FALLING IN LOVE WITH MOTHER OCEAN!
And then my Dad bought a boat!
And not just a boat... but a 50' racing sailboat, the Cotton Blossom II.
Richard was always prone to take flamboyant and eccentric flyers. These included flying his own twin engine airplane, creating a 63 horse thoroughbred breeding farm and a buying a 500 head cattle ranch in Oregon.
These were always fine with me! Even as a kid, I got to be a Pilot, a Horse Breeder and a Cowboy!
And now, a Sailor?
So when he bought the Blossom out of the blue, when I was just just 17, I queried, "But... none of us know how to sail !"
We, as a family then took sailing lessons, and learned to sail and race aboard the CB II.
I loved being on Mother Ocean!
Whether on the starting line beginning a race, or on an overnight race around Anacapa Island, or quietly anchored in a cove at Catalina, I felt totally grounded being on the Sea.
But in the inactivity between races, my overly competitively teenaged spirit demanded more racing. So Dave Croshere, a crewmate on the Cotton Blossom II, and I decided to buy and campaign a racing sailboat.
A sailing magazine described the Flying Dutchman as a 2 man, high performance, potent planing dingy, and an Olympic Class boat.
At 20' x 6' in size, with a total weight of only 350 pounds, yet with 400 square feet of sail and a trapeze to increase our human ballast, this sounded perfect... a challenging boat that could really fly!
For the next 3+ years, we raced almost every weekend in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or down in San Diego. We also took summer cross country road trips to Chicago, Annapolis, Houston, Niagara on the Lake and Montreal.
At first we towed the FD on a trailer to get to the next race, but then we switched to roof topping the boat on a station wagon or a camper so we could drive at the legal speed limit, while really protecting the hull.
Sailing to weather in 15 knots of wind!
What a challenge it was to learn how to sail this boat. And then how to make it go fast!
As the wind grew in strength, it was hard to keep from heeling and tipping over. There is no keel with a stabilizing counter weight on the Flying Dutchman, only a 4' deep centerboard to give us lateral resistance through the water.
So we learned how to bend the mast and boom in order to flatten the main sail, and how to open the slot between the main and genoa, to make the wind flow thru freer.
And to increase our weight on the trapeze, we would wear sweatshirts. A wet sweatshirt weighs about 5 pounds, so by donning 5, this added about 25 pounds of leverage, at an optimum 6 feet outboard to windward.
Our main strategy was to keep the boat flat and on her lines. Going into the wind, we would set the boat and sails up for the wind and sea conditions, and then steer as close as we could into the wind, while maintaining the boat's heeling level by hiking out more and easing the main sail traveler as needed.
As our skill level and experience improved, so did our positions on the podium. And in the national rankings.
We placed in 2 different Olympic Trials. We finished in 5th and in 8th Place, but only 1 boat from each Country could go.
Bummer... but what a quest!!!
We ultimately peaked by winning the North American Flying Dutchman Championship on San Francisco Bay! We placed first against about 50 boats on the starting line... from 6 different countries!
It helped that the wind blew 20 to 25 knots for each race, and that we were young and strong.
Dave and I weighed about 400 pounds combined... more than the entire boat and rig. And at 6' 3" extended on the trapeze, with only my feet on the side of the hull, I provided near perfect leverage to help keep the boat flat, and in balance.
What a thrill it was to lead the fleet, winning the 7 race regatta!
And then after collecting the trophies, we were thrown into the Bay by our proud competitors.
After years of tasting salt water several times a week, I missed the Sea when I wasn't there.
Years before Jimmy Buffett put it into words and song, I knew the feeling!
I am in love with Mother Ocean!
