Airodoodle Competes in the J24 2006 Womens Championship Regatta
Finally I am getting a chance to sit down and report to you all on one of the best J24 events yet, the J24 Womens Championship Regatta. The regatta was held last weekend in Marion, Ma, racing venue Buzzards Bay, and boy did BB live up to it’s reputation as one of the most exciting bodies of water to sail a boat. The weather on Friday was so typical, with SSW winds blowing 25 knots against the current making for big, BIG chop. FUN! Before I get into the details of weather and racing however, I have got to take a minute to brag a bit about the rock star crew on the boat. The boat was run by 6 amazing women. Starting from the pointy end and working back we had Leanne Smith, Pip Earl, Diane Economedes, Julie Femino, (substituted by Vita Berg on Sunday,) Rachel Allen and myself Diane Denman. What a group! Smart, strong, patient, fearless and alot of fun! I could not have asked for a better crew for my first time on the helm in a regatta. (Did I mention they were fearless?)
As I was saying, the first day of racing started with 25 knots and big chop. “We” were psyched, “I” was a little scared. Ok, psyched and scared I guess. We had 20 minutes ’til the start of the first race and we were in our practice mode of sailing upwind, getting some numbers, testing the rig, setting the chute, making sure everything’s run right, when on the call for “HOIST!”, the spinn halyard, ONLY the spin halyard, went straight to the top of the mast. Damn. This was were Julie earned her stripes. She did not hesitate to begin making a series of bowlines which quickly produced a lovely bosum’s chair into which she climbed and rocking and reeling under bare poles, up up up she went. (Did I mention strong and fearless?) Well the halyard was retrived and we made it back to the line in time to pull off a fairly good pin end start in the first race of the regatta. We carried the genoa during the first two races of the day. The upwind legs were hard work but great. The downwind legs were hairy!, but successful. No broaching, no crazy manouvers, just fast downwind sailing! Man that boat can hum a tune. The crew did such a great job on the jybes downwind, Leanne you rock! You SHOW that pole who’s boss! Upwind, Pip and Diane on controls, calling puffs, waves and traffic allowed me to concentrate on just driving the boat, keeping her ON her feet upwind and UNDER our feet downwind. It was cool. We had the boat in 5th place at the first windward mark and held that position for the whole race finishing in 5th. We were happy. Rachel had to have been tired but wouldn’t admit it. We pushed on with the genoa for the second race. Popped the chute again at the windward mark in 3rd place, very fast ride downwind, getting us quickly to the leward mark, still in 3rd. The breeze built on the 2nd upwind leg and we managed to leg it out enough on the fourth place boat and the leaders managed to leg it out enough on us, that the crew made the wise choice not to pop the shoot at the windward mark and sail the downwind leg wing on wing. Hey I said we were smart, not proud. 3 day regatta, lets not beat up the trimmer and risk a chute tearing, crew member losing, rig damaging incident if it’s not necessary. I was more than happy with the decision. We had the chute ready to hoist if #4 started getting close, but never needed it. Finished 3rd. We were really happy. Third race of the day was one which does not require alot of discussion. Overearly, didn’t hear about it until we were half way up, turned back, dipped the start, sailed the windward/leward, determined we weren’t catching anyone in this race, so we called it a throw out and ate lunch. Fun first day, with our DNF/18 we were in 8th overall. Great party that night at a “private home”, as it was listed in the schedule of events. Well this “home” just so happened to be giant, right on the water at the mouth of Marion harbor, with a live band playing on the deck and free Gosslings under a lawn tent. Life was good. The “welcome party” held the previous evening was great as well. Another live band, free rum, on the beach at the Piny Point Beach Club. These women know how to throw a party. Back to the racing………
The second day started with a bit lighter breeze 10-15, still out of the SSW, less chop though. The start of the first race gave me my first “we gotta get outta here” experience. The crew knew we couldn’t live with the start we had so the call to tack came immediately after the gun went off. And dippin and a duckin and a shootin’ boats we went through the fleet. It was very exciting. Most of the time the driver’s movements on the helm are supposed to be small and quiet, but not during this maneouver. You really get to drive the boat like a race car, which is really what we all want to do. It was fun and we got outta’ there. We rounded the windward mark in 5th, the leeward in 4th and then something happened that felt real good upwind. The lead boats started covering us. My crew told me it was because they were “scared of us”. I liked this. We were “cover-worthy”!, I knew that was good. We finished in third. We were very happy, but not as happy as we were gonna’ be that day. The second race of the day produced a 6th place finish. We weren’t really as happy with this. So we talked a bit about things and changed the rig a bit, it was getting a little lighter and Julie thought a few turns off would do us some good. Well let me tell you, that boat felt so awesome in that 3rd race, I almost didn’t have to drive her. The rig was perfect, the start was good, the left hand side was the place to be and we got to that windward mark in YES, you guessed it FIRST!!! It was awesome, we were phsyched. The crew did such a great job staying focused that we manged to hold that first place wire to wire!! Not to get too girly and emotional but I had tears in my eyes when we crossed that line. It was the best! The hugs were among us and the excitement didn’t die. We were very very happy. This finish put us in 3rd overall for the regatta!!!!
As we sat at the mooring later that afternoon sipping Mt Gay, reminiscing about the day, and wondering what tomorrow would bring, it hit us that we would have a bit of an added challenge to overcome the next day. Our smart, fearless crew was going to have a little bit of a shake up. Our beloved Julie would be leaving tonight. She had tickets to a Red Sox game that she had been looking forward to for a very long time and it was the next day. How were we going to hold our 3rd place with out her? We were all a little worried, but still fearless. We had a very competent subsititute coming in for the last day and Leanne was brave enough to assume the role of tactition as long as she wasn’t hung out there alone and Pip stepped up to foredeck. It would be a strong group effort and we WOULD hold it together. Julie left us with strict rig instructions and the best Julie “jue-jue” she could work up. She even left her life jacket on board, telling us it would bring us luck and wisdom. She said she had complete confidence in us and to call her with the good news! We said we would.
Well the next day came, the sun came up, the boat left the mooring, the fog came in, the boat came back to the mooring. But, No, No, don’t stop reading, there WAS racing that day. We weren’t gonna get let off that easy. We were gonna’ be asked to earn our 3rd. And earn it we did! The first race brought light air conditions, 5-7 knots. Well I could NOT shift gears. I was still looking for that heavy air feel on the helm and of course it wasn’t there. No big puffs to contend with, no feathering to be done, no waves to ride, how do you do THIS? But Leanne, my big sister, said to me as she sat on the rail during the first race and watched me struggle to get the boat going, “Remember where you come from. Think of the light air Saturdays and Thursday nights at home. That is what you’ve got today. You need to drive to that.” Good advice, (Did I mention smart?) We had got off to a rough start, on the first race and ended up sailing out to the left into a bit of a hole. We were deep, something like 13th. We needed the big shovel and we needed to dig. As we approached the windward mark, we noticed that most of the boats were having a really hard time getting around the mark due to current, so the call was made to overstand a bit, and what a good call that turned out to be. We picked off at least 5 boats at the rounding putting us in 8th place at the mark. We held this position to the finish. Now let me give you a sense of the “feelings” on the boat at this point. We’re fighting for 3rd overall with at least 3 boats for sure. We had just finished with an 8th in that race and 2 of our major competitors for 3rd overall finished with….. are you ready for this?……, a 1st, and a 4th! No we were not comfortable with this. No one was calling Julie with this news. Ok, so one race left. I promised to drive the boat faster, Leanne says something very encouraging about how we CAN do this and the rest of the crew swallows and agrees, so off we go to the last start of the regatta. The flags on the committe boat were calling for a 5 leg race. Our start wasn’t great and we got forced out to the right. We got to the windward mark in 9th. We knew we had work to do. We picked off a couple of boats downwind then headed out to the left side of the course and made out BIG. Rounded the windward mark in 4th place, held 4th through the downwind leg, Leanne took us out to the right side of the course this time and we picked off 2 more! We were in a battle for the bullet now. The last upwind leg was a real nail biter with Nancy Zangerle of “No Twisted Knickers”. During the last few hundred yards of the leg she performed a text book “lee-bow” on us and we just couldn’t live there and were forced to tack away. It was a fight to the finish and Nancy won. But what a time we had fighting! We had protected our position of 3rd overall and we called Julie. I think I heard her exhale as she said “I knew you could do it.” What a weekend, what a regatta, I am so glad I have the story to tell.
I can not finish my story however, without extending a couple of heart-felt thank you’s, the first of which goes to my husband John Denman who helped in so many ways to make the weekend possible for us. You are the best, you are a wonderful man and we love you Boat Boy! Kisses and hugs from your girls forever. Also, we need to send a huge thank you to our friend Katie Collins of local J24, “Giz”, who hosted us all weekend at her home. What a wonderful home she provided us. One block from the yacht club, beds for everyone and an outdoor shower! “Giz over-early and often Kate!” We love you. Lastly, I would like to send a thank you to Mark Toso for the small but effective piece of “optional equipment” he supplied to our team. It seemed to really satisfy the crew. Thank you, I think……….
And for those of you who have never participated in an all women’s sailing event, I thought I might “entertain” you a bit with some of the on/off water chit-chat that goes on. Although the serious racing and subsequent discussions heard over the weekend are very similar to those heard at any J24 regatta, there were some subtle differences in the casual chatter and conversation reminding you that this was an all womens event ………………………………….
“Just leave your pee in the bucket, hand me a water and I’ll flush for you.”
“Where do you get your bikini wax?”
“Damn this razor burn is killing my legs!”
“How’s your dress fitting going?”
“Wearing a thong while trimming was not a good idea. I’ve got ass rash!”
“I love Lionnel Richie!”
“These Helly Hansen foulies suck, my panty liner got washed right outta’ my underpants.” (sorry, but it was heard.)
“How many in your crew? 6, We’re light by 130lbs.”
“Hey my trophy came with flowers in it. That’s a nice touch.”
“Hey they put really nice face creams and hand creams in the Helly Hansen regatta bags.”
“You guys don’t mind if you have to share a twin bed tonight do you? No problem.”
“I love those shorts. Where did you get them? Brooks Pharmacy, $4.”
“Ooooh you have a dog!!!!!!, what kind?”
“Are you part of the Pussy Circus?”
“Hey did you see the North Sail regatta belts their selling. They’re trimmed in pink. I love them.”
“That movie Dirty Dancing makes me so horny.” (that one was my favorite.)
But seriously, it really was great to meet all of the women and congratulations to Sarah Buckley and her team who plain and simple “KICKED ASS!” in this regatta, finishing first with only 12 points! and to Nancy Zangerle and her team who finished 2nd with only 15.
It was a good time.
For a more overall view of the regatta and results you can visit the website at:
http://www.j24fleet16.com/Womensopen/main.htm
Thanks for reading,
Diane
Airodoodle
USA 2109