Sailpast

Charles with cap

NYC's annual Sailpast was held on May 29. A tradition is something that is an absolute necessity, which is completely unnecessary, i.e. something has to be done but what exactly has yet to be determined. There is a rough outline of procedure: blessing of the fleet, remembrance of the deceased, on water review of boats, an official receiving line and a dinner. I pick and choose from this list. Most of all it is an excuse to go sailing!

I asked Charles to crew. He has been a loyal member of the Wednesday crew for the last few years. This year he has decided not to rejoin and use the sailing season to master his Contender. He discovered that membership does have its privileges as he was forced to use public parking at a cost of $15!

It was a breezy day. I rigged the jib and prepared for a spin run. We cruised around Dufferin buoy waiting for the on water review to start. The scheduled start was 15:00 but all was ready by 14:45. There some discussion from the organizers on the radio. The decision was made to start early. We had a bit of a problem staying behind the lead boat in our division. The spray from the fire boat hit us as we passed the review boat. The on water formalities were complete and we were now free to head off for a pleasant early season sail.

Launching the spinnaker with only one crew is a bit of a challenge. Everything went well; the chute was up and flying nicely. At this moment Charles's NYC cap went overboard. The chute was doused. It was a futile search. We were too busy getting the chute down to get a landmark of where we lost the cap. The blue cap did not stand out in the water. The chute went back up.

The wind died suddenly as we approached the western harbour entrance. I decided to return south of Centre Island rather than go through the harbour and the two gaps. The wind picked up again; there was no trouble going back to the club under sail. We arrived at 17:45 and the boat was back in Drysail Spot 1 by 18:04, just in time for the announcement that the official receiving line was finished. I dressed my boat with race flags and got my blue jacket from the car. Charles and I did a meet and greet as we meandered around the clubhouse.

We experienced the best (IMO) of the Sailpast tradition: a social event, a chance to dress the boat with race flags, and a great early season sail!