The Downwinder

Casa Nora always has interesting house-guests. Case in point, our pal from Switzerland - Markus Hammer, heretofore referred to as 'Hammer'. (See photo to the left - an image of Hammer and Big Al) One evening, over a glass of wine and a cigar, Hammer tells Big Al that he wants to do a downwinder - a long, downwind sail, from Point A to Point B. Several glasses of wine later, this seems to be a fantastic idea, and they decide that two days later, they and Mary and I, will do this sail. Frankly, at the time, it sounded like an adventurous idea. Not much more was said about it, until the day of the sail - at breakfast. Hammer and Al decide that we will leave at 2:00 pm, that the ride should take no more than an hour, and that we should arrive at an abandoned beach (the location of which only Al knows) at the same time that our pick-up team would arrive. Al drew a sketchy little map of said abandoned beach for our pal Johnny T from Toronto, who was driving our truck to the pick up location. John had never been to this part of the island, but his girl, Diane, had ridden her bike somewhere near there.

The boys were thrilled with how the plan was coming together. They make a call to the Vela centre to get a wind update, and they were told that the wind was light, and would continue to be light for the duration of the afternoon. So, we decided to take our largest sails. Perfect.

Hammer and Al get to work loading the truck with Al's and my gear. And Hammer and Mary take off for the Vela centre to get their gear. As we are loading the truck, at the last minute, I wrap my cellphone in 4 plastic baggies, and stuff it into Hammer's harness pocket. I give Al's cellphone to Johnny T and our pick-up team. As we are pulling out of our house, I'm thinking....hhhmmmmmm.... maybe we need some other safety measures, but it was too late. Oh, did I mention that the boys had planned the downwinder on the day that we had invited 25 people over for a bbq at 6:30 pm that evening?

Al and I arrive at our launch location and meet up with Hammer and Mary on the water, and Mary takes off like a rocket, on a severe downwind angle. Downwind sailing is an entirely different proposition than regular, slightly upwind sailing. The stance is totally different, the speed is incredible, but the chances of a catapoult are huge. It took me several reaches to figure out the required stance. At this point I had separated from the group. In fact, I could no longer even see Al's sail. The wind did not stay light, in fact, it picked up ...... alot. So, we were all over-powered. After several catapoults, I realized that it was every man, woman and child for him/herself, and I started cutting severely downwind. Battling the huge swells, the incredible wind, and a rising sense of panic, we all keep going. Finally, somewhere out in the ocean I meet up with Al. I'm trying to figure out where this beach is, and he keeping pointing downwind. I am exhausted, but I point my board and just go. Al and I finally reach the beach, and drop our gear, totally exhausted on the beach. We look out into the ocean, and there is no sign of either Markus or Mary. We look at the beach, and over the sand dune, and there is no sign of our pick up team. One of the locals that had gathered to check out these crazy gringos, offers me his cellphone (that latest model with a camera). That was very sweet, except that I don't know Al's number off by heart, as it is programmed into my phone, which currently is somewhere in the ocean in Hammer's harness pocket. The locals start asking about how we navigated the reef. Reef? What reef? And then they ask if we spotted the shipwreck. What the f*#@! Mercifully, we encountered neither the reef, nor the rusted out and incredibly sharp shipwreck.

Now, it is getting late, and it is cold. And still no sign of either Hammer and Mary, or the pick up team. With the help of the locals, Al and I pick up our sails to give Hammer and Mary some kind of a visual indication of where we are. Some ten minutes later, we see the fading sunlight glinting off of their sails, way out in the ocean. But, they are heading right for us. As they draw closer, I can see Hammer's big ass grin! Both of them are heading for the beach at top speed, not knowing that the water level changes dramatically.....it gets shallow...fast! And they both get catapoulted about a metre off the beach!

Finally, we meet amidst hugs and alot of relieved laughter. Then the stories begin. Mary had been sailing behind Al, when she spotted two big black fish swimming in his wake. In fact, his fin hit one of the fish. Thereby creating chum. Not good. Mary freaked out, sailed to shore, and contemplated staying there. Hammer had to promise to sail right beside her, and to sail with her right to the abandoned beach. And they made it!

While we are exchanging stories, I see our pick-up truck making its way around the sand dune, onto the beach. Unbelievable.

We de-rigged our gear, packed the truck, and made it home one hour to spare before our bbq. We were all showered, the food was ready for the bbq and the beers were cold 10 minutes before our guests arrived.

Needless to say, we had a terrific party. Here is the photographic evidence......!

Photos from the party: