Home | Login | Place an Ad | Classifieds | Contact Us
More sailing, less stress Bob Luiz scrambled belowdecks to find his pain pills. "I was in a bad accident a few years ago," the former maintenance manager at Berdon Plaza in Fairhaven said. "I can't work, but my doctor told me to sail as much as I can." He swallowed a handful of painkillers, then went topsides and reclaimed the helm. As skipper of the 30-foot Pearson Flyer Tequila Sunrise, Luiz does not have to scramble around topsides as much as his crew does. He can relax at the helm, standing straight to ease the strain on his back and neck. He turns the helm over to a crewmember when he gets tired or needs a break. But it's his ship, and taking it out for a spin -- whether it be racing on a damp and dreary Thursday in the Low Tide Yacht Club weekly series, competing in the recent three-day Buzzards Bay Regatta, or cruising to Martha's Vineyard for a relaxing good time with friends -- is his therapy. Sailing -- whether cruising or racing -- provides great therapy not only for a bad back or a sore head, but also for people who work a long hard day at the store, office or factory, or who do fishing, banking, writing or teaching for a living. Kris Park, a short-timer with only three weeks of racing aboard Tequila Sunrise -- wants to be a writer. He's interested in writing plays, among other things. Right now, while he's getting started, he works a day job as an insurance adjuster, where the most creative thing he does is take Polaroids of smashed cars and fill in accident forms. Last Thursday, Kris was coming off of three days of bouncing back and forth, up and down, aboard Tequila Sunrise as Luiz and crew competed in six races in the Buzzards Bay Regatta. Tequila Sunrise finished 11th out of 14 boats in their PHRF class, but Kris probably finished in the Top Ten in the sunburn and bruise department. Well over six feet, Kris Park took a lot of good-natured ribbing from his crewmates about his ruby red legs bruised blue, black, green and yellow above and below the knee as we set out for the starting line in the outer harbor beyond the hurricane dike. Kris's job during the regatta was to learn the boat (his father acts as navigator and tactician) and keep his weight to windward or leeward, fore or aft, as directed by other members of the crew, occasionally grabbing a wayward sheet or handling a halyard. That means a lot of diving under the mast with its boom vang and Cunningham rigs blocking the way or crab-walking to get out of the way of whipping lines led aft from the mast, jib or spinnaker while the boat heels over 45 degrees or more. Occasionally during the regatta, the crew let him grind at the winches from the cockpit to eek the last bit of tension on the sail. But, in Thursday's light breeze, Park just had to throw his weight around -- literally. "Hey, how're ya holdin' up there, buddy," said Jerome Girard of Dartmouth when Kris moved forward to balance the boat. Girard, who wouldn't tell me what he does for a living, but I am going to go out on a limb and say fisherman, was taking a lot of good-natured ribbing himself. "Where's your cape?" another member of the crew shouted. (Girard was pictured in last week's Standard-Times coverage of the BBR in a photograph with the caption "Spinnaker Man.") Girard works the foredeck, spotting marks as well as raising and dousing the jib and spinnaker and keeping a lookout for approaching boats on the opposite tack. Thursday night there were none. Knot a Clew, a Melges 30 which owner Ryan Walsh tells me is for sale, ran way ahead in Class I, which on that gray and rainy evening had only three boats. Dick Hitchcock in his J-30 Dragon was maybe an eighth of a mile, give or take, ahead of Tequila Sunrise. After the tough racing during last weekend's regatta, nobody seemed to mind. Jerome Girard's younger brother Damien, a graphic artist at the Acushnet Companies, has raced aboard Tequila Sunrise only about 10 or 12 times beginning with the final race last summer. "It's a new hobby," he told me. "I'm trying to learn as much as I can about it." Tasked with bringing dinner aboard -- in this case several boxes of pizza from Rochester's -- Damien doesn't have any desire to purchase his own boat. "For the price of pizza, it's cheaper to go sailing with somebody else," he said, as the crew dug in, politely wiping the remaining tomato sauce off their hands and mouths with biodegradable toilet paper, the only napkins Luiz could find aboard. Another all-purpose member of the crew, John Medeiros of Fairhaven has a bit more experience. He has been sailing in and around New Bedford for about 25 years, the last 12 of those with Luiz. "I'm surprised he hasn't thrown me off yet," Medeiros said. Dave Park, father of Kris, blamed himself for the boat's poor showing in Thursday's race. He said he forgot to listen to the race committee's instructions on the VHF before the gun went off, and Tequila Sunrise tacked a long distance towards the wrong mark before the skipper decided -- with a lot of input from the crew -- to follow Knot a Clew and Dragon. "I'm trying to give the crew experience," said Luiz, explaining his nonchalance at falling farther behind on the last leg of the race as the lights on both sides of the harbor began to blink on and the boat headed for home. The race was over, but the voyage wasn't. After letting a couple of us off at the dock, the remaining crew flaked the jib before putting back in its bag -- ready for the next day of sailing. Then, they polished off the pizza. LTYC race results Results for Series 2, Race 4 at the Low Tide Yacht Club: Class I, distance 6.54 nm: 1. Knot a Clew, Ryan Walsh, 01:18:51; 2. Banzai, Ed Ilsley, 01:28:53; DNC ­ Bright Yes, Tequila Sunrise, Dragon. Class II, distance 5.38 nm: 1. Prudence, Ted Cioper, 01:25:44; 2. Pieces of Eight, Mark Thornhill, 01:27:22; 3. Miss Hannah, Ray Davignon, 01:50:07; DNC ­ Tireless, Head Girl, Horsefeathers. Final Results for Series 2: Class I: 1. Dragon, Dick Hitchcock, 4 pts.; 2. Knot a Clew, Walsh, 6 pts.; 3. Tequila Sunrise, Bob Luiz, 7 pts.; 4. Banzai, Ilsley, 8 pts. Class II: 1. Tireless, Gil Canastra, 3 pts.; 2. Pieces of Eight, Thornhill, 6 pts.; 3. Prudence, Cioper, 7 pts.; 4. Head Girl, Chris Fletcher, 11 pts.; 5. Miss Hannah, Davignon, 13 pts.; 6. Horsefeathers, Paul Silva, 21 pts. Pull for the Bay It's time to register for the 4th annual Pull for the Bay, organized by the Whaling City Rowing Club, set for Saturday, Aug. 23 in the waters off Fort Taber in New Bedford's South End. A multi-craft 3.5 mile race open to all boats under oar or paddle, the Pull for the Bay starts at 9:30 p.m. on race day, with registration available online for $25 or on race day for $35. The registration fee covers lunch and a T-shirt as well as, according to Lucy Iannotti of the WCRC "a great race on a beautiful and challenging course." A portion of the proceeds benefits the Coalition for Buzzards Bay. Boat categories (with examples) include: work boats (dories, singles and double); livery boats (skiffs); coxed boats (whaleboats); sea kayaks (fiberglass and Kevlar); and ocean shells (singles and doubles). To download the registration form, enter www.whalingcityrowing.org/ PullRegistrationWebsite.pdf in your Web browser window, or call the WCRC at 508-997-4393 for more information. Contact Barbara Veneri by e-mail at bveneri@hotmail.com or at the Standard-Times Sports Department, 508-979-4460. This story appeared on Page E8 of The Standard-Times on August 10, 2003.
Terms of Use Copyright Privacy Policy Site Map Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2007 The Standard-Times. The Standard-Times maintains the copyright for all material posted here. Any reproduction for other than personal use will be considered a violation of that copyright.