Adventures in offshore racing

Lydia Mullan went offshore looking for adventure and found it in spades during this year’s Annapolis-Newport Race. She shares her story in SAIL magazine:

It’s 4 a.m., and we’re taking on water. I’m kneeling beside the nav desk, gasping into a bucket. Thirty-knot gusts have us on our ear. Seawater slops against my knees, soaking me from bare feet to thighs. My throat burns, my bailing bucket a cloudy mix of bilge water and vomit.

“Hey, Lydia?” Eric leans over me with a wan smile. “Still think it’d be cool to do The Ocean Race?”

I raise a hand, unsure whether I am about to flash him a thumbs up or the bird. – Full report