Post Regatta for the Cure
13 July 2009 | Dartmouth
Alex / fog and rain
It's Monday and life returns back to normal after a wonderful wonderful weekend spent on the lovely Illihee II. Saturday was the first ever Atlantic Region Regatta for the Cure, and what a success !!
SYC pulled off this magnificent event without a hitch (well, perhaps one or two glitches as poor Dave kept getting waylaid by problems that needed solving). I'm not sure he even got to eat much of his pancake breakfast, or rather, what he did gulp down was probably quite cold.
After many weeks of rain and fog, the sun shone spectacularly in bright blue skies and we couldn't have ordered a more glorious day. After much coffee and lots of decorating, Illihee II departed along with the other boats and eventually settled in behind Liana's Ransom to parade along the Halifax waterfront. Some pink shower curtains from the Dollar store were turned into pretty pink bows that adorned her rails. Some pink flowers went on the bow and of course, on top of our pink t-shirts, the girls needed pink rings to match !!
I had scoured the thrift stores for some pink bras but they were already sold out - and of course, I looked over our berth to 1-2 Many, and she was the one that had dozens of over-the-shoulder-pebble and boulder holders flying in the wind.
By the time we got back from the parade of sail, it was time for hotdogs, and then it was off to the races. I had the time of my sailing life (that's not too hard seeing as how this is only my second summer aboard!). Dave remarked that it was his best race ever and he was grinning from ear to ear so I know it was a good one !
There were slow spurts and some very fast spurts, but the spurt I liked the best was when we came up behind Aspire 2 right by George's Island... And just like in chess, Dave pulled a strategic move that was "it" for Illihee II and with the cooperation of the winds we pulled out from behind, sailed up alongside, and then right past her... woohooo !! I don't think we were cheering too loudly LOL. We kept a good distance between us and tacked one last tack across to finish line to come in ahead of her. Awesome.
Came back to tie up, clean up etc and then it was time for awards and ceremonies. A lot of thank you's and hugs later, and to make a long sail short - guess what... Illihee II won 3rd in C Class (white sail only) which was really the D Cup. So the day couldn't have been any better.
Another "cold" supper later and by that point we were beat and although the band was good for a few drinks, we couldn't stay to close the place down - way too tired !!
Dave has posted a few pictures, so check out the photo gallery to see the pink.