MOVING ON... a change of pace (Part 60d)

We had breakfast sitting on the front lawn looking out at the bay. The conversation was dominated by JT and me reminiscing. I remember the look on my father’s face after a few stories were told. He had a nickname for JT... ”mischief“, as JT had a way of ”pushing the envelope” without dire consequences. When my mother took control of the conversation I excused myself. There was something I really wanted to do before JT left. The clothes were still out on the line but I didn’t want to take a chance being seen giving the panties a close look. The alternative was to run quickly upstairs and hope their suitcase was still open. The “guest” room was always a sore spot with me. My parents reserved it for their guests, invited or not, and I had had to share the smallest bedroom with my brother. In any case, as I reached the top of the stairs the room was at the equivalent of two o’clock. I took the five of so steps to get in the room and right on the bed was an open suitcase. I went up to it and took a chance that I might find something on the right hand side, sliding my hand inside. I squeezed my hand on as much as I could and slowly pulled it up and out not wanting to dislodge anything. I laid it all on the bed and right in the middle I saw what I was sure was a waist elastic for panties. I carefully flipped everything above it off and there before me was what was looking for. It was a pair of heavy cotton panties but there was something definitely different from any that Elle had. They had elastic around the leg openings. My heart was pounding by then. I spread them out and was impressed that the cotton material wasn’t the ribbed type like in the Carter’s Spanky pants or the Nazareth ones that Elle wore. I opened them up to find the label and saw a name I was unfamiliar with, Carol Brent. I knew that somehow I wanted to find some that were like them but there was no way I was going to be able to ask her where she’d gotten them. She was from the mid West and I wondered if she'd bought them out there. I put everything back as close to where it was and went back downstairs as quickly as possible.

It was noontime before we realized it. JT had promised to be back at his parents for a Sunday meal with some relatives. We all got up and said our good byes and were out at his car when my mother noticed the clothes on the line. I was by the trunk of his car with him and asked what the story was with the clothes. He laughed and said that they didn’t have bathing suits and that my mother had suggested a “midnight swim”. He was all for a “skinny dip” but his wife wouldn’t hear of it. After my parents had gone to bed he had finally persuaded Sherri to take a swim in their underwear. He was rolling his eyes as he told me about it.

After they left we had to make a visit over to Elle’s mother. We knew she’d be “stewing“ since we’d gone to my parents house first. I stayed for a few minutes not wanting to have a nice day ruined by my mother in law's complaining. Back at my house I walked back out to the bay. I looked towards the sailing club as there seemed to be a lot of sailboats out on the water. My father had a war surplus spyglass mounted on a tripod and I fetched it to see if I recognized any of the boats. There were only a few of the sail numbers that registered with me. It only took a few minutes to have my interest piqued. I went over to the garage and my boat was still there on it’s trailer. My father, as usual, had a lot of junk piled on top of it but it looked basically the same as it did when I had left it after my big Championship disappointment a few years back. I stood there, somewhat amazed, that I’d forgotten all about the boat. Seeing it again had me all excited.

I went over to tell Elle that I was going to drive over to the sailing club. The kids were napping so that worked. When I got there all the boats were out and racing. I saw a few people that I recognized but didn’t really know. I counted 12 trailers on the beach which meant the class of boat that I raced had grown. That in itself was exciting. Just being there at the club and on the beach had me psyched to get out on the water again. I headed back to my parents and started trying to find all the pieces I’d need to go racing again. Although it may sound silly, it was exhilarating. My father came looking for me and, seeing how excited I was, helped clean off all the stuff that was stored on it. Within a half hour I had the boat outside and had located about 95% of the running gear. I really think that if I’d tried I could’ve gotten the boat over to the club, rigged and in the water for the second race. The problem... no crew.

Elle came looking for me saying it was time to go home to the trailer. I put the boat and equipment away but as I did I was working on a plan to get back to racing again. I persuaded her to let me stop at the sailing club just to see who was there and found they were still out racing. I did find out that there would be races on Tuesday, the 4th of July. I didn’t say anything to Elle as we drove away but the "wheels" were turning.

To be continued...

MOVING ON... a change of pace (Part 60e)
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As we drove back to the trailer the primary thing on Elle’s mind was me getting a job. I knew the subject had to be addressed but getting back into my sailboat was what was on my mind at that moment. It wasn’t that I was putting off looking for a job but with a holiday on Tuesday I just didn’t think that Monday was a good day to start. Another problem for me was in convincing Elle to crew for me. I knew she’d have a whole raft of reasons why she couldn’t. It was not a good night for love making!

Compromise is a critical part of a good marriage. I call it ”bartering“. I managed to talk her into it with a promise that I’d have some sort of a job by the next weekend. Once she agreed to crew for me I couldn’t wait to get back out on the water. Her mother was more than willing to watch the kids so that wasn’t a hurdle. It was her lack of experience (having crewed only once in a race) that had her really concerned. She didn’t have a bathing suit and there was definitely no money to buy one so she had to pick out some clothes to wear. She was worried about her wetting problem being noticed. I just sidestepped that subject and continued loading the car with all the kids stuff. She wasn’t convinced but she did get in the car. I was psyched!

After dropping the kids off we were the first to get to the sailing club. All the other boats had their masts and booms in place. I still had to do that. I remember wondering what some of the ”old timers“ that I had raced against in the past would think seeing me back. The first one was my good friend, Buddy and his wife, Carol. It helped Elle’s frame of mind since she knew them both. They were happy to see us and Carol was great with Elle telling her just how she transitioned into being Buddy’s crew. As others arrived I was somewhat surprised at just who some of the ”new“ people were. I recognized them as members of another sailing club that raced a different class of sailboat. Buddy introduced me to the ones I didn’t really know. One thing that I noticed right off was that most seemed to have a female crew. Buddy cleared that up for me telling me that all but one was married to the skipper. That was a BIG change from the last time I’d raced at the club. Only a few had been married at that time. Out of the eleven boats that were to race that day, ten of them were husbands and wives. I had a hard time concentrating on getting my boat ready to race with all of these young (and shapely) females wandering about.

Elle knew that Carol was aware of her ”problem“ what with her parents having done a medical procedure on her so was comfortable asking how she (Carol) handled a ”bathroom emergency“. I remember Carol sort of laughing and pointing out to the bay. Once Carol understood what Elle was concerned about (the very noticeable wet stain that would appear if she peed in her clothes) Carol took her aside. I concentrated on getting the boat into the water as they talked.

We had to lift the boats into the water from their trailers. It took three guys to do it. Once in the water the crew would then stand and hold it until all the boats were launched. As soon as my boat was in the water I noticed Elle walk it out into deeper water, about waist deep. As I helped lift other boats I noticed a number of the women doing the same as Elle had done. I was a bit puzzled. When I climbed in I asked her why she’d gone so far out. She ”shusshed“ me which only puzzled me more. With Elle aboard and under sail I pursued the matter again. I’m not sure but knowing Elle I think she was embarrassed when she told me that the women would do that so they could pee before they got in their respective boats and then their clothes would be wet when they had to pee again and it wouldn’t be as noticeable. I found it to be somewhat erotic.

There are only a few memories of racing that day. One was that we had little wind and another was that we got very sunburned. I also remember being surprisingly comfortable with my hand on the tiller having not been in a boat for almost three years. Elle performed well and because there were no ”panic“ moments was actually looking forward to the weekend where we’d do it all again. Once on shore there was time for renewing old friendships. We were invited to a party at one of their houses the following Saturday night. I was excited about it but Elle wouldn’t let me commit to it without talking to her mother first as she would have to be the baby sitter.

As we drove back to my in laws house to pick up the kids I remember trying to go through the names of the people we’d met. There were a couple of the wives I did remember but not their names. I had noticed that there were few who had, like Elle, worn clothes rather than a bathing suit. I remember trying to see if I could get a view of some VPL’s with them in their wet clothes. Because everybody was moving here and there, trying to put their boats away, I don’t have anything specific in my memory bank. However, I was certainly looking forward to the following weekend.

I remember that Elle and I were very uncomfortable that night with washcloths soaked in vinegar trying to sooth our sunburns. Mine was on my legs since my head, arms and neck were well tanned from training the horses. Elle had spent little time in the sun so was as red as a cooked lobster. Any ”funny business“ was out, for sure.

To be continued...