Sarah's First First Place

[Concordia...41]

Finally!

I haven't had much to post about this last year or so, and with so many new folks a lot of you are going "Huh?"

But for the folks that have followed all or part of the now nine-year saga of my husband and I buying Sarah, starting with minor repairs, ending up embarking on a complete rebuild, and then following as the saga took a sad turn and my husband lost his battle with cancer, to the recent years when I was able to hire a shipwright to finish the project and more than a few Forumites even came down and helped, to the miracle of the launch in October 2007, and then through her baby steps - leaks, lightening strikes, a new main sail, a new mizzen, and various other turns and tribulations, here's a story I think will make you smile.

David Tabor (sailordave) was part of the wonderful network of support during Dave's illness and one of the folks that came down and helped out when Sarah was still in the warehouse. He's here this weekend with his lovely redhead, who some of you met at the 2008 WBS.

Well, they weren't just here to sight see, they came for business. The business of racing Sarah.

We had a nice light sail on Saturday with just the three of us in preparation for yesterday's 2009 Out and Back Race. (Which will be hereafter known as the "Barf and Back Race" but more on that later... )

The Out and Back race has changed some over the years, but is basically a distance race, well, um, er, out and back This year's was interesting because there was no set turning mark. The fleet simply sailed from a start just north of the sea buoy to a point of the tacticians' choosing at 80° 58.00’ .

The course will be from the starting line north of the St. Augustine sea buoy to anywhere on a line of longitude 80° 58.00’ W for Performance fleet, and anywhere on a line of longitude 81° 02.00’ W for Cruising fleet, and back to the St. Augustine sea buoy (STA), overall minimum distance 29.9 NM for Performance fleet, 23.0 NM for Cruising fleet. The starting line is between the Committee Boat to port and the tetrahedral buoy to starboard, set 0.5 NM north of the sea buoy (STA) offshore, or at N 29° 55.45’ W 81° 15.22’, bearing 006° m from STA. Each yacht shall record its own finish time when it is within 300 ft of STA and STA bears 180° m from the helm. Finish times shall be called into the RCS at 904-687-5145 or brought to the after-race party. Times will be GPS time.

It made for some good racing because each boat had to read the wind and conditions, pick their own turning mark along the line, hopefully picking one advantageous to their boat and its best point(s) of sail, and make it back to the sea buoy.

I've been calling them the "A Team" but Sarah had the "Ultra A Team."



Left to Right - David Gage, Claudia, Davis Murray, Carol, David Tabor, Steve Pettengill, yours truly.

[Concordia...41]

My sailing day started with a trip up the mast to replace yet another Windex broken by the cursed birds, and we were a little late getting off the dock, although it's not like they just didn't go ahead a pull the boat out of the slip and take off with me still up the mast, but whatever...

It's greater than 30 minutes from the slip to the Bridge of Lions (which only opens on the half hour) and then another 30 minutes or more out to the sea buoy, so there's no time to dawdle.



Just like yesterday when David, Carol and I went out, it was a stunningly beautiful day and a wonderful treat to be on the water, and we made it to the starting line with maybe 10 minutes to spare.

David Tabor can chime in with some interesting things he noted at the start, but the bottom line was that we nailed it and took of to our not-randomly-selected turning coordinates.



One of the Davids can chime in more details, but the Wind Gods pretty much delivered conditions for Sarah (N and NNW 13-15)

[Concordia...41]

Unfortunately, not to long after this picture was taken, Margo realized she should have taken her Dramamine sooner. I tried various tactics as far as ignoring the situation and /or just working through it, but I don't think we were more than halfway to the turning mark when the inevitable (for me at least) occurred and I spent the majority of the next 3.5 hours curled up in the salon in various variations of the fetal position.

It really sucks because I'm fine when I'm horizontal. Within say five minutes of lying down, I feel fine, but if I start to sit up, the nausea hits again. So I'm down below, listening to everyone, feeling like a real piece of crap for not being able to help, but for the most part comfortable and warm. It was obvious though from the water coming in around the hatches, the guys on the rail were neither.

So no thanks to me we made it Out and Back . We had three boats finish ahead of us, but all owed us time - and by my calculations - after occasionally struggling to my feet and attempting to participate by at least writing down the finish times as we heard them called in over the VHF - we had it.

[Concordia...41]

FWIW though, the character in my stories known as Captain Ride My Ass was super nice (to me), but David Gage being the next step in the food chain.... well, let's just say no one ask him any questions about the new Garmin Colorado series GPS... I think David Tabor got called on a couple of things too. (Welcome to my world guys ) And it's not that he's harsh or anything, but you can be just a nano-second away from doing something and in the split split second it takes you to act on whatever you were thinking of doing, he'll point out the sheet line that's about to get caught or whatever.

Back on dry land with good humor restored:



The finish times aren't up on the website just yet, but they should be soon and I'll add a link.

But here's the net result:

[elf]

Unfortunately, not to long after this picture was taken, Margo realized she should have taken her Dramamine sooner.

Oh man, Margo. How does someone who needs Dramamine come to love sailing!

Now that's devotion.

[Thad]

Good going SARAH, crew, and Margo too!!! Beautiful sailing day here too!

[Hwyl]

Congratulations. Seems you have a fast team.

[Paul Pless]

Big Congratulations to you and Sarah. Thanks for continueing with the updates too!

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

Too Cool, congrats

[Noah]

Nice job! It sure feels good doesn't it? We managed a couple of firsts this year as well - it was a long haul, but not as long as yours.

[Vince Brennan]

Unfortunately... Margo realized she should have taken her Dramamine sooner.

... It really sucks because I'm fine when I'm horizontal. Within say five minutes of lying down, I feel fine, but if I start to sit up, the nausea hits again.

Ahh, you have the advantage on me. The only thing that quells my Mal De Mer is a large Oak tree and a seated position, á lá "Nelson's Advice". Not even scopolamine is consistantly prophylactic, so I watch from the shore rather than becoming miserable ballast. I envy you that you get on the water at all.

Congratulations to SARAH and her valiant crew!

"Yawl" done good.

[Figment]

Good boat, good crew, good work!

[Russ Manheimer]

Great news. Nice to hear from you again Margo. Give our best to David and Claudia.

[StevenBauer]

Nice! And a sticky, too.



Steven

[Concordia...41]

Yeah. A first place trophy and a sticky! I don't know how it could get any better!

- M

[brad9798]

Way cool, Margo. Sarah (because of you) has been a long-standing inspiration for my family!!!

psst: Did I miss the life jackets ... or weren't there any in those pix? It was the FIRST thing my kids pointed out to me ...

[Hwyl]

Seasick sufferers should try Stugeron, it's not available in the US, but you can get it mail order from Canada. It works differently to the other drugs.

I've also had luck, amazingly, with Coca Cola syrup.

I hope you were in a fetal position on the windward side. A flat boat is a fast boat.

[David Tabor (sailordave)]

Well I don't know about "ULTRA A TEAM" but we sure had a good time kicking St. Augustine derriere!
(Personally I think Steve and Davis could have sailed the boat the whole race and done as well)

So the story is this. As M said I came down a few years ago (to sunny and WARM Florida) (Lefty hates that!) to give Margo a hand. I had some time, needed a getaway and ...anyway.

So this past spring I get an email saying how me and the redhead (they met last year at the WBS) have to come down and do a race so I can go sailing on SARAH. One thing after another precluded that and all of a sudden it's Sept and there are two races left in the season. So this weekend's OUT AND BACK was gonna be IT.
Well Margo is a devine hostess and we had the tour Friday afternoon/evening when we got here. (Remember, all things Delta MUST go through Atlanta!)
Saturday morning dawns and of course M is already up and fired into the day. Asks me what we want to do for the day. I said, well Carol would probably wanna go sailing (no outlet malls for her!) and of course what do you think I wanted to do?
Off we went. M has already described what is necessary to get out to the sailing grounds so I won't repeat. We had a great couple of hours on the water, SARAH handles like a dream and has such a seakindly motion.
Yes, this was my first time actually sailing a Concordia!

Saturday evening we had a cookout w/ Dave and Claudia Gage coming up from the Tampa area. And of course the "Pros from Dover" (If you've read M*A*S*H you''ll "get" that reference).
The evening devolved into many iterations of imbibing and story telling and guitar playing.

Sunday. Yes, I'm finally getting to the really juicy stuff!

So there isn't much I can add to this except I must comment on something we talked about last night on the way home from the Yacht Club. (actually we kinda floated home, M was sooooo happy!)

COME ON DAVE, GET ON WITH IT!!!

Okay alright already, so RIGHT before the start, I mean like less than a minute to go, I'm thinking... These guys are good at this but WE'RE GOING TO BE EARLY AND OVER!!!!. We were approaching the committee boat and we were the WINDWARD boat. Nah. Steve yells over at the boat next to us, this gorgeous Alerion 38... PORT, COMING DOWN!!!
Now many of you are probably doing what I did at this point and that's shake your head and think, WTF?? I could understand if this was Oz or Kiwi land and the rules were upside down... but do folks in Florida really have a different set of racing rules??

What happened next was hilarious; not only did the Alerion bear away and turn down the line, but SO did the boat next to them. There were like 3 or 4 boats (us being one) all steering down the line so as not to be over early. Gun goes off, we come up and away we go! Never seen anything like it before.
As M said last night it's the "Steve" effect. He b.s.ed them bigtime, but then again he also kept them from being over or having a major collision trying to avoid being over.

I just shook my head and thought of the nightmare it would have been if the other boats had said, NAH, WE'RE LEEWARD!!! WE ARE coming UP; YOU move!

Capt. R.M.A. really didn't although I did get a swat on the arse TWICE b/c I inadvertently was blocking Davis's view of the GPS and he couldn't see his course. I only paused momentarily in my scramblings around the boat and of course it was the on place I THOUGHT I was out of the way. THIS was a big issue w/ him b/c there is NO FREAKING COMPASS on SARAH!! So he's steering off a little portable GPS. Once I figured this out I made certain to stay out of the way.

Not much else I can add except it was a wonderful day, reach out and back so the ride was SCHWEEET! A little cool when you got spray on you but the actual water was warm. And jeeze, when you know you're KICKING BUTT, it's all good! As we approached the finish mark Margo had been recording the times of the boats ahead of us and it became apparent that we would correct out over them and the boats behind us owed us time so.... Her customary smile was even bigger than usual!

Alas, all good things must come to an end; The Redhead and I will be departing SGJ in a few hours for the fall weather of Virginia.

A BIG thank you to Margo for her gracious hospitality and a perfect weekend! If I had placed an order for the weather, sailing, food, friends, and off course THE WIN, I couldn't have done better!

And THAT, my friends is the rest of the story.

Well, there always is more. If I have time and can recall more I'll add to the thread.

[Canoez]

Congratulations to Margo and the "Ultra A Team"!

Seasick sufferers should try Stugeron, it's not available in the US, but you can get it mail order from Canada. It works differently to the other drugs.

I've also had luck, amazingly, with Coca Cola syrup.

I hope you were in a fetal position on the windward side. A flat boat is a fast boat.

Well, I do recall my mother (who was a nurse) saying that they gave Coca Cola syrup to pregnant mothers to fight nausea. The other thing that they used was strong ginger ale or ginger beer that was allowed to go flat...

[Wild Dingo]

Now THAT is way cool

Well done Sarah Margo and motley crew

Makes one feel proud to have been on the sidelines watching Sarahs reserection to this wonderful state... and my utmost pleasure to have stepped on board and felt her under my hand and feet (albeit covered in gak uughhh shoes )

Again WELL DONE to all

[Flying Orca]

I love a happy ending. Well done!

[Bill R]

Congratulations!

[rbgarr]

Barging down on the starting line is pretty dangerous. Thank goodness no one got tangled up and it all turned out better than well. That's an interesting variation on the usual out and back race course.

Sorry about your sea sickness Margo.

[paladin]

Congrats to all..........

[davidagage]

So now it’s my time to chime in. What a great weekend. Getting to meet more forumites, Dave Tabor (Sailordave) and The Redhead, Carol, and the infamous character, Barefoot Davis Murray (barefootdavis.com). Margo also introduced me to a new Garmin and said figure out how to use this thing and put in our waypoints, and by the way, if anybody asks, it yours (to deflect lighting from Capt RMA, which became a big joke on it’s own).
Saturday night ends with some great storytelling, guitar pickin and singin a bit of adult beverage consumption. Sunday brings a beautiful morning, down to the boat ready to hit head out by nine. Margo up the mast swapping the Windex we untie and back out of the slip, and head down the river. To the line with about 10 minutes to spare, right on time.
As Sailordave said, the squeaky wheel, louder voice gets the grease, we run the line, harden up and head out, next tack…15 miles. Conditions out and back were great, turned out to be 16-25 N, NNW and 2-4 seas, on a reach both ways, not quite low enough to run the asymmetric. Sarah is built for these conditions and kept the margin consistent throughout the whole race. Along with Margo, I too was a little queasy, I had a Dramamine about 7 in the morning, prolly should have had a few more. Taking my eyes off the sea and concentrating on the layline on the GPS was all it took. The beautiful white froth that is created as a sailboat slices through the ocean was suddenly red with half used up berry Gatorade. (Davis yells out, hey Ralph, howz the red Buick!) Hey, I feel better now!
I am not sure what our total Nm covered was, but I think we averaged between 6 and 7 kts, over 4.5 hours.

Like David said, you couldn’t have ordered a better weekend. The friends, new and old, the weather, best it could be, the sailing, even better, and the win!… Well it just can’t be topped.


David and Claudia

[John Boone]

Well done Margo and crew. Sounds like great weather/wind for Sarah.

Best Regards, John

[Bill Lowe]

Great fun, good going

[Chris Coose]

I had to take a second look at the person second from the left. It looked lots like skinny me!
Sorry Claudia.

Nice going to all of you.

[peter radclyffe]

how nice to see you all, Vince have you tried a hammock at sea, you probably have

[htom]

Wonderful tale, thanks for sharing.

[switters]

Bravo! Good to hear that the Belle of St.Augustine kicked some butt.

[bamamick]

I am very pleased for you, Ms. Margo! It DOES warm the cockles of your heart to take home something every now and then, even though that's not at all the point. Of course, 'Sarah' and her crew are probably everyone's favourite every time out, I would think.

Congratulations once again. I need to head over that way and take a look at her at some point.

Mickey Lake

[Stephen]

Congratulations!

[John B]

This makes up for you being so quiet over the last while Margo.
Nice result!

[BrianW]

What an excellent deal!

Congrats to all the participants, and thanks for telling the tale!

[Nanoose]

Hooyaw!! Beautiful!!!

[S/V Laura Ellen]

Congratulations Margo!!!

and to the crew!

[The Bigfella]

Congratulations!

[ishmael]

Such a pretty boat, Maggie. Oops, did I call you that? It just slipped into my head Margo. Have fun. Dave would stand up and sing.

[JimConlin]

Congratulations, Margo!
Will this be on the front page of the Concordian?

Jim

[johnw]

Racing is fun however you finish, but finishing first is funner. Congratulations!

[John R - Kitenui]

Well done Margo! Well done Sarah ! CONGRATULATIONS !!!

[boylesboats]

Wow, that's fantastic Margo.. Congratulations!

[hokiefan]

Very cool. Well done Margo and company.

Cheers,

Bobby

[J. Dillon]

Congratulations and well done.

With a WBF crew it makes it easier to win. Sooner or later Margo you'll get your sea legs. The great Lord Nelson got sea sick after a long stint ashore. His juniors kept a respectful distance and ignored his plight. You're in good company.

JD

[Bob Adams]

Now THAT'S what it's all about! Way to go Margo!!!

[capt jake]

First place and a great time? That is outstanding!!!

[cs]

Outstanding! Congratulations.

Chad

[Robbie 2]

Good to hear from you all.
Congratulations.

[bob easton]

Fabulous! What a great result after the very long struggle to bring Sarah back. Really happy for you Margo!