{"id":68137,"date":"2017-03-21T17:44:43","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T21:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=68137"},"modified":"2023-05-06T22:23:51","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T02:23:51","slug":"my-class-my-story-the-day-sailer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/racing\/my-class-my-story-the-day-sailer\/","title":{"rendered":"My Class, My Story: The Day Sailer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"my <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n My Class, My Story showcases the unique experiences that make one-design racing so special.<\/span>\n Carlo Giambarresi<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

The Day Sailer really moves on the race course. It has all the right sails and strings, and it\u2019s comfortable and it\u2019s responsive. What I cherish even more than George O\u2019Day and Uffa Fox\u2019s timeless design, however, is the experience of stepping on board and instantly feeling connected to other chapters of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

I realize this recently at the annual Day Sailer Crab Pot Regatta at the Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis, Maryland, in October 2016. This non-club-sanctioned tradition has taken different formats through the years, but it always includes something adventurous late in the season, an opportunity to switch boats and crews, and a bowl of chili afterward. On this occasion, our generous fleet captain Robin Richards has rigged Kanaka and Bail Out so we can do a little match racing right off SSA\u2019s docks. It\u2019s gusting, so staying close to the club is a smart idea, especially without crash boats at the ready. Short races right where the Severn River and Spa Creek meet means navigating the irrationality of landmasses and competing winds. Big puffs and even bigger lulls make for a fine quadriceps workout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Eight of us suit up to race while a group of friends watches from the dock. We complete a half-dozen races \u2014 quick sprints between mooring balls and government cans, changing out skippers and crews after every race, with just enough time between to take a sip of water, wipe the sweat off our brows, and laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Standing on the dock, swaddled in my spray top and PFD, and waiting to rotate into the next race, I feel the present mash into the past, for it is right on this very dock (or an older, skinnier, wobblier version of it), that I can see Mom and Dad climbing onto Seamonster for the day\u2019s racing. I can\u2019t recall who was babysitting me at the time, or what I was doing while they were out racing. I just remember wanting to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

I can also picture racing Staccato right off this dock \u2014 my new wooden Opti my dad had just finished making. I recall the horror of being on the wrong side of a port-starboard collision, hoping that someday I\u2019d figure out how to push the tiller \u201cthe other way!\u201d Quite vividly, I also have a flash memory of sailing with Jim Fisher during a Crab Pot Regatta of days gone by, and fondly recalled learning some very grown-up and sophisticated vocabulary words that day after a Navy launch failed to cede right-of-way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Standing here I can see the Naval Academy, and picture the dorms we stayed in during the 1993 Day Sailer Nationals. It was that regatta when we got purple hats that are now faded to a light pink, cool T-shirts with Val Lewton art, a puppet show from Frank Robb and family that was Broadway quality, and my first chance to skipper a major Day Sailer regatta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

I can see flashes of a lifetime of maneuvering out of this basin, with the anticipation of what a day on the water would bring. I can also feel in my bones every return to this dock \u2014 salty, exhausted, frustrated, thrilled, beat up, sunburned, cold, wet and happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho\u2019s up next?\u201d Tony calls out as the boats cross the finish line and return to the basin. There\u2019s a flurry of activity on the dock, gloved hands reach for bowlines and outstretched arms, followed by a quick cleanup of guys and sheets, and the exchange of tips and at-a-girls, as we push off, in new pairs. On the starting line we reach back and forth, pull in our main and jib sheets, listen for the magical \u201call clear,\u201d and target our windward mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s here where I really feel the past and the present collide. I\u2019m perched on the rail with my feet tucked under the straps, my legs stretched out almost straight, my stomach muscles grateful for the short course. We\u2019re on port tack coming into the mark, with just enough room (probably) to make it around first. With just enough doubt to make it risky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Our sparring partner comes steaming in on starboard, and we debate our options: \u201cPress down, stay flat, take their stern and catch them downwind, or hope the pressure holds, stay fast, keep our height, and get in there a moment before they arrive? Eek! Don\u2019t be that boat \u2026 come on don\u2019t wimp out … gosh this is fun \u2026 man this is close \u2026 do we have this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been here a million times before, never with the exact circumstances, of course (this is sailboat racing), but always with the exact same questions, same feeling of exhilaration, same sense that everything else in the world has melted away. Oddly, it is being in this moment, truly present in this single mark rounding, that I feel connected to so many moments on the water, intense in competition, feeling the burn, the thrill, the challenge. \nNo matter how old we get, or how mean and unforgiving our knees and backs become, these are the moments that have no age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

As we derig and debrief what we\u2019ve learned and how we\u2019ve fared, someone pronounces me the winner of the 2016 Day Sailer Crab Pot Regatta. I\u2019m not sure what advanced formula the powers-that-be use to make such a \ndetermination, except that I am surely a contender for having the most fun. When they hand me the trophy \u2014 a black pot for steaming crabs, littered with brass rectangles with names of people I had known my whole life \u2014 I feel like I\u2019m being reunited with an old friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Sure enough, as we scan the brass plates, I find my name listed as the winner way back in 1984. It could have been, and most likely was, my first trophy. \nI was 12 then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

And even though the math wizards say \nthat I am now \u2014 ahem, cough-cough, \nsputter-sputter \u2014 44, in the ways that count in life, I am 12 again. Turns out the \nlittle boats we race around in circles are \nlittle time machines, connecting us to the \npeople, places, and feelings of excitement and \nanticipation that thread through various chapters in our lives. No wonder we love them so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the people and the stories that make each class unique. I invite you to share your story, your class. Write me at editor@sailingworld.com so I can share it and make old new again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

To read more stories about sailors who love their one-design classes, new and old, click here.<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n\n

Dr. Erika B. Seamon, of Washington, D.C., is a professor at Georgetown University. She was part of the first Optimist class at Severn \nSailing Association, raced Vanguard 15s in \u00adChicago for many years, and currently races with Ken Seamon on the Day Sailer, with her husband on a J\/35, and with friends on the Snipe and Interclub.<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From a single outing in a Day Sailer comes a flood of memories and emotions, all tied to a simple craft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Erika B Seamon","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"20170321","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"159","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"From a single outing in a Day Sailer comes a flood of memories and emotions, all tied to a simple craft.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"My Class, My Story: The Day Sailer %%sep%% %%sitename%%","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"KISAJNMDPNNOXRK2KIGZHPK5QQ","arc_website_url":"my-class-my-story-day-sailer\/","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"right-sidebar","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":0,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[1357,234,232,178],"class_list":["post-68137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-day-sailer","tag-my-class-my-story","tag-one-design","tag-sailboat-racing"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}