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

The party with the people from the sailing club that night turned out to be just OK. When I’d last sailed with these people I was the youngest and now, three years later, I still was. Of the women, the only one Elle really knew at all was Carol, Buddy’s wife. Of the eleven sailors there three were in their early 30’s and with the exception of Buddy and me, the others were in their mid to late 20’s. Eight of them lived in the suburbs of the city and commuted in to work there. The parents of all eight had Summer homes in the immediate area and they had spent all their youthful Summers there. In other words... they had money! The only thing I had in common with them was the love of sailboat racing. They tended to be very close and the wives were the same. I did know one from before and was amused to find that she now considered herself to be ”elite“, having married into money. Her family was truly ”blue collar“, the same as Elle’s family but now it seemed like it was beneath her to associate with Elle and I. What made it even stranger was that the wife of one of the older guys came from really big money with her family owning one of the larger coffee companies of the day and she was as humble and nice as anyone that I knew.

Besides Elle and Carol, of the women there only three (in my humble opinion) were truly attractive. Of course you have to realize I tend to like ”the girl next door“ type. One was truly pretty, having been a runner up in the Miss Florida beauty pageant. Another looked somewhat like Gail Storm, a very popular TV star of the day. Cute and perky. The third was a dark haired ”Elle“ in both looks and temperament. Ruthie had no ”airs“ and always seemed to be happy. I was looking forward to seeing any or all in wet clothes, for sure.

There were only a few things that happened during the party that I remember. One was that I was pretty drunk after only two gin and tonics. I’d not done much of any drinking since leaving college so that was my excuse. Another was that the ex beauty queen got so drunk that she passed out. I also remember one of the older guys telling some really funny jokes. Elle wasn’t happy with my ”condition“ which made me upset in that it was the first time since we’d had kids that we would be alone and it came to naught.

Besides waking up with a hangover on Sunday morning I wasn’t very happy with the weather. The wind was blowing hard enough out of the East so that we could feel it in the close confines of the trailer park. It was a gray day and much cooler than it had been since we moved in. I could only imagine what the bay looked like. Elle didn’t seem concerned until we got to her parent’s house and could see the white caps on the water. Seeing the bay was a mass of white had her saying there was no way she was going out there. It was still early so we spent a few hours playing with the kids and then headed for the sailing club. Elle didn’t want to go but I insisted.

Because the clubhouse was actually built out on the sand and totally unprotected the force of the wind was even greater. The East wind had blown a lot of water into the bay and the tide was way up on the beach almost to the trailers where out boats were stored. There were six or seven of the other sailors already there. They were standing on the porch and as I approached them the rain started. The women immediately headed inside. The general consensus was that the wind was blowing over 20 miles an hour. The class of sailboat that we raced (Comet) had the reputation of being somewhat fragile in winds over 15 to 18 mph. We called it ”boat breaking weather“. A quick vote of those present only had two voting to sail so, as far as racing was concerned there would be none. When it was announced inside the clubhouse the women raised a loud cheer. However, the two who had wanted to race decided that they would to go out and test the conditions. They flipped a coin to see who’s boat would be used with the other acting as crew. The rest of us looked on with amusement.

It took five guys to get the boat floated and then under way. It was wild. Under normal conditions the preferred weight for a skipper and crew was around 300 pounds and that was one of the reasons why wives were used as crew. The two guys, Chuck and Don, probably weighed close to 400 pounds and as they were both tall they felt they could hike out over the side of the boat and be able to offset the high winds. Once they were under way the rest of us retreated to the porch. I’m not sure why as the rain was pelting us even up there. I have to admit that it was exciting to watch the guys perform. One of the sailing techniques that was especially fun was to get the boat up onto a plane (similar to a surf board on the curl of a wave) and as they did they went screaming across the water. That is, until they fell off the wave. It’s a shame there were no video cameras in those days because I can tell you that what happened would’ve been an instant YouTube hit.

As I said, the boat fell off the wave and when it did the bow (front) of the boat buried itself into the water, coming to a stop. I have no idea just how fast they were going but for a sailboat it was fast! The boat stopped but the mast, boom and sails kept right on going... for about another 50 or so feet before falling into the water. When the boat stopped it catapulted both Chuck and Don into the air. They probably flew through the air for close to 20 feet. I know I stood there not believing what I’d just seen. It took a few seconds for us all to grasp the situation. It was Buddy who took the lead telling us that he needed a couple of us to go out in his outboard to rescue the guys. I didn’t respond quick enough so those of us who were left headed down the beach to try and corral the hull of the boat and to try and keep it from being pounded to pieces on the shore. It was high drama.

To be continued...