WSC Today

Today was epic, to say the least. With gusts peaking at 25 knots, today was the fastest, and most eventful sailing we've had all season. There were four capsizes, three turtles, two dry-capsizes, and a partridge in a pear tree. I was sailing with Jared, thankfully, and together we were by far the heaviest boat on the water. That, plus Jared's wicked skills and crazy good luck, held our title as the only boat that managed to survive. Barely. We planed (when the boat reaches a speed at which it rises off the surface like a rock skipping over water) and the rudder lost contact with the water numerous times, putting us out of control and twice resulting in high-speed collisions. When we weren't planing, we were pushing hull speed (the speed at which, and you would have to ask a scientist for the cause, the boat moves so quickly that it is actually pulled into the water) and found ourselves being drenched by waves taller than us as we rocketed across the river's rough swells. To top it off, we had two near-capsizes which I prevented with last minute dives to the rail. The first time, my jib sheet (the line that controls the foresail and the crew's main responsibility) got fowled, and I had to crawl to leeward (the down-wind side of the boat, and the absolutely worst place to be on such a hard tack) for upwards of five seconds to untangle her, before making a full-extension leap-of-faith to the windward side to flatten her out. The second near-capsize, Jared was not so lucky and ended up taking a dive. At the last moment he grabbed the tiller and managed to skipper the boat for thirty seconds and a hundred feet while being pulled through the frigid Willamette water at 5+ kts. EPIC M.O.B., no doubt. So sorry Ciara and Gracie weren't there to rub it in Jared's face.