Saturday, November 10, 2012

2012 US Disabled Sailing Championships

October 25, 2012: It's Thursday morning and the dining room at Southwestern Yacht Club is packed. Betsy Alison, Coach for the US Paralympic Sailing Team, is putting on a racing clinic for the competitors in the Rolex National Championship Regatta. As Betsy's marker squeaks across the dry-erase board, I gaze around the room in admiration. Disabled sailors have gathered from across the country, and they have brought with them an impressive variety of adaptive technology. State-of-the-art prosthetic limbs and ultra-light sport wheelchairs fill the room. One sailor drives her power-chair (and her sailboat) with a joystick controlled by her chin. Amputation, muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injury, ALS...whatever disability qualifies each of us for this regatta, we are all sailors, and we're here to race. Some competitors are old hands with years of experience. Other sailors, including myself, are relatively new to organized sailboats racing. Today is a practice day and we are sailing a few short races so competitors can get a feel for their boats, crews, and for the Racing Rules of Sailing. The Racing Rules the of Sailing is 172 pages of nautical legalese that dictates how sailors conduct a regatta. The RRS are quite comprehensive (right down to how much clothing you may wear (Rule 43.1(b): no more than 8 kilograms!) and they give sailors plenty to think about (because maneuvering a sailboat in close proximity to dozens of other moving boats isn't enough), especially when sailing back to the yacht club with a fresh hole in the side of the boat. At any time other than a race, the behavior of racing sailors would certainly be considered reckless. Anchor a committee boat in the middle of the fray, however, and all of a sudden, an inconsiderate, imprudent sailor becomes a bold tactician. Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining. Racing is fun and it's the only time you can sail this aggressively and not get cited by the Coast Guard.
October 26, 2012: The first day of actual racing and we arrive at the marina to find all the flags hanging straight down - not a breath of wind to fill our sails, thanks to the Santa Ana weather pattern that has developed. High pressure over the Southwestern US has pushed hot desert air into the area and my teammate Ryan is sweating as he paddles us out toward the race venue (Sorry bro, if I could hold a paddle I would). The race committee has postponed the noon start for lack of wind, but the breeze starts to fill in around 1pm. We manage to get in two races before the 4pm cut-off and Ryan and I notch a 4th and a 2nd in the heats, leaving us in a respectable 3rd place overall...we are cautiously optimistic.
October 27, 2012: Saturday, our second day of racing and we are excited to get out there and grab some bullets (1st place in a heat). The beautiful weather has inspired every possible boater in San Diego to get out on the water. San Diego Bay is churning with the boat wakes of excursion vessels,navy warships, and large power-yachts and the tiny Martin 16 is bobbing about like a rubber duck in a bathtub. To save time, the race organizers have towed most of the fleet out to the racecourse. The wind is more cooperative today, but our boat is not. I find the steering very stiff and I struggle to make the minute course corrections that can mean the difference between a fast close-hauled reach and luffing sails. After two good starts we are frustrated to see our competitors leaving us in their wake. We sail past a safety boat and ask them to inspect our underwater appendages... our suspicions are confirmed: somewhere along the way we have snagged some kelp with our bulb keel. We back the boat down, lose the cursed seaweed, and sail the third and final race of the day. Two 5ths and a 4th knock us down to fifth overall. Cursed Seaweed.
October 28, 2012: After a last-minute adjustment to the tension in the steering lines that connect my joystick helm to the boat's rudder, I was both elated and infuriated. The boat now steered the way it should and I was kicking myself for having not fixed it yesterday. The wind was very light today and, unlike the previous few days, was expected to stay light (10 knots or less). A handily sailed 2nd place in the first heat had our spirits up- I was thrilled to have good helm control and we were sailing well. And then the wind dropped. We drifted around the marks until the tide carried us sideways across the finish line into 4th place for the heat. We improved to 4th place overall for the regatta, finishing just shy of the podium. Nonetheless, I had fun, finished every race, avoided injury/drowning, met some inspiring people, and took home a cool hat. I look forward to applying all I learned (which was more than I expected on many levels) at the next race. I can't adequately express my gratitude and admiration to Southwestern Yacht Club, US Sailing, Challenged America, and the crew of volunteers that made this event happen. Without people and organizations like you, a lot of sailors like me would be stranded, watching regattas from the beach. Thank you!