I started looking for accommodations back in December. I researched the area and saved maps for the trip. I ordered new sails and a rudder to get the boat into sailing shape. When spring arrived (finally) I set out to do the home projects that were badly needing to be done so that I could do this without the feeling that I should have been doing them. When all was caught up, we set sail to practice for the races.

Our spring/summer have been like many other areas this year - very wet and windy beyond our sailing ability. There were many days that the wind was blowing so hard that the whistle noise from the halyard and shroud lines were disconcerting. On many of those days my wife would give me a choice: 1- stay home 2- use only our outboard or 3- use a sail of my choice. Choices one and two were not an option for me, so we went sailing with main only on the really bad days, or with just the jib. On the Saturday before MNAC we sailed quite well downwind without any sails at all, just the wind against the mast and shrouds.

So I yanked the Mutineer, cleaned the lake scum off, and loaded her up with the stuff we needed. We left early Friday morning and, due to the traffic, the nine hour trip took us over 13 hours. We left the hotel early Saturday morning and started our adventure in the Virginia’s Governor’s Cup Races.

Having never sailed in a race before and not wanting to look ignorant, I decided that we would just follow the Buccs around to learn the marks. To my dismay, they all seemed to be headed in different directions when the race started. I looked around and not too far ahead was a boat that was headed steadily toward the place that I thought that we should be going. So I followed them. At each mark was a committee boat, so I would ask where to go next but they thought that I was joking and just smiled and waved. We rounded all of the marks and finished race one in last place.

After a few minutes I came upon another Bucc and asked them where the heck we were supposed to be going. He explained the course to us just in time for race two. We were ready, now armed with our new friend’s knowledge. The race started and all of the Buccs took off in the same direction upwind to the mark. They were leaving us behind quite readily so I turned and went in the opposite direction. We were way away from the fleet that we were racing, but I could see the first mark and took another turn to head straight at it. To my surprise it looked to me that I was going to round the first mark ahead of everyone! I was thrilled my wife looked at me like I was from Mars and tried to settle me down a bit, saying, "hey we are not there yet - anything can happen." But the closer we got to the mark the wider my grin was becoming. I even had Mary thinking that I may be a sailor.

But then it hit me… we weren’t going to make the mark! To my dismay I had misjudged the mark and we had to tack away to get around, and as I did the Buccs just kept pouring around the mark. I did manage to stay ahead of one of them after the first mark but I was deflated back to a non-racer in just seconds. (This was my highlight of the entire weekend) the only other highlight was when the winner of the Buccs VGC race Tim DeVries said to me that I put a scare into all of the Bucc fleet on that race! That really inflated my spirits.

Now I am race ready, and set to step up and race my fellow Mutineers. It was an exciting day on Sunday evening when the Mutineer sailors started to arrive. This is why I came, I told my wife. I anticipated meeting a few of the stars of the Mutineer group. I had in my minds eye what everyone would look like and I had seen photos of many of their boats this was great! Well by the time I had met the MNAC participants, I was confused, as they weren’t what I expected them to look like and I was having trouble sorting the faces with the names that I knew so well.