Ladies' Night - New & Improved, with Wind and an Instant Boyfriend

The ladies of the Alum Creek Sailing Association came out in force on Monday night for our fifth Ladies’ Night event of the season… and the only one so far with a respectable amount of weather!

The ladies started gathering on the docks at around 6 PM, and – first things first – there was a ‘project’ to work on before any sailing could begin. Bernie and Allison and Diane set to work on dipping Allison’s “instant boyfriend”sponge guy that she named ‘Ramone’ into a bucket of water. Apparently, when you soak Ramone in water, he will grow into an actual boyfriend! Hmmm… I can remember a time when I felt like holding my ex-husband’s head under water, but I don’t think that’s the vibe the fine folks at ‘The Instant Boyfriend Corporation’ were going for here.

Anyway, it was with great excitement that four (or so?) chick-sailor-filled boats left the docks and made their way out through the channel. I was granted passage aboard J.O.Y. (John’s Old Yacht – an O’Day 23), with skipper Cathi at the helm, Crew Tina ready for (in)action (hee hee), and (yikes! a stowaway!) the man John himself. (It’s unfortunate that John wasn’t wearing a skirt, since that’s the rule for men who sail with the ladies on Ladies’ Night.) It was obvious from the weather at the docks that we were in were a fun time out on the water, but boy were we excited to arrive at the main body of the lake to see a parade of whitecaps marching down the lake from the north. Party time!

Rock Stars Christy, Cathi, and Tina.

It was a spectacular evening! Cap’n Cathi is a machine at the helm. I was so impressed with her skill and her strength, especially considering what a petite little flower she is. She was generous in sharing tiller time with me, so I got to try my hand at sailing a larger boat (much larger than Central Air) in thrilling conditions. Tina and John made themselves comfortable on the cabin top, while Cathi and I kept busy in the cockpit (except for when Cathi decided to get her groove on up on the boom for a little while.)


With the wind coming from the North (or thereabouts), we set out on an upwind course heading for the bridge at the north end of our 1 mile x 5 miles sail-able section of the lake. The bridge is usually my “goal” when I sail, but I’ve never quite made it up that far. We tacked back and forth across the lake, with some tacks better executed than others (guilty as charged), but lots of high-quality gab (we *are* gals, after all!) and great sailing. The wind started to fade just a bit as we drew near the north end of the lake. I was amazed at how close you can sail to the causeway. We sailed right up to the bridge (trying unsuccessfully to get a shocked reaction from cars on the causeway and nearby fishermen), and then quickly turned downwind at the crucial go-no-go moment. John sailed the downwind leg, as the sun set behind the trees off our starboard side. We all enjoyed some refreshments and a lovely ride back home.

The fabled bridge that marks the very edge of the earth.

No caption necessary, I'm sure. (Again, we *are* gals, after all.)

I imagine that the ladies on the other boats were having just as many laughs and awe-inspiring spin-on-a-dime tacks as we had. What a strong, fun, highly-skilled group of women we have in our club. I am really honored to sail among them. We’ve decided that we’ll have just as much wind at next month’s event, and that we’d welcome the guys to have some burgers and brats ready for us at the marina when we return from our sailing. Sound okay, fellas?

The fine-looking ladies of the Alum Creek Sailing Association (plus one "instant boyfriend")