JOHN GUILLOTE
UNDERWAY© 2018 Mount Gay Distilleries Ltd., Mount Gay® Rum,
32-43% Alc./Vol., Imported by Rémy Cointreau USA, Inc.,
New York, NY. Eclipse Design®
Be Confident. Drink Responsibly.I
f there’s more than one sailboat out on
the water, it must be a race. Cruisers
will say this as an affable joke on land,
but that competition, friendly and spirit-
ed, inevitably emerges on the water. It’s a
refl exive response to the sight of another
sailboat in an otherwise lonely ocean.
My husband, John, and I learned how to
sail on a racecourse, a trial-by-fi re meth-
od in which our bruised shins and egos
very slowly, over several years, evolved in-
to elevated confi dence and eventually a
few trophies. In contrast to fair- weather
weekend cruising, racing offers a steep
learning curve driven by diverse weath-
er conditions and a cohesive crew. Deter-
mined to sail faster than the competition,
racers push their boats past the edge,
leaning in to the diffi cult situations and il-
lustrating an effective lesson on what hap-
pens when the helm is overpowered.
Although we don’t offi cially race much
these days, those bruised shins and hum-
bling lessons have paid off repeatedly as
we cruise our 1976 Valiant 40 down the
coast of North America. On short passag-
es and fun daysails, even if there are no
other boats around, we actively trim sails
and hand-steer to push our speed and our-
selves. Accustomed to setting a spinnaker
for a swift 20-minute run to the nextmark, it feels luxurious to hoist it for a
casual half-day downwind sail.
As we hauled our anchor and headed
out of the small, unprotected cove of Isla
Isabela, off the Pacifi c coast of Mexico,
we were fl anked by two other cruising
boats making good on our proposal to
share the sail to San Blas, hatched amid
stiff drinks and friendly banter the pre-
vious night on the mainland. The Kelly
Peterson 44 was the fi rst to hoist its
asymmetrical spinnaker, benefi ting from
its two additional crewmembers. Ours
was the next kite set. It didn’t take long
for the Tayana 42 to follow suit, and the
race was on.
It was one of those elusive days of
sailing, when the sun is shining and the air
is warm, the breeze is a steady 15 knots be-
hind you, whales are breaching and feeding
along the shore, and you are sharing the
day with friends. As the wind swept us
along over settled seas, we chatted on the
VHF about the wildlife, our chart discrep-
ancies and the pleasant weather. I don’t re-
call who won that day (OK, of course I do,
I was trained to race after all); what stands
out in my memory is the strengthened
friendships, the joy of sailing, the laughter
and the serenity born of a perfect day on
the water. —Becca GuilloteMORE THAN ONE