April 28, 2003

• CAMPING, SAILING SOLO, AND RACING Nyquil is the best thing I have ever discovered. I finished my surgery rotation Monday, so my husband and I decided to go camping on the spur of the moment. Unfortunately, I could feel a cold coming on. I am convinced my mom sent me her cold germs in the See’s Easter candy she mailed me. Anyway, I spent a nice long cold two days being rained on in a tent with a couple of makeshift Kleenex nose tampons to staunch the flow. And so we drove home, and Matt recommends Nyquil. This stuff is amazing! After the initial distasteful swallow, your mucous membranes dry up, you feel a little buzzed, you collapse for a couple of hours and wake up to a loud *POP* from the engine of the sailing club’s car dying in front of your driveway. So, being zonked on Nyquil, I was able to drive the sailing team to Chicago for our first race.

  
  

  The sailing was good. One of my teammates lives on a little lake, so we spent Saturday taking turns sailing up and down the lake in a little Butterfly, while the others stoked the bonfire on a little island in the middle of the lake. That was my first time sailing absolutely solo. It was fun! It was also the only way to reach the bathroom which was back at Bob’s house. The boathouse at Northwestern University is beauuuuuutiful. They have a number of 420′s and Lasers and Hobie Cats (still disassembled from winter storage) and a whole wall of windsurfboards. They also have a great view of the Chicago skyline from a protected cove. I watched the races from the seawall, and spent some time on the beach in the sand. I still have some sand in my shoes.

  
  
  We placed 1st twice, in 12 races. In our first win, there was a freak wind change. Apparently, everyone passed the starting line on a port tack, except for my teammates who headed on a starboard tack. The wind completely died except for a freak strip of wind to the west which allowed our racing team to sail that starboard tack all the way to the windward mark, which put them so far in the lead, there was no competition after that point.
  
  It was great to watch! Especially as our team has never sailed 420′s before!!!!!
  
  Everyone was really nice. Met men and women sailors from all over the Midwest.
  
  

  
  

  
  

  View of Northwestern University’s sailing beach from Bob’s Piper

  I even met a woman in her 50′s who windsurfs. I met her because I made a wisecrack about windsurfers, and someone mentioned there was a windsurfer behind me! Oops! And it turned out this woman has been windsurfing since the 1970′s. She did *NOT* look 50. I hope I look like her when I’m 50. She gave me some pointers about windsurfing, which I will keep in mind for this summer. Her tips: 1. It helps to start off with big boards at first. 2. Use small sails first, so that it doesn’t blow out of control. Also better for shorter people, like me. 3. Her husband, who was also standing there, told me you should be able to steer by just shifting your weight — leaning out to fall off, and pulling back to head up. 4. He also said that one should be able to manage by simply holding the mast, and that once one gets that part, one can fine tune the sail with the boom.

  
  
  
  

  • 10:37 am
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