A foggy great time was had by all at the first-ever "ladies only" Corinthian races - the "Lady Corinthians." Despite zero visibility on the water 10 Lady Corinthians showed up on Wednesday July 30 to race their boats aroud Cape May Harbor. Since the fog made it almost impossible to see more than 50 feet on the water, the race committee, made up of David Sayre, Gordon Sayre, PC Wally Barrie and PC Fred Beyer, wisely delayed the start of the first race until there was at least enough visibility to see the first mark. Afte a short skippers' meeting where the sailors were reminded how to use their foghorns and GPS's, the ladies pushed off for their first race.

As if planned by the Race Committee, the fog lifted just as the starting sequence for the first Sunfish race began and all of the marks became visible. Despite much urging by the committee, only a few of the sailors were able to be close to the starting line when the "gun" went off. Cookie Wilsey won the start followed closely by Susan Reilly, Nancy Sayre, and Barbara O'Keefe. A few minutes, make that closer to ten minutes, after the start the remaining sailors - Peggy Kauffmann, Kathy Bennung, Maureen Harris,and Susan Neuman emerged from the fog they were trapped in and made it across the starting line.

The start of the first Laser race was delayed several minutes while Rear Commodore Leslie Fog was attempting to replace a broken hiking extension. Faith Pittman waited patiently for Leslie, but after the starting gun went off her competitive nature took over and she sailed away.

Race Two for the Sunfish class got underway in clear conditions. This time almost all of the sailors were close to or on the line when the gun went off. As in the first race there was close competition for the lead between Cookie, Susan R., Nancy, and Barbara, followed by a second close competition for fifth place between Kathy, Peggy, Maureen, and Susan N.

The second Laser race was again held up by Leslie as she somehow, despite the lack of very much wind, managed to capsize her boat. This time Faith didn't wait for her. Faith was so fast around the course that the race committee started the third Laser race before the Sunfish had finished their second race. This time Leslie squeaked out a win.

Sunfish Race Three started as the fog bank began to creep across the harbor. The sailors, particularly the beginning racers, showed great improvement as all of the ladies were on the starting line when the gun went off. The fog kept getting closer to the course and as the leading racers reached the first mark it became almost impossible to see the next mark. The visibility continued to deteriorate and soon you could not see any of the sailors, the marks, or the shoreline. The sailors who had not yet rounded the first mark were told by Fred, who could hardly see them, to return to shore and try not to hit any moored boats along the way. The common cry heard coming out of the fog was "Which way do I go?" Fortunately you could just see the top of the Coast Guard water tower and they all sailed in that direction. Somehow four sailors made it around the course and finshed the race, although since the fog was so thick no one knows how they did it.

Everyone made it safely back to shore and it was pretty obvious by the talk in the bar that a foggy great time was had by all at the first-ever Lady Corinthians series races!

Reported by Fred Beyer, PC

"Fun on and sometimes in the water".

Each day the sailors enrolled in the adult sailing clinic have improved their skills and increased their fun.
On Day One the goals were to learn how to rig or "set up" their boats for sailing, steer their boats, adjust their sails, and make the boat go where they wanted it to go. Even though there was a small prescribed course, within minutes sailors had their boats all over the harbor. There were boats by the Lobster House, on the beach, past the Coast Guard Base, and across the channel. By the end of the day all sailors had learned enough to make it back to the club without assistance.

Day Two saw an increase in wind velocity and direction that made getting off the beach very difficult.
The goals for the day were to learn how to sail to windward and how to get "out of irons." In order to sail to windward, the sailors needed to learn to "tack" the boat (switch the sail and their bodies from one side to the other.) We soon discovered that some of the sailors needed to raise their sails so that they could duck under the boom to get across the boat. Two sailors, Maureen and Anthony, also learned the valuable lesson of never letting go of the tiller when tacking. This lesson resulted in them learning the unplanned lesson of recovering an overturned boat. Maureen did it so well that she did it several times just for practice.

Since many sailors were not able to get through the "eye" of the wind they worked on the second planned lesson of the day, getting out of irons or how do you make the boat go again when it has stopped dead in the water. As before, all sailors after sailing way off the designated course made it back to the club.

Day Three both the wind and the sailors cooperated. The wind was perfect for the learning the day's goal of sailing a triangle course that included the new skill of jibing the sail (switching the sail and sailor from one side of the boat to the other while sailing down wind,) probably one of the most difficult maneuvers in sailing. This time all the sailors showed how much they had learned by sailing around the course like pros. The day ended with an impromptu race around the triangle course with Instructor Cookie Wilsey leading the way. Being a pro, she refused to sail across the finish line allowing three students to beat a guest sailor. Students across the line were Nancy, Liz, Susan, Kathy, and Peggy. Lora Jo and Wally Barrie stayed a little longer practicing righting an overturned boat. All sailors made it back to the club, Barbara before everyone else. As evidenced by the conversation in the bar after the class, all are raring to get back on the water.

Next week we are going over the basic rules of the road, special racing rules and techniques, and basic knot tying.

Fred Beyer, PC

Join Fred Beyer,Cookie Wilsey and Gail Wilsey Morrison for Session I of Adult Sailing classes, beginning on Thursday July 3 and ending on Thursday July 24. No pre-registration needed -just show up at 4:00. Bring a life-jacket and boat shoes or Tevas (no flip-flops) and a willingness to laugh and learn.
Stay on after the boats are put away and have dinner - a great opportunity to rehash what you've learned and enjoy a beautiful sunset.