∞ Serenity NOW

A couple of weeks ago, I decided I wanted to go for a boat ride, so I sent out a few texts to see if I could find someone to race with. Except, I accidentally sent out this: 

"Hey, I'm going to be in Annapolis tomorrow night if you know anyone looking for screw." 

Woops. I'm really quite the dumbass sometimes. 

Anyways, my friend John Schlossberg invited me to race with him on Tim Lyons' Corsair 43 Triple Threat in the Solomon's Island Invitational, a fifty-ish mile race from Annapolis to Solomon's Island. I had done this race before and I needed to get to Solomon's anyways, so I immediately signed on for the race. I was totally stoked! I'd never sailed on a trimaran before, so I was excited to get out and see how it worked firsthand.

After meeting Tim, the owner, and Joe Ament and Harry Murphey, the two other crew, we got the boat ready and pushed off the dock to get to the starting line. After John and Tim guided us through a great start with Joe and I on the main traveler and Harry maintaining sight on the line, we set on down the bay with some decent wind and optimistic thoughts about our tactics. 

A rare calm and collected moment for KB

I'll tell you what, that race was the most refreshing sailing I've done all year. I told Harry that the only thing I could complain about was the wind direction (on the nose), and he said he couldn't even complain about that because then the sail would be over too soon. What a great perspective to have; sometimes it's nice to concentrate on the quality of an experience rather than how fast you're going. I rarely do that.

On top of the good breeze and cool air, the moon was full and there was not a cloud in the sky. We could see for days out there in the middle of the bay, and the feel of the trimaran gliding through the water at about nine knots all night was unparalleled to any sailing I've done in months.

The sunset shortly after the start.

As this race serves as a feeder race to the Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge, I usually try to take it a little easy, knowing full well that I'm going to have to get another race boat ready for a regatta once I get to Solomon's. 

I wholly failed to do that this year. Big time. 

Though the sail down was phenomenal and not very taxing at all, I cannot say the same for the way I treated my liver once we got to the dock at 5am. Poor liver; the rum-and-pineapples started flowing immediately, and they were strong. There was nothing I could do! And come on, when the tent party starts at sunrise after not sleeping all night, there really isn't much defense for sobriety after a certain point. 

In the end, we didn't do as well as we'd hoped, but sometimes even a loss can't take away from the good feeling you leave with after an event. I'm going to go ahead and chalk this experience up as a big win for myself, because it was fucking awesome, and also because I survived the worst daytime hangover I've ever had.

Photos by Joe Ament, Triple Threat crew.