By Bruce B. Brugmann
Well, the sail racing news is that Nicky and Gordo are back.
As attentive readers of this blog remember, the fearsome twosome are my grandson, Nicholas Perez, a lithe 14-year sailor from Santa Barbara, and his veteran skipper Gordon (Gordo) Bagley, of Boulder City, Nevada. I wrote up how they did the impossible in the Hobie National Championship race in Alameda and and pulled off one of those once-in-a-lifetime sailing feats that sailors only dream about. Read original blog here.
Nicky and Gordo port tacked the fleet, which means they threaded the needle between the pin boat and the rest of the fleet of catamarans on port tack, took the lead, and never gave it up during the race. To pull off this maneuver during a national championship was nothing short of miraculous.
They were back in fine form in their first race of the season last weekend in Monterey Bay, the kickoff regatta for the Hobie Association of North America. (Hobie is the name of a catamaran boat.) It was so cold and windy that the race was canceled the first day (Saturday) and it was almost as cold and windy on Sunday, but some 40 sailors took to the water. Gordo sailed in bare feet. “I get a better feel of the movement of the boat,” he said, explaining his obvious masochistic tendencies.
Nicky and Gordo were first out on the bay, in their l6 foot Hobie, and sailed smartly out to sea.
They hit some rough patches during the race, but still managed to place fifth. “We survived,” Gordo said,
always optimistic, and looking ahead to the next race in San Diego.
HIs feet, he said, didn’t get cold but the rest of his body did. Nicky, bundled up in a dry suit, was cold but he didn’t complain. I was cold as hell standing on the shore watching.
As Gordon latched his boat onto his car for the ll-hour ride home, I noted several lines from Gordo’s favorite songs scrawled in blue on the sides of the boat.
Gordo’s favorite was a line from a song by the group Cream, “The sparkling waves are calling to kiss their lace white lips.” My favorite, “You can leave it all behind and sail…” from an Eagles song.
Meanwhile, I caught a wave while getting some closeup photos. So I headed off to a local bar to get out of the wet and into a dry martini. B3
Nicky and Gordon head out to sea.
Nicky and Gordo put their boat on wheels
Nicky and Gordo wheel the boat to the car.
Nicholas and Gordo standing tall at the end of a cold windy day at sea. Note Gordo’s bare feet. B3