Voiceless “Victory” makes me so proud

by Carol Cronin
A few weeks ago, I sailed my last Snipe race of 2023—without a voice. I’ve written about voice before, but this time I mean it quite literally: I had laryngitis.

And in more than 30 years of top-end one design racing, I consider it one of my best finishes ever.

By the usual standards, crossing the finish line in third could be called a failure. Halfway through the race, we were winning—both the race and the North American Championship—so dropping two boats on the second lap hardly constitutes what legendary coach Gary Bodie would call a positive delta. But I’m really proud of finishing second overall, because on that particular day Kim Couranz and I had to use everything we’d learned in thirteen years of sailing Snipes together. – Full report