Yacht Racing

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
This last week I went Yacht Racing and what a thrill that was. I am a huge nerd and happened to stumble upon a website that offered free racing if you wanted to go. 3 of us booked a hostel, hopped on the train, and went to cape town to try our hand at Yachting. None of us had ever done this and were very unsure what to expect. We got to the Royal Cape Yacht Club and were split up by the lady asking boat owners walking by if they would take us and that we were very small and would not get in the way! I was the first to go and was taken by a lady and her young daughter - maybe like 12 or 13. We went to her boat, her husband was also racing on HIS boat. We sat around - ok I sat around- well everyone else got the sails up and got everything in order. I offered to help but the didn’t let me really. We then took off and started the race. IT was a 3 loop course and lots of fun. Most of the time the boat is practically vertical to one side and you feel like you’re going to fall straight into the water! I have no idea how our team did - there were tons of boats racing as well as several race classes going on so it was difficult to just look and see. Also- my boat was not friendly they stuck me in the back corner and didn’t talk to me- I didn’t get to participate at all really. They didn’t’ really make small talk with each other though either. I believe they are very serious racers- they told me they hardly ever go just sailing, they are always racing. It was still a lot of fun though and Beautiful. It was sunset in Cape Town, which is claimed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world! After the race I went to the club and met up with my friends who had been on different boats. They got to participate with their crew a little bit not tons but it seemed it was much more exciting for them. M friend Miriam’s boat did a rescue on another boat who’s mast broke in half! We had a few drinks a bit of food and socialized with Miriam’s and Jenny’s crew and skippers. Jenny’s boat took 3rd in the race that night as well as 3rd (I think) for the season so there were trophies and bottles of wine being given out. We all toasted w/sparkling wine and chatted. Jenny’s boat crew were all older retired men (probably in their 60’s) and were so cute and nice. We were going to stay the night but Jenny’s skipper lived in Cape Town and Offered us a nice ride home in a sports Mercedes Benzes. His other car is a Porsche but that wasn’t there. He also said he would call and invite us sailing again- which I hope he does. I’m not sure I’ll ever get into racing boats but I would like to learn to sail- it was very peaceful to just sail when we weren’t racing. He also gave us a free bottle of wine that he had won. So for about 7 dollars we got Wine, Went Yacht Racing, and Transport (train, taxi, Mercedes) I would say it was not a bad deal. I only have a few pictures but Jenny has more and I will steal them and post them later.

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