Good one Ralph! Can't wait for tomorrow... oooo....scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don B -----Original Message----- From: Ralph E. Ahseln <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 2:39 am Subject: catalina27-talk: Race Day III Race Day Chapter III Other boats were beginning to dissolve out of the foggy drizzle as we pulled away from the committee boat. Soft focus body shapes in red or yellow foulweather gear moved around each vessel. It was a surreal slow motion movie. To anyone but a sailor during Fall regatta, it would have been spooky. I watched each boat as it swung by the committee checking the course for the day. I tried to guess who our major competitors would be. Mason must have figured out what I was up to because he snorted and called out, “We’ll have to watch out for 3 boats today. The fastest is the “Glory”. The smartest skipper is John in “Firebush” and the consistent winner is “ Mi Corazón”. We’ll have to play Bloody good to beat either one of them today. But Janell and I think that all of us working together can do it. What do you say gang?” Everyone cheered. Even I was caught up with the pep talk and “High 5’d “Kevin. Beth did a little jig while standing out on the bow. And Chuck, the strong man, pounded his fist into his hand. Adrenaline was rushing. How could this trip not be fun? The first warning sounded and about 20 boats all started their “Square Dance” moves. All circling and jockeying for what they thought would be the favored spot. Mason and Janell had decided for a timed run to the line to forego all that sparring. The wind had picked up to around 12 knots still from the Southwest. We were about 3 minutes from the start. It seemed to me we were way too far off the line to make it in time. Janell shouted, “Harden up, everyone” and we were off and running FAST! I couldn’t believe it. We were on Port tack, Flying and aimed square for the bow of the committee boat. We were going to smack it for sure. Then Kevin was counting “One minute”. We were rail down and straight on course for the committee boat. “30 seconds” …Kevin calmly called out… “15” …… “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5" .... Beth on the bow spread her arms out wide, slowly bringing them closer together. “4, 3 “ Damn! There in front of us was a ripple of water… A LIFT! Janell softly touched the wheel as the lift hit us and we slid along the committee boat side with just inches to spare. …..” 2, 1,” “HONK! “ Geez-us ! It was brilliant! This WAS going to be fun! I trimmed to each tiny puff. I’d never been so good at it. I watched Kevin “play” the main. He was a master. The mainsheet was boom ended with the sheet running back to mid boom.There a “Head Knocker” was installed under the boom. Kevin could stand on the cabin steps; look up at the main from the bottom and trim. He was a genius and quick. With Chuck cranking the winches, I could “tweak” the headsail by millimeters. Beth was at the mast calling out every puff she saw coming. Janell had a mother’s hands on the wheel. Gentle and caressing with subtle moves at every little puff and change. We were approaching the Weather mark when ,Quietly, Mason called out “Ummm, Just for the heck of it.....Let’s bring up the Chute and prepare to set it”. He was going to gamble on Janell’s intuition that there would be a major shift in wind! The Turtle was set on the pulpit; Beth had the sheets out and the halyard on in a flash. Then the wind suddenly went to nothing! All the sails went limp.. Our boat speed began to drop. We had just barely enough movement to make it to the Mark. Janell’s hands “kissed” the wheel and we started a slow turn. Just as we had cleared the mark…..Beth shouted, “Big action on the water behind us!” We all turned and looked. There were “White horses” breaking the tops of the water. The wind had done a BIG shift and was coming from the Northwest, Lots of it. Chuck heaved on the halyard; “Pwop” the chute filled with a sound like a gun shot. I released the Genny; Kevin had the sail down on the deck and flaked before the chute had stopped yawing. Beth had the pole hooked on and I sheeted in. I looked around to see the other boats in mass confusion. Sails flying in all directions. And a lot of cursing going on behind us. We just had made a good 5 boat lengths on “Glory” and almost 10 on “Firebush”. “ Mi Corazon” wasn’t even close. Janell had guessed a change in wind. But even she hadn’t figured out how much. We had the gods by the tail and we were hanging on! Running is one of the quietest times sailing. There are no wind sounds. You hear only the rush of water going by the hull and the occasional word spoken. After a few moments we all began to hear it. A low, distant Rumble. A sound like a far off earthquake. It would rise and lower in intensity. Then seem to fade away. Only to return a little while later. There was a slight drizzle still, so we couldn’t see the shoreline. Chuck thought it might be a Jet airplane warming up or a railroad engine on a track off in the distance. What ever it was, it got on everyone’s nerves. We made the Leeward mark, dropped the spinnaker, set the Genny and headed for the finish line. The Rumbling stopped! In a few minutes,"Yesterdays" had crossed the finish line a half mile ahead of the next boat. One race down, with a “Bullet”. Mase had gotten his First and it had been FAST. Only 4 more to go in this 5 race series. The next 3 races ended up pretty much the same. We took first across the line each time. Oh, we had some really close finishes. The 2nd race, we crossed the line with only a 4 second delta. The 4th day, with winds over 25 knots and gusting, we damn near T-boned “Firebush” as we tacked across her bow. The team of Mason and Janell were brilliant with tactics and daring. We crew busted our butts and never had a bad set or trim. We were a perfect machine. Only one thing kept us from being euphoric and giddy over our wins…… That damned RUMBLE! By now we’d figured out that it only happened on our Spinnaker runs. Another thing, it was late Fall and the daylight was starting to fail. It was getting dark and, oddly, there always seemed to be a fog or drizzling rain during each race. The dark and the reduced visibility made the Rumbling sound even more mysterious. We couldn’t figure out what it was and it was really starting to “bug” us. But, the sound would stop as soon as we dropped the Chute to start our dash to the finish line. It was so weird! It was Tuesday. I stood at the outer end of Hidden Cove’s “F” row suited up in my “Banana” yellow foulies. The last Tuesday of the Fall series. The 5th race. And it was another Foggy drizzly evening. “Yesterdays” came ghosting into the marina. I could make out the others quietly standing. No one was waving or shouting like they’d done before. The boat slid up alongside the dock, not stopping, as it had done before. I stepped on board, as I had done before. But his time it was all different. No smiles or High “5’s” from the crew. I guessed they all had put their “game face” on for this last race. The idea of 5 straight wins must have gotten to everybody. It was palpable. By the time we had made our way to the committee boat, what daylight there was… had faded. It made the drizzle and fog all the more gloomy. Beth called out the course as we passed the posted sign. It was going to be another “Down and Back” race. We should win this one with no problems. I don’t think anyone thought it was going to be all that much “fun” anymore. Just a Task we wanted to finish. We could celebrate afterwards. The winds were light and Fluky. Mostly from the North but swinging back to the West in little gusts. It was going to be a ..long.. Last race. Janell and Mason had decided, that because of the unpredictable winds, we would Jockey around at the start line. We had, by now, figured out that we were quicker than any other boats, so we probably could win the line easily. The count down went smoothly. And, again, we crossed the line before the rest of the fleet. On a Close Reach we probably would only have one or two tacks to the mark. At the windward mark we’d turn and set the “Big Nylon” then settle in for the long slow down wind leg. As planned, we made the corner and did a good Set. The light winds barely, but finally filled the big sail. Did I mention that the spinnaker was all White with an Hour Glass graphic covering almost the entire space? Showing all the sands of the glass having passed through. I guess IT and the name “Yesterday’s” had some kind of meaning. I’d made a joke about that the first day. No one had laughed. We were all at our spots doing our jobs. No one spoke or moved very much. It was our lone boat... moving slowly in a dark gray void. Then, it started again! That Low Rumble. That ominous sound. Like thunder far away. But this time it seemed louder! And CLOSER! What wind there had been, suddenly left us. Not a breath of breeze. We were becalmed, going nowhere in a world of shapeless gray. Setting there listening to that damned Rumbling. Around us the fog and drizzle had turned everything to almost full darkness. We strained to see if we could locate any of the other boats, but we couldn’t. “Yesterdays” was just out here...Alone........"wrapped up” in the gloomy wet. Mason told Kevin to turn on the RUNNING lights. It gotten so dark that "We’d better be legal” he said. Light from the stern lamp seemed to spread out behind us. Stop at about 6 feet, then disappear. And, it was getting darker. And…..The Rumble was getting LOUDER and LOUDER! No one said a word. We kept turning around to look and listen. It was Beth, who in a loud whisper, was the first to say, “It’s BEHIND US! And … and, I think it’s getting closer” She was right. The Rumble had changed into a sort of Pulsing Growl. “Brrrowl Brrrowl, Brrrrrrowl…..” Over and over and over…. Getting louder each passing second. I must have been the first to see the light… There,through the now deep dark gray fog, A small “Sun” high above us… Glowing through the mist.. Pale yellow… Like an eye of some Primordial Beast. A blinking Sun turning …. ON and OFF, On and OFF, On and OFF… Now the Thundering Growl was so loud we had to shout to each other to be heard. And that awful eye “blinked” down at us. Staring,….. So pale! IT… Was upon us! ALL Around us! Our entire world was covered by Blackness so dark and overwhelming we couldn’t move. Beth screamed; George was on his knees; Kevin had tears streaming down his face in fear. Mason and Janell were clutching each other. Their faces pressed into each other. I closed my eyes and held my hands over my ears to shut out that awful noise… Then …….SILENCE! The Rumbling had STOPPED! I opened my eyes.. The Blackness was gone. A few yards ahead I could see the leeward mark. A light West wind had sprung up and the boat was moving again. All my fellow mates were standing in complete shock. What we’d all seen a moment ago... Was ......gone! Slowly everyone began to move and work about the boat again. We rounded the mark and after a half hour or so, crossed the finish line. We’d seen no other boats pass us so we assumed that the final FIRST place was ours. A very weak “Hooray” went up from us all. During the trip back to Hidden Cove marina, there wasn’t much talking. As I stepped off the boat, Mase quietly said… “We’ll see you at the Awards banquet Saturday, won’t we? It’ll be at the Sextant Tavern at 7:00“. “I’ll be there. I wouldn’t miss it for the world” I shouted back. I waved at them as the boat pulled away. They all waved back and the boat slowly dissolved back into the fog; I stayed on the dock to watch that weak stern light finally fade away into the mist. My knees still shaking a little, I turned and walked up the ramp and to my car setting in the dark of the parking lot, As I Slowly drove home, I kept repeating. “You damned right I’ll be there.…… (To Be Continued) r.ahseln October 2007 ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com
