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191--St. Croix: Woman Overboard @ CherieSpotting     Mar 02 2004 - 11:22 PST cherie writes: St. Croix Regatta-Woman overboard! Why did “4 Play”, the Beneteau 505 we raced in the St. Croix Regatta, only get 3rd place? Why not 1st place? Usually I’d make up a bunch of excuses. I might say that the boat that got 2nd place was 20 feet longer than ours. (It was a Santa Cruz 70.) But excuses are weak and the ammunition of cowards. I’ll just tell it as it happened. It was the second race of the second day. The air was sticky hot and clung to you like a tight shirt on a European hunk. It was the kind of day when you really wish you had a hat. And the wind was a fickle thing that day-dishing out violent gusts when you least expected it. Was it the winds will, or the hat’s own intention? No one will ever know. But this fact is certain-one of the hats was so hot it went for a refreshing dip. Phil didn’t see it. It was 12 minutes before the next race. Phil was watching his watch. The rest of the crew was fixed on the hat. Hat overboard. How sad! The hat was all soggy wet and lonely. Much to Phil’s dismay, we tacked to see if we could scoop the little bugger up. Then we tacked again. And again. All to no avail. Finally, 8 minutes before the race began, there was a big splash. Woman overboard! Erin had jumped. She had to save the hat. It might be worth the price of an airplane ticket to St. Croix to see the look on Phil’s face as his crew member leapt off the boat. Phil was mumbling in Spanish and I think he said something about Erin’s mother. Erin spent all of her energy on her impromptu hat rescue. She couldn’t muster the strength to swim back to the boat. Minutes ticked away and beads of sweat trickled down Phil’s face. From above 4 Play must have looked like an ice-skater doing figure 8’s around a wet girl. Then the race started. And those other boats didn’t even wait for us. They jockeyed for position while we scrambled in circles. Two minutes after the start of the race, we scooped Erin up and started racing. Better late than never. Click on each picture to see it full size. read comments (0) | write comment| views: 7124    | rated: 0.0    printer-friendly version   The crew of 4 Play at the St. Croix Regatta. It was tragic. A hat went overboard. Try as she may, Erin can't reach it. Minutes before the race begins, Erin jumps off the boat. Erin rescues the hat, but has trouble getting back to the boat. Two minutes after the race starts, we get Erin aboard. Someone give Phil a beer. Jenn drives. The Dutch grinder. Erin leans back. Looking on. Tempest. Hard work never looked so easy. Deck fluff. This is the wildest ride in the west. The need for speed. Cherie driving. Jenn. Cherie on the rail. Deep in thought. They make it look easy. It must be love. Joe and Dolly. Mark at the helm. Piglet blows by. Make it burn Luke. Balaju, the Puerto Rican winners! Joe is not just "deck fluff." Young smiles. Lean into the turn. Sail away. Notice that the Santa Cruz 70 is behind us. (We are racing on a Beneteau 505, a 20 foot shorter boat.) Mark says: "Bigger isn't always better." (In this case it happened to be true, since the Santa Cruz 70 came in ahead of us.) Dolly, Erin and Joe. The competition is gaining on us. It's time to get serious. The Santa Cruz 70. Erin and Luke. "Willy T" won the overall St. Croix Regatta. Sun Bum II. Spinnaker run. A wave from Dolly. Worries washed away by the breeze. Party with the Puerto Ricans. Sailors. Joe, Phil, Luke, Arjan, and Mark. Joe is classic. Somewhere over the rainbow. Serious racers always make sure they have a BBQ aboard their boat.