Tampa Bay Sailing Race

Eeeeek ! What are we getting ourselves in to ??!!

Our friend from Tampa, Phil Waller, invited us to go out on his 42' sailing boat for a Thursday night race. We agreed ! When we got there we were told were to be "Rail Meat". Wha???!!!

Rail Meat: When a boat if sailing in high winds, it heels, which means it tips over onto it’s side. If the wind is blowing over the starboard (right) side of the boat, that side of the boat will be tipped up. And vice-versa, it the wind blows over the port (left) side of the boat, that side of the boat will be tipped up. How much the boat tips depends upon the setting of the sails and the amount of wind there is. Today, we had gusts of wind up to 30 mph, which is a lot of wind when you’re sailing.So, the “rail meat” helps to keep the high side of the boat down by sitting on that side with our feet hanging over the edge, and sometimes our upper bodies hanging out through the lifelines, with only our bottoms on the rail (edge) of the boat. Thus, the term “rail meat”.

There were a total of about 12 of us on the boat. 5-7 of us were for the weight...the others worked the sails.

Our Captain, Phil (Captain Bligh)

Noooo! Trim THAT sail !

"What do you think Number One"?

"I think we should do something with that sail in the water " !

Heading out of the harbor.

This large sail (I forget what it's called) is the one that goes back and forth as we change direction. We (the Rail Meat) had to climb over the top...UNDERNEATH....this sail to get to the other side.

....leaving our competition behind.

....waaaaay behind

Kim sat down with the Captain and kept and eye on him.

...and asked LOTS of questions (for future use when we buy OUR sailing boat)..

Tampa in the far distance....we got waaaay out there.

Heading towards our next to last turn as the suns sets.

The view from First Place.

In between the tacks, we could enjoy the scenery.

This was only a partial lean...we got waaaaay over.

It was a great time. We were out for over an hour. We always wanted to do this and Phil was very gracious in asking us out. Now we want to buy a sailboat...but a much smaller one !