Five people from FWYC attended the annual Mardi Gras Regatta hosted by NOYC and SYC this year. We went to sail and represent for Capdevielle.. but little did we know how much fun we would have, and what was in store for us. We left in two groups, Jeff Brown and Jim Coulter decided to grace NOLA with their presence before ours, and by the time we got there, they were well involved in hunting down microbrewed beers. Sam and Jennifer Grant and I left and by the time we hit Garcon Point, we were having issues due to lack of air machines (the kind you find at a gas station) and no bottle opener, which is a serious issue for any traveling sailor. By the time we got to New Orleans (stopping only for fried pickles and one extremely misguided bathroom stop) we arrived to the smell of crawfish and beer, and it pretty much was nonstop from that point on. We were greeted by two Finn sailors from California, who were great neighbours, and our hosts in New Orleans were great. We were extremely excited to see familiar faces, Macho and Louise and Sam and Meredith, and made a load of new friends.. and from that point on Friday night, what happened in New Orleans stays in New Orleans.
Saturday dawned hazy and WINDLESS, and never really picked up. I found the popup and woke up Sam and Jennifer for what would become the first in a neverending quest for bathrooms and showers. Luckily for me and my future hangover, this particular quest involved breakfast and a screwdriver. Feeling slightly more fortified, we headed to the yacht club, where we met our favourite Tammany member, who put flying a Scot in light air into perspective: "Yeah, and if by sailing, you mean sitting in a bathtub hoping it goes forward, then that's what you're going to go do". (Thanks Kevin) and headed out on the scot. By the time we made it to the course, we were hating light air more than normal, and were hungry before race one. Jeff and Jim were volunteered to be on the committee boat, so with Jim as Caparazzi (capdevielle + paparazzi), we felt pretty good. The wind did NOT feel so good, and was shifty and very inconsistent. We didn't get the results we were looking for, (11ths) and did a lot of tactical analyzing that we were planning to use in my race, which of course, got abandoned. My stick time mainly consisted of keeping the boat semi-close to the start line and keeping the sun on Jennifer and I because it was getting chilly. We got towed in by one of New Orlean's chase boats, and we were immensely grateful, as was Gulfport - thanks guys!!!
Stay tuned for Part Deaux: Jeff and Jim take on the Scot, and I watch cute boys go in circles on the Finns.
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