⛵️Adventures Afloat: The Windswept Triumphs and Trials of Yacht Racing
Letter 168: 7 Facts, 6 Surprises, 5 Gratitudes, 4 Learnings, 3 Ideas, 2 Regrets, 1 Summary on Sailing
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Aloha fellow learn-it-all 👋
Greetings from a doggie walk with Polo and Paisley in northern Michigan
Great news, the land is no longer rocking! I’m slowly but surely acclimating back to life on land in the continental US after the turbulent times I mentioned last week.
Even better news, the Rode microphone I ordered came in and I’m so excited to use it to record this letter!
Without delay, let’s jump into letter 168 from a learn-it-all. Enjoy!
❓Question to think about
What was the sailing regatta like?
Well before we dive into the thick of that…
⛬ The History of Yacht Racing
The oldest and best-known international event in yacht racing is the America's Cup.
It was established in 1851 on August 20 first known as the Hundred Guinea Cup in the English Channel for a race around the Isle of Wight, a diamond-shaped island 22.5 miles (36 km) from east to west and 13.5 miles (22 km) from north to south. The cup was won by the America, a 100-foot (30 meter) schooner from New York City. After that, it became known as an international competition called the “America’s Cup”.
Fast forward about 40 years and zooming into what is arguably the best state in the Midwest to Michigan, are the five Great Lakes. Starting in 1898 with a mere five boats was the first race to Mackinac Island. It took place across Lake Michigan starting at the Chicago Yacht Club. It has since evolved into a world-class sporting event. (This regatta from CYC was the first multiple-day race I ever completed in 2014 when I was 18 years old.)
Across the state Bayview Yacht Club out of Detroit launched its signature event in 1925, that spread its fame and influence: the Bayview Mackinac race from Port Huron to Mackinac Island.
Both of these regattas are a couple of the longest continually run freshwater long-distance sailboat races in the world.
⛵️Reflections from racing across Lake Huron
Seven facts
I sailed on Margaret Rintoul IV is a 50.5-foot boat designed in 1981. (more boat facts here)
It took 46 hours 8 minutes and 3 seconds
We placed 8th out of the 14 boats in our class
There were 10 people aboard. We took 4-hour shifts. Mine thankfully were during sunrise and sunset on shifts 2 AM-6 AM, 10 AM - 2 PM, and 6 PM - 10 PM
Sleeping is a struggle on a sailboat. I do not recommend trying to sleep like this, but if you are nauseous it’ll do:
Fiberglass ass is real. The deck of the boat is made of this material. My but is still recovering.
Learning acrobatics to go pee down below on a 45-degree angled boat after holding it in for three hours is a guaranteed way to keep the voyage interesting. (Men have it so easy sometimes!) With my headache from dehydration, it is a constant mental battle of deciding whether to go down and use the head to get nauseous OR to sit up above deck with a bursting bladder.
Six Sailing Surprises
Surprise surprise. The Weatherman and Windy app can be wrong. The whole crew was expecting to get dumped on in a storm but we only got wet from the spray of the boat hitting the waves.
When the sun goes up or down the wind speeds drastically shift.
Two of the big parachute spinnaker sails ripped within the first hours of the race. The longest first leg of the race was dead downwind. The spinnaker pole that Margaret Rintoul has on her bow allows her to be fast when wearing a symmetric sail (rather than an asymmetric sail). The angle of the wind is important in deciding this as well.
It’s easy to have decision fatigue when you have the technology of the computers to tell the boat speed versus trusting your own know-how on the best route to sail. Once you have a heading of the mark your need to reach, it’s better to read tell tales piece of yarn on the sails and the puffs on the water for how to sail the boat best.
The harsh reality of getting seasick and there being few ways to solve the problem apart from staying above deck, getting mesmerized by the horizon, and deep belly breaths.
The sun looks red when it first rises and my morale instantaneously rises with its glory.
Five Gratitudes:
To my brother and dad for making me feel safe and secure aboard a boat I hadn’t sailed on in three years. This was my dad’s 44th race to Mackinac Island!
To Brittany for being my lady friend on the boat. It makes the biggest difference having another girl aboard. (Lotsa of masculinity otherwise. )
To the crew who believed in me at times more than I believed in myself to take the helm (I don’t sail 50-ft boats often)
To my eyeglasses I wore when my eyes were completely dried out from my contacts. Also, I felt much safer sitting next to MOM (the man overboard module required on boats).
To the whole crew of Margaret Rintoul IV. Sure there were ups and downs varying from the head malfunctioning and low morale while in last place but the rainbow and sunrises were glimmers of hope when times were trying.
Four Learnings
To the sugar in Tootsie Pops and Smarties for sustaining energy for a whole entire three shifts of sailing from 2 AM to 2 PM when I couldn’t sleep.
A spinnaker pole is such a complex thing. There’s the toppinglift, downboard, outboard, and “the guy”. That is a large area of opportunity for me to better understand how to use it.
I’m grateful that I am not addicted to caffeine, nicotine, or alcohol. Sometimes I am doubtful, but I’m glad I didn’t take caffeine pills. It would’ve just made me jittery and when you’re racing on a boat you have nowhere to go to burn off the false sense of energy.
Get a water bottle that purifies lake water so that when the boat inevitably runs out of water and only has Miller Lite left, you can still stay hydrated.
Three Ideas Sparked
The difference between sailing and powerboating: when you step on a sailboat, you have already arrived. With a powerboat, it’s time to put the hammer down and rush to a destination.
How a single experience can drastically shape the trajectory of where your future is. For me, that was on the island of Fiji. The most beautiful stars I ever saw are still on Kadavu in Fiji.
A good story will always be a good story, so repeat it again for a new audience especially after years have passed. Dad, I want you to tell the “bone in” story for the umpteenth time! Never stop!
Two Regrets
Not testing the bibs I wore with water before I packed them. These bottoms I wore were not waterproof, so I was drenched to the skin and shaking like a pruny leaf.
Not putting bug spray on sooner. It was quite the cemetery of flies and golden moths killed when there were less than 5 knots of wind.
One Summary
Ripped sails, stormy skies, poor sleep, secondhand smoke, spooky bats, nausea, soggy socks, dry eyes, dehydration, F-bombs galore, and dollops of doubt.
Ahh the joys of sailing.
So why the heck do I sail?
Well, there’s also the starlit skies, red sunrises, storytime, silence, and the high-on-life feeling of steering with white water wake behind you.
French diarist Anaïs Nin says it best that “Life shrinks or expands in proportion with one’s courage.”
Sailing is overall fun for me. After all, I’ve got a sliver of Viking in my genetics ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ These challenges make me believe in myself more. Life feels even more expansive.
(If you want to read more about this I wrote about this topic three years ago here.)
🔎 Word to Define
Sail (vb.): To be impelled or driven forward by the action of wind upon sails, as a ship on water; to be impelled on a body of water by the action of steam or other power. (source: Webster’s 1913)
To employ the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the water on ice or on land over a chosen course, which is often part of a larger plan of navigation. (Source: Wikipedia)
⛬ Etymology
Old English segilan "travel on water in a ship by the action of wind upon sails; equip with a sail," from the same Germanic source as sail (n.). Cognate with Old Norse sigla, Middle Dutch seghelen, Dutch zeilen, Middle Low German segelen, German segeln.
Later the meaning extended to travel over water by steam power or other mechanical agency. The meaning "to set out on a sea voyage, leave port" is from c. 1200. Extended sense of "float through the air; move forward impressively" is by late 14c., as is the sense of "sail over or upon."
🌟Quote to inspire
"The ability to do hard things is perhaps the most useful ability you can foster in yourself or your children. And proof that you are someone who can do them is one of the most useful assets you can have on your life resume.
Our self-image is composed of historical evidence of our abilities. The more hard things you push yourself to do, the more competent you will see yourself to be.If you can run marathons or throw double your body weight over your head, the sleep deprivation from a newborn is only a mild irritant. If you can excel at organic chemistry or econometrics, onboarding for a new finance job will be a breeze.
But if we avoid hard things, anything mildly challenging will seem insurmountable. We’ll cry into TikTok over an errant period at the end of a text message. We’ll see ourselves as incapable of learning new skills, taking on new careers, and escaping bad situations.
The proof you can do hard things is one of the most powerful gifts you can give yourself."
— Nat Eliason, Entrepreneur and writer on the importance of challenging yourself to do hard things (from Twitter via James Clear)
📸 Photo of the Week
The best party of the year. A Tuesday afternoon. Live music. My whole family is there. An open bar that carries LaCroix (thank goodness). Hot dogs. If only they’d let real dogs in.
🙏Shoutouts
To Aaron Noble for filming and creating this video of sailing on Margaret Rintoul IV in 2019.
To my friend Alex for this insight when I had writer’s block this week:
“we go through experiences every single day that “aren’t a story” but they’re not a story only because there’s not some moral lesson or climax. Does there need to be that in your story or could you simply just describe what happened to you?”
I appreciate you reading this!
If ideas resonate, I’d love you to press the heart button, leave a comment, or reply directly to this email. If you forgot who I am, I welcome you to my online home.
Never stop learning 😁
Mahalo 🌺
Jen
PS - in case you missed last week’s letter 167 🛩️ A Time of Turbulence: Reflections from a Red-Eye
🤔 Reflection Time
These are some thoughts of letters I might write about in the future and would love to talk about!
How much consumption is too much?
The past week or so I’ve been consuming too much. I’ve gone past the tipping point of watching romantic movies, eating sugar, mainly chocolate fudge and ice cream, eating out, and shopping at tent sales for honey, books, and a ski outfit. It's exhausting and unnatural to only ever be consuming. It feels like I’m becoming a storage unit with too much to process.
I believe I am meant to be a creator and that means not just of this newsletter but of my life. Note to self: Keep on creating.What would life look like without social media?
I started a mini experiment for myself to see how long I could go without having Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook in my life. As of today, it’s been eleven days.
I see people I love start and end their days looking outward at other people’s lives instead of looking inward and reflecting on how their day went. I’d love to model a different behavior.
Update so far: I’ll be honest, it’s not scalable to share life updates with only a few people in my life but the genuine connection I feel from sharing and listening to friends in my life as opposed to watching it on a story or reading a tweet is so much more rewarding.
I like to be optimistic and see the countless opportunities for connection from the tool of social media, but lately, I feel like the tool is taking advantage of me and using me. I want to make sure that I am using it.
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