avionbianca   Blog for s/v Avion

The Kaneohe Yacht Club is amazing and sailors that have completed a 2070 mile race really know how to party.  Juan always thought the Hobie Catters (sailors that race small 16 to 20 foot catamarans known as Hobie Cats) could really party, but they do not hold a candle to Pacific Cup sailors.

July 22, 2014 will go down as one of the most memorable day of my life.  It started with a 4:06 am finished of a 2070 mile sailboat race and it ended with  me having a fiancé.

A while back I had purchased a beautiful antique ring for my girlfriend  Lindi that she had fallen in love with before we were together.  She was planning a major sailing delivery last March from Cabo San Lucus to Seattle with a friend on his sailboat.  Prior to her departure she asked me if I would like to have brunch at one of my favorite Brew Pubs in Berkeley.  I never turn down an opportunity to enjoy good food with good beer while being with good friends so I told her what an excellent idea.  While in Berkeley Lindi suggested that I make a slight detour because she wanted to show me something.  She gave me the directions and when we arrived to where ever we were heading she said find a place to park.  There was an open parking spot in front of a small antique boutique; she got out of the car and went into the shop.  I followed and as we entered she introduced me to the owner by saying, “this is the wonderful guy I was telling you about”.  Oh boy I thought, what is this all about.  She asked if she could see the ring that she had looked at before and of course the owner knew exactly which one it was.  When the shop owner gave me the ring, Lindi said, “I’m going next door to Peet’s Coffee, bye”.  I just stood there quite dumb founded.  The ring was lovely and not too extravagant and obviously something that Lindi really liked and would love to have.  Now as to what her expectations were concerning the ring, I had no idea.  My thought was to buy the ring and either eventually give it to her as an engagement ring, a friendship ring or just as a gift.

For Four months I thought about which it would be.  As this trip approached I debated to take it with me, to leave it in Alameda or to wait until we had a better idea as to how our relationship was developing.  The morning of the start of the race it dawned on me that I had left the ring in the safe at my office so asking her to marry me in Hawaii, could very well be problematic, if that was going to be one of my options.  Al and Michelle were at the docks that morning planning to take their boat out to watch the start with Lindi and other friends on board.  When Lindi wasn’t looking I pulled Michelle to the side and asked her if she wouldn’t mind going to my office before she left for Hawaii and pick up the ring.  We had been talking about when we could have an engagement party in Hawaii so she was aware of my dilemma; I wasn’t sure if the party we were planning was going to be a finish celebration and/or an engagement party.  She told me that she would take care of the ring, which turned out to be the best option because who knows what would have happened to the ring during the 14 days, 20 Hours and 39 Agonizing Minutes on the boat crossing the ocean.

When we arrive there was Lindi, Angie (David’s sweetie), Al and Michelle.  After we got off the boat I asked Michelle if she had the ring, she said it was back at the house we had rented.  During those nearly 15 days I had a lot of time to ponder where my life was heading.  The only time I wasn’t able to think about stuff was during the 1 hour of every 6th hour where I was focused on the helm.  During that time I was able to decide that the life Lindi and I were planning was the direction I wanted to go since I am close to retirement.  She is fun loving, free spirit, adventurous, a great cook, outgoing, funny, and for some reason adores me.  This adventure I just completed reinforced the fact that I want to go cruising again and similar to my late wife Jean, this is also Lindi’s dream.  I have been looking for someone like her for the past 5 years and everyone I know that has met her thinks the world of her; my family in particular.

Once I came to the understanding that I did want the ring to be an engagement ring, the next question was, how do I pop the question.  Obviously it wasn’t going to be at the Yacht Club right after the finish.  So after we all had a few Mia Tais the crew decided to check out the rental unit we had and chill for a while.  When I saw the house I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I told Lindi that I want to talk in private so I fixed her a drink and lead her upstairs to the balcony overlooking Kaneohe Bay, right on the water.  We could look out and watch the boat that were behind us finish.  The setting was perfect; beautiful views, romantic setting and we were both excited about re-uniting after the arduous 2 weeks apart.  I had thought a lot about doing this proposal right; my prior attempts were far from stellar.  I could tell that Lindi was a little anxious not knowing what it was that I had insisted on wanting to  talk to her about.  I made sure she had her drink that I fixed, was sitting at the little table facing the water and I kneeled on one knee, took out the ring box from my pocket, opened it and looked into her eyes and said, “I would love to have the honor of you being my wife.”  She let out a screech that I was sure was heard back in Alameda.  I was thinking that the crew and friends on the level below us must had been thinking something terrible must just had happened.  After about 5 minutes of hysteria I asked, “Well, what is your answer”, as if I didn’t know.  She said Yes, Yes, Yes……  I am absolutely amazed that I am able to make any person that happy.

Tuesday night we had our planned engagement party, ironically Lindi made most of the arrangements on food and drinks for the event.  My brother Kirk and his Wife Nance was in Hawaii and was able to attend along with the Avion Crew, Angie, Al and Michelle and a couple of David’s friends.  The house was perfect for this party, having an enclosed pool, with the water exposed but the area around it covered and wall to wall, floor to ceiling sliding glass doors exposing the water front of the house; we could not have picked a better setting.

Wednesday the Pacific Cup organizers had a Luau, that was spectacular.  Kent’s family arrived on Wednesday so they joined us in the fun.  The food was amazing and the performance was the best Luau show I have seen.  What made it so spectacular was the way in which they engaged the audience and sailors aren’t shy, which made it even better.

Thursday night was the Mount Gay Rum party so you can only imagine how the Mia Tai’s flowed.  The band was great, they played 60’s and 70’s party rock and roll songs, and Lindi and I danced the entire night, for that matter all of the sailors danced the entire night.  Based on the band’s reaction they had never seen such a livelier crowd.  Many times they mentioned that they wanted to take us with them to their other gigs to show people how to have a great time.  I’m not sure the mass quantities of rum had anything to do with it coupled with having just completed a 2070 mile race across half of the Pacific Ocean, whatever the case everyone had a wonderful time.  Like I said Pacific Cup sailors really know how to party.

After the band was finished playing I saw Lindi talking to the band leader.  I started to think that I had made a big mistake when I told her she could have whatever wedding she wanted.  I said that knowing that Lindi is very fiscally responsible on everything else and naturally assumed this wouldn’t be any different.  I pointed  out to the crew members what Lindi was doing and they all gave me a ribbing on the possibility that I would be buying 6 round trip airline tickets from Hawaii to the Mainland.  When Lindi was done talking to them, I was sweating and it had nothing to do with all the dancing I had been doing.  She walked up to me holding a piece of paper that I was hoping wasn’t a contract.  Turned out all she wanted was their play list because a friend of hers will probably be our entertainment and she wanted to let him know what kind of music she wanted his band to play; what a relief…..

Friday was the awards ceremony but first the crew and friends wanted to take Avion out to the sandbar in the middle of Kaneohe Bay.  Even with an 8 1/2 foot keel we were able to beach her with an anchor into sandbar and swim just a few feet off the bow and stand on the sandbar.  We had a great time swimming and enjoying the cool breeze and warm water out in the middle of the bay.  We then returned to the awards ceremony to applaud all of our fellow sailors that won trophies.  I was heartened by the fact that the only standing ovation was for those sailors that were given special recognition for assisting other competitors that had major boat damage out in the middle of the pacific.  Both involved broken rudders and lending assistance with transferring water, fuel and equipment to help.  All boats made it to Hawaii without further incidents.  This proved that the most important criteria for this race, and for that matter any race, is the safety and welfare of the competitors.

By this time even Juan was partied out!

More to come, we will be blogging on our return.  Also you can follow our progress on Yellowbrick Road web site that you can link to through the Pacific Cup web site.  Our plans are to leave on Wednesday.