CAKE WALK TO NOVA SCOTIA
It’s been said golf is a good walk spoiled—and if ever the same could be said for a sailboat race’s effect on an otherwise enjoyable off shore passage, it would have been aboard the J/130 Saga at the end of the 2017 Marblehead to Halifax Race.
The eight of us comprising the crew, including our intrepid skipper, Marblehead sailor Kris Kristiansen, gave it our best, the boat was well prepared, we’d shown good boatspeed early on and had been happy with our plan of attack. But when it came time for the fleet to converge again off Nova Scotia’s southern shore, what should we see but our closest competition in PHR-2 a mile or so ahead of us in the haze—close enough that we might still hope, but in vain.
A funny thing happened, though, on our way to maritime misery—a good passage well-sailed, compounded by what can only be described as a kind of meteorological magic carpet ride across the Gulf of Maine, so that the next thing everyone knew, we really couldn’t have given a damn.
Crossing the finish line off McNabs Island, we cheered the race committee, the beer came out and everyone high-fived and shook hands like we’d been first to finish. Despite ending up toward the bottom half
