Dear Friend of CHARIAD:

CHARIAD’s last race of the 2018 season was a pursuit race sponsored by the Eastern YC in Marblehead.

We had 14 sailing crew on board!

I encouraged friends of the boat and crew to come out for our final race outing on a beautiful fall sunny day. We had up and down light winds from the SE in lumpy seas – hard to keep the boat moving.

Potluck Pursuit Race Eastern Yacht Club (EYC) Chariad Crew 2018

Each boat started at a time that according to their handicap rating would have all boats finish at the same second. The slowest boat started first and the fastest boat started last. Whoever crosses the finish line first wins.

Out of 17 boats, CHARIAD finished “1st.”

Well not quite 1st.

The first boat to finish is owned by Jud Smith an Olympic Silver medalist and Rolex Yachtsman of the Year. We finished shortly after Jud’s boat. You can decide how you want to score our finish.

Here is the course of about seven miles.

We passed all but one of the boats in front of us by Tinkers Gong – the first mark. We passed the last boat at the next mark near Halfway Rock. We are in first place, but the faster boats were behind us and coming closer. For the next leg we were jibing downwind with a jib up – no spinnakers. We crossed ahead of Juddie’s boat but fell into a wind hole and they rounded the last turning mark ahead of us. The other faster boats could not catch us.

The race committee gave us the 2nd place award. They called CHARIAD the school bus for the gaggle of people on the boat.

What a fun day! Folks were running from one side of the boat to the other as the wind went up and down. Everyone contributed to the effort and the story telling as we got back on the mooring with toasts to the Mighty CHARIAD and the great CHARIAD crew.This was a special day for me.

Manchester to Marblehead Sunset Sail

I hope you saw the spectacular sunset photo from the sail back to Marblehead from Manchester two weeks ago. Here is another image from that same sunset. The color and splendor of that evening was hard to believe and is worth cherishing.

Potluck Pursuit Race Eastern Yacht Club Chariad sailboat

We are deluged by the media with a lot of ugly stuff. To keep some semblance of sanity, at least by my off-kilter standards, I am focusing on special moments like the sunset and the joyful day on the water with a boat load of great friends.

I hope you can hold onto the moments of joy in your life.

My best,

Rick