I watched the start, won by Abu Dhabi at 1400 or so with a short burn up to the channel marker just north of the bridge. Around and beat back out the narrows, to R4 and the satisfying sound of sheets being eased as they accelerated off to the SE, in the building afternoon haze around 1500… Standing on the rocks at Brenton point and reflecting on their departure one quickly arrives at the adventure before them. For the Alvimedica guys,the immediate one was trying to catch up to the UAE boat who skunked them at the start. In 65 foot one design boats it is as hard as any one design class to find a passing lane straight lining. One thinks of similar, or perhaps even any departure and how the mindset changes. All the excitement and exhilaration does a slow wipe dissolve as the day progresses. In the case of the Rhode Island boat they had the start to contemplate so something to take the mind of the next two weeks, the next 11 months, for a few minutes anyway. But as the rocky RI shore line disappears at maybe ten-twelve knots or so, I guess, thoughts turn to the jobs at hand, not quite finished, numbers to crunch, GRIB files to gather, pictures to be shot and on into the night. A couple of days from now, Newport, the past month and shore side memories and routines will be in the receding past, the focus closing in on Alicante and, oddly enough Columbus Day, well the weekend of. On into the night, the cloudy sky obscuring the half moon, the outside and the inside merge into one tone…..black.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 01:03:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015