Alum Creek Women's Regatta

I crewed for Chris Sheppard aboard ‘My Diamond Ring’ this past weekend at the Alum Creek Women’s Regatta. We took the blue flag for the regatta – first place!! I was a ‘grinder’ with Vickie Fantozzi for the two morning races, and with Kelly Shremshock for the two afternoon races. The winds rose steadily all day and by late afternoon, we were spending a fair amount of time with the rail ‘in the drink’ while sailing upwind. It was very intense and a little scary at first, but turned out to be lots of fun! I am thankful to have (mostly) gotten over my fear of getting knocked down. I guess it finally sank in (pardon the pun?) that because of the weight of the keel, a big boat can only ‘go over’ so far before it rounds up (away from the wind) and flattens out again. Sure wish I could say the same thing about Central Air.

Chris is an amazing sailor – so talented at the tiller and so cool and confident! And MDR sure is built for speed. My crewmates – Vickie, Kelly, and (another) Christy – were also fabulous sailors and great company during a long, arduous day on the water. The other skippers who raced – Rosie, Kathy, and Sallie – are also enviable with their skippering and sailing skills. Girl power!

I don't quite think I'm ready for the America's Cup or even Lake Erie, but consider this my public notice: I am available to crew for any regatta, any day, any time. Bring it on!!