THE CHOWDER RACE

The end of the season at the Center Harbor Yacht Club is marked by the Chowder Race, a club-wide sailing race.  Maggie and Stephen invited me join them on Kestrel and once I was sure that they knew my best function aboard would be decoration, happily accepted. 

  

The Skipper....as you can tell from the body language and attitude, tensions run high!

The First Mate...... worked hard, and not just to make sure I didn't drop either my camera or my wine glass.

Briefly put so as not to annoy those who already know all about it, the race works as follows. Boats are categorized in three sizes and teams are made up of one each of each size, drawn at random. There was considerable faux-outrage when an obviously large boat was labeled medium.  In order to handicap for the various sizes the course is set up with a Bang Mark. When the first boat turns around that mark, all the other boats can turn wherever they are in the course.  I would never accuse a captain of holding back once it was clear that another boat was going to turn at the Bang Mark, but it certainly seems like it might be a good strategy.  Times are marked and points are scored for accomplishing various things. This year a tennis ball featured in two ways to score points. Before the race a bonus two points could be earned for each team if one member of the team bounced the ball off the clubhouse roof and another member of the team caught it.

An additional two points were earned for passing the tennis ball from one team boat to another. Here they are aboard Sassy celebrating our successful transfer while going in opposite directions.

We were also successful at a transfer which was unique to the race and, even though we got no points for it, what happened was certainly the amusing story for the race on our boat. As we were gliding past her small boat, Esther said, in her best cartoon-aristocrat accent, "Do you have a glass of wine?"  By the time I got back on deck with a fresh bottle we were well ahead of them, so Ben attached the bottle to a seat cushion using the straps and set it adrift off the stern, leading to a successful capture and a smooth finish for those aboard Ray of Hope.  This is my kind of racing.

Aside from ( poorly ) coiling a few ropes ( or lines or sheets or whatever they're called ), holding the tiller for a few minutes, pushing the zoom button on the chart plotter, and passing out sail ties at the end, I did nothing except bask in the scene, the breeze, and the company. It was a splendid day on the water.

Here's a few more pictures 

Sometimes the wind needed a little help. Mark Morris dancers on a sailboat.

 I was a bit surprised at how close we came to other boats.

 Alec and Karl showed up.

Lots of pretty boats.

Art and his sister Carolyn aboard Allegro looking quite content.

My Chowder Cup runneth over.