We planned to make a fun weekend of our first sailing regatta on our new sailboat. The biggest event of the year is the Utah Lake Festival, held the first weekend of June, and with a bigger cabin and spacious cockpit, we were all looking forward to a fun weekend of family, fun, and sailing.
The festival is a fun event, and the harbor and shore are usually packed full of people, vendors, boaters, and lots of fun. Sailors usually arrive on Friday night, tying up at the transient docks to spend an evening swapping stories and talk about boats. It’s the one time during the year that everyone turns out, and we get to feel the companionship of the entire sailing community.
We left after dinner and sailed the 7 miles to Utah Lake State Park in Provo. It was a beautiful evening for a sunset sail. A steady breeze blew out of the north, which was just perfect for our downwind run.
We sailed wing and wing almost the entire distance, catching a few other boats out practicing in the setting sun. One sailor caught a photo of our boat backlit in the sunset. The winds were perfect, and although we wanted to stay out and sail, we decided we’d better head in and find a slip before it got too dark.
The next morning, crowds lined the shore at the start of the festival. There were lots of activities for kids, vendor booths with free handouts, paddleboarding, sunfish sailing, food trucks, and all kinds of fun. People walked out on the docks to ask about the sailboats and take pictures.
At the skippers’ meeting, I learned our boat had been bumped up to division 1, which caused me a little concern. Its PHRF handicap is 198, and although better than our Catalina 25 swinger’s 240, we were far from the fastest boat on the lake. And our crew was definitely in the race for the fun of it. I think we had at least 150 lbs of soda, snacks, and games on board. While other crews were lightening loads and briefing crew members on tacks, jibes, naval warfare, and spinnaker sets, our crew was quoting Jack Sparrow and singing along to the Muppets’ song Sailing For Adventure. I love sailing with this crew.
The course consisted of 3 markers, set a couple miles apart. In our first race, we got off to a late start. With a still unfamiliar boat, we didn’t want to mix it up in close proximity to others at the starting line, so we held back. The winds were light though, and the Catalina 270 sails nicely in light air. We were able to pick up lost time as the race progressed. The next few races went much better, with a few lucky wind shifts and breezes that matched the laid back fervor of the crew.
Later that afternoon, the wind had wearied of pushing all the boats around, and the entire fleet spend 45 minutes bobbing to the first marker. At that point the committee boat announced the race was over, and would instead be replaced by an engine race. All boats lined up at the starting line, and at the drop of the flag the captains opened up their little outboards and sped at a humorously slow pace out to the first mark and back.
That evening at the barbecue and awards ceremony, we were surprised to learn we’d taken 3rd place in division 1. We’re not that competitive by nature, but we happily wore our medals and the kids referred to one another as ‘champions’, ‘victors’, and ‘medal winning sailors’ for the rest of the weekend. The two boys hilariously decided to wear their medals to church on sunday, wearing them under their white shirts so the ribbons showed through. This lead to many funny questions and conversation with their friends at church.
