Last week was a whirlwind, a big joyful one. I slept in five beds over eight days. The road trip kicked off with my 40th college reunion in NH - although it almost didn't. A week ago Friday, I awoke to a text that my flight to Boston was so badly delayed that I'd miss my connection to Hanover. Cue the mad scramble (the crazy fun Scots clearly invaded Boston for their World Cup match because there wasn't a single seat left into Logan). Somehow, by changing both my departure and arrival airports, I still made it on time. Highlights included seeing the sailing team's luxurious new boathouse (imagine a world class yacht club dropped onto the shoreline of our modest Lake Mascoma), and racing in the new fleet of 420s. It was super windy and I was one puff away from backing out - I even asked the coach, "Sending a bunch of 60+ year olds out in 14 foot boats with gusts up to 20 knots? What could possibly go wrong?" (I'm in the yellow life jacket in boat 12 above). It was an absolute blast and I felt like I was 20 again (in mind, not body). I'm not sure which took a bigger toll on my abs - hiking out to keep the boat (mostly) flat, or the three days of ginormous belly laughs. If you have a reunion coming up - you should definitely go.
From there, I road tripped down to the Cape with my friend Tracey, then caught the ferry to Martha's Vineyard, and on Wednesday ferried over to Nantucket, pointing out to anyone who feigned listening, "Isn't it a beautiful day for a ferry ride?" READ MORE
Posts tagged: sailing
7/12/21 - Put on your sailing shoes
Do you remember Little Feat and "Put on your Sailing Shoes"? I'm feeling a little nostalgic this week, thank you in advance for indulging me. Above is my friend Steve's Swan 48, Dreamcatcher, moored in Katama harbor on Martha's Vineyard. I took this photo a few summers ago, on the way out to his boat to race in the Round the Island Race. His regular crew included a lot of our old Dartmouth college sailing teammates from the 1980s, but all of them continue to race a lot more than I do. I got invited to this regatta for several years running, I think because I could get good restaurant reservations in Edgartown, and because I had wonderful friends in town who'd let the whole crew use their shower.