Sailing

It has been a while, and many things have happened for both me and E since my last post.  So I'll start from the beginning.

On Thursday evening E drove me to Warsaw to meet up with Chris who would be going to Oregon with me.  She picked me up and I slept at her house for the night.  On Friday morning (Friday was E's birthday! So sad I missed it, but it sounded like he went out with friends and had a good time) we woke up bright and early to get a few things done at her sailing shop before hitting the rode.  With her 11 year old son in tow we were off!  The morning at the shop was way more interesting than I expected.  Chris sold somewhere around four kayaks that morning.  One gentleman came in and was very adamant about not wanting the mirage drive (pedals for the kayak so you can use your legs instead of your hands, and they're so so easy to use) because he was going to put in a motor.  He argued with Chris over this for a long time, left, then eventually came back and bought the boat, mirage drives and all.  The next gentleman came in and was not interested in talking so much, but he wanted a red kayak.  The only one Chris had was a demo which she was willing to sell at a discount because it had "demo" stamped on it.  I'm telling you, the little words were just as tiny as the font you're reading on this screen.  Basically invisible to anyone but someone who knows it's there and where to look.  Nonetheless, Flip wanted nothing to do with this discounted Kayak because he said it looked tacky.  So he would wait for a new one to come in and pay full price.  Finally, there was a couple that came in wanting to buy a new kayak to add to their collection of three already because they were having grandkids over that night.  So they bought a kayak and then bought a sail for it on a whim! They didn't even know how to work a sail and just added that $300 extra like it was no big deal!

Anyway, after cleaning up the shop we got on the road toward Des Moines, IA.  We stopped at a Burger King on our way out.  I have had so many bad experiences with BK's with them getting my order wrong and not having fresh food that before this trip I had vowed to never ever eat at Burger King again.  Only with Chris having a hard time finding something that was both on the way out of town and something that her picky eater son would agree to I just shut my mouth.  And what do you know? They not only gave me the wrong chicken on my salad, but they forgot to give me my salad dressing.  Disappointing.  After eating lunch I drove the rest of the way to Iowa so that Chris could work and sleep.

We got to Iowa and picked up my skipper, Jim and Chris' crew Abby along with Jim's hilarious sister Julie.  We drove straight through the night and straight through Saturday arriving late Saturday night at our destination.  The next morning we set up our boats and registered.  We set up a few things that Jim and Chris brought to sell, and sold quite a bit of stuff right away.  We thought maybe we would get the boats ready and have a chance to go out and practice a bit, being that it has been two years since I've been on this particular boat, and nearly  two years since I've been sailing in general, and it was Abby's first time on this boat ever.  However, there was just too much going on.  People needed help with their boats and parts, and just wanted to chat in general.  So we talked through what the next week would be like on the water and then called it a day.

On Monday we had the skipper's meeting and then were able to go sailing right away.  We sailed a total of four races, but one got thrown out because every boat (Including me and Jim) but one rounded the wrong mark.  So we had three races which left Jim and I in second place after that day (I think).  That night we had the welcome party dinner.  Pulled pork sandwiches and the like were on the menu.  Then we went home for some rest.  That night I found plenty of bruises on my knees that hurt.  I get them from kneeling on the ropes on the boat.  I was a little bit nervous about the next day sailing and having to kneel all over again.

We woke up bright and early the next morning ready for a day of racing.  However, when we got to the beach the wind was blowing pretty strong.  This regatta had a cap of 20 knots which meant we wouldn't start a race if it was blowing that hard.  So the race committee went out and read the winds.  At 9am it was already "blowing like stink" as they say and the locals and the local weather forecast said that it would just keep building throughout the day.  So they called off all races for the day.  This got mixed reactions.  Some, like me, were excited because it meant a day for exploring and hiking.  Others wanted us to hang around just in case the wind backed down (which it did...).  Anyway, we went out for lunch and then went hiking.  We found so many cool water falls! We hiked to a couple and then our group split, with the more adventurous of us continuing on to the top.  On our way back down the mountain we found a nice secluded waterfall pool.  The water was so cold it hurt my bones! I went in up to my knees, but that was really all I could handle.  If I had had a change of clothes, or my bathing suit, or really just a shorter walk to the car once I was done, I would have jumped in like the Canadians did.  Someday I'll do it, because it looked like so much fun!

At the end of the hike we had to go get the van to drive everyone home.  It was really only a half mile down the road, but Jim and Chris wouldn't stop arguing about who would go get it.  Jim didn't want Chris to go because he didn't think it was safe for a woman to walk down the road by herself, and Chris didn't want Jim to go because she wanted him to rest after such a long hike.  So as they sat arguing they stopped a car to ask for a ride, and low and behold, it was full of women! So Chris won and left to get the car while the rest of us got ice cream cones.

After that we went to pick up Abby who was with the rest of the Canadians, and got sucked into staying for a little while to chat.  We went to the Washington side for dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then went to bed for the night, sure that we would get some sailing in the next day.

Wednesday morning came and we all got up nice and early and arrived at the marina where we were greeted with a sign that said "All races postponed until 1500".  Nobody was too happy about waking up early just to find out we could have slept in.  So we just waited around the marina all day.  We went to the cafe and played cards and had lunch while we waited.  1500 came, and the wind wasn't done yet, so we waited another hour.  Then they sent us out for a few races.  The last race ended and the sun went down.  The race committee was about to start another race, but the racers protested.  Three was enough, it was about 2000 and everyone was ready to eat and put away their boats for the night.  So we went in.  We got cleaned up and went to dinner.  Only dinner wasn't ready yet. It was a seafood stew, which was good, but we are not convinced it was worth waiting so late for.  We got a late bedtime that night.

Thursday morning was again, very windy.  So we waited.  Only this time they sent us out earlier.  I think we were starting races by 1500 if not a little earlier. It was very windy when we were out there.  I was pretty scared because I didn't want to flip.  At the start of this day I believe we were in first place, but not by much.  I didn't want to make a mistake that would cost us our place.  Jim kept saying "no mistakes girl, no mistakes".  So I decided to tell Jim that I was nervous about tacking and ask for a little more time just so that we didn't flip.  That day a lot of boats went in and didn't race because it was so windy.  I suspect we were sailing in winds higher than 20 knots.  I think we had 4 races and ended the day in a tie for first place.  The way that they break ties is to count who has more first places, which we had the same of, so then they count the number of second places, which we luckily had more of.  That night dinner wasn't provided and it was very late again.  By the time we were ready to eat it was 2100 and nothing in the tiny town of Cascade Locks was open, not even the grocery store.  So we had to drive 20 minutes out to Hood River to find a McDonalds.  We ate in the car and went right to bed because the racing committee had announced earlier in the day that the first race would start at 0800 the next morning.

We woke up so early and it was so cold, and it was windy...but we raced.  I was scared, but not willing to give it up.  As it turned out the wind kept getting stronger, so we only raced two races that last day, which was enough for us to secure first place.

We cleaned up and waited for the award dinner.  The dinner was delicious!! Lots of good food and good desserts.  After the awards were handed out we said our goodbyes and hit the road.  We had to be in Salt Lake City in the morning for a trade show.  We drove through the night.  The trade show was huge and we arrived during it's final hours.  So I took Chris' son and Abby and we walked around looking for free stuff while Jim and Chris did business at the Hobie booth.  We got some friendly chatty people, and some people that were a little mean and looked at us like we were trying to steal something or spy on them.  Either way it was fun because the event was so huge.

After that we drove through the night.  Abby and I kept Chris company when she took over and drove until 0100.  We jammed out to music for a long  time.  Then, the gas light came on.  Jim's van is notorious for running out of gas.  Essentially, if that light comes on, you have two miles (maybe) to find gas.  We were not close to gas.  Jim woke up in the chaos and told us to keep going when we almost exited to a town we would have had to drive a ways to.  So we kept driving.  Maybe the poor van was running off our our combined adrenaline, because somehow we made it to the gas station in time.  The gas station called Fat Dogs with the slogan "You Are Nowhere" right next  to it's name.  Jim says it could have said "You Are Now Here".

We kept driving for what seemed like forever.  I can't really sleep in Jim's van because whenever I put my head down, it's vibrating so much it makes my cheeks itch.  Go ahead and laugh, because that's what everyone else did, but it's true!

Finally we made it to Des Moines! I knew we were taking a boat home with us from Jim's shop, but I didn't realize that the boat was in parts, and would be taking up the ENTIRE BED OF THE TRUCK!! So Chris' son and I were squished in the back of the truck with our luggage all the way to Kansas City.  Once there, they loaded my stuff into their little mustang and Chris drove me to Warsaw where E picked me up! It was so so kind of her, seeing as she probably was way more tired than I was because she actually drove some pretty long legs of that journey.

I arrived back on post at 2200 on Sunday night, eager to hear all about what E had been up to all week.

Just for a quick recap for all of you, on Wednesday, I believe, E got tazed.  He sent me the video and posted it on FB, and it didn't look like fun.  On Friday E got OC sprayed.  Hot pepper oil spray in their eyes, then they have to do a little obstacle course where they have to fight, take people down to handcuff them, answer questions, and stuff like that.  We had been told that it lasts for a really long time, and that when you shower it reactivates everything and it feels just as bad as when you first got sprayed.  However, E said it wasn't that bad after all. He did some volunteer hours this weekend, and generally had a pretty good week.

Well, that about sums up the last week for us!