Off to the Races – Sailing Windara

I was talking to a friend who’s relatively new to sailing about how much racing improved my sailing skills, and I mentioned that I wouldn’t have had the confidence to cruise to The Bahamas had I not raced. The lessons I’ve learned about sailing an efficient course and always looking for that little bit more boat speed matter, but what I realized was more important is that I got used to being outside my comfort zone and it being ok. Coat-of-paint-close crossings, broaches, running downwind with the spinnaker up with building winds and thunderstorms all around… I could list a million examples where I was well out of my comfort zone, but being surrounded by competent sailors whose responses indicated either “this is fine” or “this is a problem, let’s focus on dealing with it as efficiently as possible” helped me get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Coming to sailing later in life, I hadn’t yet developed that skill as it relates to sailing, and let’s be honest – it’s a hard skill to learn from a spouse. Getting to and from The Bahamas introduced a million scenarios where I was outside my comfort zone, but I now have the tools to handle it. I’ve been lucky to crew regularly for two incredibly talented skippers and sub in for several others, and I’m so thankful for the opportunities they’ve given me to grow.

Our friend for whom we regularly crew upgraded from a J/33 to a J/109 this season, and I was excited to learn the new boat. It took me a while to get back into the cadence of pit on a boat with a pole, and being several months behind the rest of the crew in terms of learning curve, I had more than a few races where I felt like the weakest link. I have terrible impostor syndrome, and I amplify every tiny thing I do wrong in my own head, so after a weekend with what I considered to be back-to-back poor showings on my part, I started to question whether I belonged out there. I had an honest chat with my friend where I mentioned I was considering bowing out, but he talked me out of it. I don’t know if it was coincidence, being empowered to have more ownership over my role, or knowing that the pressure to perform was self-imposed (or all of the above), but after that weekend everything seemed to fall into place.

We had a great season, and the time flew by. Can One, our Thursday night race series, is a favorite of mine – it’s a great excuse to spend time on the water with friends every Thursday and enjoy some incredible sunsets. As the sun started to set earlier and earlier, I knew our time was growing short, and just like that, it was over. And shortly thereafter, we’d sailed our final weekend races. I had a miserable migraine for the last day of racing but pushed through, even though I ended up getting sick on the downwind leg. But I wouldn’t have missed that last race for the world.

I never imagined racing would become such a major part of my life, but the bug definitely bit, and I’m so thankful I got to spend our time here racing with a great group of people who I’m privileged to call friends.