Winning isn't always about bringing home a gold flag

by Kathryn Bamford, crew aboard California Girl, July 2004

While some diehard sailors scoffed at the lesser challenge of the new white sail 300 kilometer Lake Ontario race course, others embraced this as a new and exciting opportunity to improve longer distance racing skills and increase experience not just for the captain but also the crew.

While a boat with four blonde females aboard was nicknamed "Cat Fight" and "PMS", we preferred to be referred to the "California Girls" after the boat, a Catalina 320 based at Oakville. Blonde jokes were suppressed but the smiles said it all. If anyone had any doubt about the one male aboard, the captain, no one openly made any comments. He had rightfully acquired a reputation of mentoring young sailors, and expanding their skills beyond grinding winching wenches.

The goal of winning the race, while foremost in our minds, was not the driver of our team or task assignment. Everyone had personal objectives to achieve, however we all agreed "girls and Dave just wanna have fun". (Make room Beach Boys for Cyndi Lauper.)

In order to have fun, safety was always our utmost concern built into our operational plan. We self selected two teams dividing up the women with previous experience on the LO 300, most importantly night sailing experience and helming. The captain would "float" between both teams as required to ensure the boat was maintained at maximum speed. It was an unusual egalitarian environment. How can you sail a race without all that seemingly necessary shouting at the crew???

While the crew had not sailed together before, and sailing experience varied from novice to very experienced, everyone was determined to work together, to do our best. We agreed that the worst the three days would bring is the attack of the ankle bitter flies. Unknowingly and to our surprise and delight our captain prepared us with fitting ambidextrous weapons of mass fly destruction including an electronic paddle with which to fry the pesky bitters on the less than exciting down wind leg from Oakville to Niagara.

For each crew member the race was a commitment of 3 days; 3 days of time out from two high energy toddlers, 3 days respite from an aging parent, 2 days off from demanding shift work, and 3 days of anticipation for the "must see" spectacular Madonna concert on the Sunday. An eclectic group, with ages of the team spanning forty years, from the mid twenties to mid sixties, each member, a decade older than the next. We all agreed age is a state of mind.

There were 13 boats in our division, enough to make the race interesting and keep the adrenalin moving. We kept our eye on our competition, discussed strategies and weather, went through too many tacks to count, sail changes, reefing and unreefing of the main, poling out for wing on wing, wishing our Gravel would not make us too drowsy on the foredeck , and wishing it would when were off watch.

Everyone took their share of provisioning for meals, a gourmet challenge of sorts accommodating preferences and an opportunity to sample creative efforts of crew including amazing tuna lasagna.

Time was a blur marked by the sun and darkness marked by rounding each mark with a sense of accomplishment, heading for the next. California Girl, valiantly resisted the temptation to continue sailing up 16 mile creek into her berth, while rounding the Oakville mark and headed across the lake for another 54 miles, a run and beat, an approximated 12 hours of sun and little wind (and those dreaded flies). Having withstood the test of the 2 last legs of the course, our euphoria as we approached the finish line was damped by confusion, where were the rest of our fleet? Were we first or were we last? We would have to patiently wait for the computer calculated results to find out.

Only 36 hours later from the time we started the race, we were celebrating our accomplishment of having crossed the finish line, enjoying a cold beer, critiquing the strategies, reminiscing the fun moments, and analyzing the lessons learned. We hoped for a "podium finish" and were not to be disappointed.

Although we did not speak about the beauty of the orange and blue sky in the setting sun, the dark starless night and ink black waves that crashed over the bow of the boat against the golden haze on shore, we all knew that there is nothing that can replace this experience and it will leave an indelible mark in our memories.

We all know that an inexperienced sailor can be a liability on a boat, but without mentoring and opportunity, even the most keen, cannot develop the skills required to become competent and competitive.

There is a humorous saying "Old Sailors don't die, they just get a little dingy", so before racing captains retire from the scene, I encourage them to think beyond getting the gun at the next club race, apply your extensive knowledge into mentoring and invest in the skill development of your crew. Although the rewards may be a blue pennant instead of yellow, the contribution to the individuals and the sport of sailing will be immeasurable.

Kathryn

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