Making the case for racing

by Wendy Mitman Clarke, SAIL magazine
Even if you know it’s coming, 30 knots is a lot. And we—and presumably the whole fleet competing in last September’s Naval Academy Sailing Squadron Fall Race to Cambridge—knew it was coming.

It’s safe to say, though, that most of the fleet hadn’t been in racing mothballs for 25 years, as had we and our Peterson 34. In fact, we had never raced her—though she (and we) had seen plenty of racing miles before we bought her to be a fast, fun cruising boat. With two little kids on board, Johnny and I hung up our racing spurs and hers and learned how to be cruising sailors.

Then two years ago, our friend Dave invited us to race on his boat in the Governor’s Cup, an annual overnighter from Annapolis to St. Mary’s, Maryland. It was a drifter. Still a ton of fun. And the little voice started talking…what if we were to race Luna? Just for fun? Just us—not a crew? Low key, nothing crazy…after all, she has a windlass, two solar panels, a grill, a furling headsail, and a honking big anchor on a bow roller. How serious could we possibly be? – Full report