling as soon as we are finished.  The result has been that we haven't made much use of the sail boats available at the Hampton Yacht Club.  To remedy that I talked him into going out for some team racing on the club's fleet of 23 foot Sonar class of sailboats.   Neither of us had ever done team racing before - only what is termed "fleet racing" which where each boat races to be the first across the finish line of place as close to first as possible.  In contrast team racing is akin to foot ball where blockers keep a path open so a team mate can take first place and the team collectively can get the highest score.  In the process it gets pretty exciting as boats "play chicken " and force other boats to give way often coming with in inches of colliding in the process.

If your idea of sailing is sipping a cocktail and relaxing, team racing will not be your cup of tea.   But if you enjoy excitement and competition with some dare devil tactics thrown in, give it a try.  After racing and putting the boats away most of us stayed at the club and had dinner and drinks and discussed our impressions and talked strategy for the next time we go out racing.  I'll definitely do it again.   

On a different note, the club membership continues to be a great experience and reflects how Virginia is changing from the world that Ken Cuccinelli and the far right are trying desperately to maintain.  When one of my crew mates asked about my wife - when racing you are often thrown together we people you don't know - I explained that the boyfriend was my partner.  The reaction was,"that's  cool" and it was a non-issue.  

Rounding a course marker