SUMMER... August, sailing (Part 87g)

It was just a regular Sunday race but there was quite a bit of activity. Some of the people who hadn’t raced every weekend were there and I was able to catch up with Willy and Jimbo. I was disappointed that Ruthie hadn’t accompanied him. It had been a few weeks since she’d come to the club and Elle and I always liked to see her. When I saw JR, the youngest skipper in the club, I teased him for not having raced at the area championships the prior weekend. He said it was his father’s fault in that he hadn’t gotten a hitch on their car. I told him he better get one so he could race in the upcoming weekend which was the biggest event of the year. I told him I’d give his father a kick in the butt and he laughed.

I got the boat ready to race even though I didn’t have a crew. I held out hope that Bobbi or someone else would miraculously appear. Just as the boats started to be pushed down to the water’s edge I saw JR talking with his father while standing in front of a beach umbrella. I figured I could put some pressure on his father to get the hitch on the car while JR was there. As I walked around the umbrella I saw an almost unbelievable sight. There was an older woman sitting under the umbrella which I immediately took as being JR’s mother. But sitting along side her on a beach towel was a beautiful girl... and she was sitting up with her knees pulled up to her chest. If that wasn’t good enough she was wearing a dress. My eyes went right to the ”promised land“ and there was a small white triangle. I almost forgot why I’d come over there. JR saved me when he introduced me to his mother and sister. I know I had to have been blushing by then. Before we could go any further the other sailors were yelling at us to come over and help move the boats. As I walked away I was truly impressed with how pretty the girl was.

My boat was the last to be pushed to the water’s edge and we had a hard time doing it. It was always difficult pushing the little trailer wheels though the soft sand but someone noticed that one of the wheels wasn’t turning. An aggravation that I didn’t need. Boats were being lifted into the water when I heard a voice call my name and, looking up, saw Bobbi running across the sand. She was wearing a skirt and blouse but had other clothes in her hand. For a brief second I visualized her sailing dressed like that. She yelled that she was going to change and headed for the clubhouse. By the time I saw her headed back my way a number of the boats had headed for the racecourse. It seemed like I was always among the last to leave.

She was wearing just her bathing suit. It was two piece with the bottom very much like panties but ”poofey“ and not tight to her body like regular panties would fit. She handed me her clothes and the only place to put them was under the deck by the stern (back). We had out work cut out for us to get to the start but I did manage to get a fair look at her body. Every part that I could see was tanned. I remember thinking that when she got a little older she might fill out a bit more on top but was definitely ”shapely“, especially her ”bottom“.

My memory is of a day with a little more wind that we’d sailed in the previous weekend. We were very competitive in the first race but in the second her legs gave out on her when she tried to hike out. When we finished up there was a boat with an outboard motor circling us. It was obvious that she knew the boys in the boat. She told me that her aunt had had driven her to the club and the boys in the outboard were neighbors. They had been sent down by her mother to pick her up to take her home. I needed her (or someone) to help when I got ashore but seeing how excited she was to see them I told her to go jump overboard and go with them.

Arriving at the shoreline I immediately was kicking myself for releasing her. I had to find someone to come out and hold my boat while I dropped the sails and removed the rudder and that wasn’t easy. I was the last boat out of the water and then there was the issue of the wheel that wouldn’t turn. Once we finally got the boat up to the storage area I went and found Rex, the club manager. He had a jack and some wood we use to hold the trailer up while we removed the wheel. It only took a few seconds for him to determine the problem. I remember him asking me when was the last time I packed the wheel bearings with grease. I know I had to have had a sheepish look on my face because the answer was ”never“. Long story short... the problem was that the wheel bearing(s) had failed and, not only that, the damage from that had ruined the hub which is what the tire and rim attach to. To rub more ”salt“ on the wound, when it had finally gotten to the point where the wheel wouldn’t turn the tire had gotten a big flat spot on it, down to the threads.

Back in those days there weren’t a lot of auto parts places to choose from and Rex told me that I might have to buy a whole axle and hub assembly. I thanked him for his help and continued to work on it. One of the bearings (or what was left of it) was rusted onto the axle and I tried to beat it off. Totally frustrated I realized that it was getting late and that I needed to call Elle. The only thing was that Rex had left and had locked the clubhouse where the pay phone was located. I still had to get the sails off the mast and boom and take them and the rest of the gear to my parents garage. I knew Elle would be upset. After putting the sails and gear in my car I made one last trip back to the boat to make sure it was stable enough resting on a stack of wood. Just as I turned to leave I saw something under the deck in the stern... Bobbi's clothes. To get to them I really needed to climb up into the boat but couldn't what with the tenuous balance of it. That meant I had to "fish" the articles out one by one. Even the sight of Bobbi's panties weren't enough to erase my frustration but they did ease it a bit.

To be continued...