Was I Ready To Skipper My First Sailboat Race?
“I just hope we have fun, get all the sails up and down, and don't break anything,” I say to Jack in the car about skippering my first sailboat race.
It's a little after 10 .pm., and my husband and I are driving back to Baltimore after dropping a car for our transport crew at a marina in Rockhold Creek. Come Saturday we will have accomplished two our of three, though there's an argument to be made that I didn't break the impeller. Sometimes these things just happen.
I have been sailing for roughly six years and have done a fair bit of racing in that time. Sometime last year I decided I wanted to give skippering a try. It was something I told myself I should be able to do by now, and the annual HHSA Women's Regatta is the perfect opportunity for the skipper-curious like me to give it a shot.
My wildly supportive and generous friends Steve and Surya agreed to let me take the helm of their very new-to-them Beneteau First 36.7 Kolohe for the race. With the sale only just fully finalized, we had less than a week to assemble and train a women-only crew, transport the boat, and do our best.
In the spirit of this regatta, much of our crew was relatively new to larger keelboats whether sailing them, racing them, or both. All of us were new to this boat specifically. Our one and only practice the Thursday before the race was organized chaos, with Steve and Jack helping everyone figure out the new boat.
We managed to get at least one rep of every major maneuver in before I had to hand off the helm to tune in to the skipper’s meeting via zoom. When I joined with my camera on, Jayne Durden, the incomparable and tireless Commodore of HHSA and this regatta’s organizer, asked happily “Marianna are you practicing right now?” which I confirmed with an emphatic nod. Her delight was a surge of energy I needed with 48 hours to go until the big day.
All week I felt the burden of responsibility weigh heavily and was constantly questioning whether I was actually ready to do this. During that Thursday practice I felt I was failing to hold a good course downwind, unable to effectively coach and helm simultaneously, and was in a near-constant state of dread over docking the boat. I also worried if I could handle it if something went wrong onboard.
My longtime sailing buddy and his daughter showed up Friday afternoon to help with the transport from Baltimore to Herring Bay. The trip was longer and more miserable than expected. We pulled in after midnight after motor-sailing against 12- to 18-knot breeze and 1-2-meter swells coming up the Chesapeake Bay for the final two hours of an eight-hour trip. The transport crew went home, and I passed out in the V-berth after a quick email to the crew to confirm our slip number.
It was finally Saturday morning, and all that was left was the race itself. Thanks to a postponement due to light winds, we were able to get an extra hour of practice in before they started the first race. We did well, crossing the line fourth, all maneuvers clean and easy. We were eating snacks and feeling good waiting for the next race to start, when all of a sudden from below someone yelled, “ENGINE! ENGINE!”
What looked like smoke was billowing out of the companionway. We quickly turned the engine off and I went below to investigate. With a fire extinguisher at the ready I was relieved to identify the white haze as steam, not smoke. Removing the cover, I saw the coolant reservoir had sprayed everywhere. The engine overheated. Great.
We notified the race committee, who asked, “Does this mean you are retiring from the race?” I locked eyes with my crewmate Abby at the helm while I said, “We’re going to have to sail around while we wait for a tow, so we might as well sail the course.”
“Very good,” they replied.
We finished the second race after arranging a tow, who picked us up and took us back to the marina. The issue was identified as a busted impeller, which (again Jayne to the rescue) we were able to source a replacement for same-day. Lesson learned: replace your impellers annually, people.
Next week marks my 31st birthday. And while many women before me have accomplished more impressive things at younger ages—Cole Brauer just raced around the world at 29, Laura Dekker circumnavigated at just 16, Tracy Edwards was the first female Yachtsman of the Year at 27 after her historic Whitbread challenge, Ellen MacArthur broke the record at 28—skippering my first regatta at 30 is still something I'm immensely proud of.
I showed myself that I could do it. Despite the exhaustive lead-up and a stressful day, I feel that me, my friends, and the whole crew came together to perform, support, and problem-solve.
Whether you've raced for decades or days the HHSA Women's Regatta is ideal for putting yourself outside your comfort zone and challenging yourself with something you've never tried before. You can do it—and your friends will help you.
~By Marianna Fleischman
