Best Birthday Present to Myself: All Girl Cruise

I often remind myself (especially while being passed by a high speed powerboat) that sailors enjoy the Journey, while powerboaters are all about the Destination. This year’s All-Girls’ Cruise proved something even better: it’s the Company that really matters. 

The excuse was a round-numbered birthday for two of us, but I’d actually been wishing to spend more quality time with my “sailing sisters” ever since we first teamed up to race keelboats. I will never forget one savagely cold and windy J/22 regatta, when I wondered aloud whether we could just hang out together rather than go sailing. “Carol,” my jib trimmer told me sternly, “That’s called a vacation.”

This year, I realized that my biggest birthday wish was to spend more time together—outside the framework of a regatta. So I asked my father if we could borrow Katrina for an all-girls’ cruise, he said yes without hesitation, and before he could change his mind we put it on our calendars for the last weekend in August. I looked forward to it all summer, and I also paid a bit more attention to the jobs Dad usually handles during our cruises together.

A few days beforehand, our former foredeck crew had to call for a rain check, which left three of us to make the journey to Katrina’s home port on the southwest corner of Cape Cod. Dad helped us load before waving goodbye, graciously serving as shore crew while we took his pride and joy out for a long weekend’s cruise. 

It was August, and harbors were crowded—but unlike that long-ago regatta, the weather was vacation-perfect. We didn’t win any trophies or set any records for miles sailed or islands visited, but we ate well, laughed a lot, and chatted about a very wide range of topics—everything from life lessons and career goals to the perfect water temperature for swimming. 

Watching my teammates figure out Katrina’s many quirks, I was newly impressed with all the custom details Dad’s added over the past 54 years that make her both easy to sail and comfortable for hanging out. It was the best birthday present of all: sharing this fiberglass member of my family of origin with two of the sailing sisters I “only” met half a lifetime ago. 

Both Journeys and Destinations can be quite satisfying on their own, but it’s definitely the Company that makes or breaks any sailing experience. As we drove home afterward, still laughing and smiling together, I felt so lucky to be able to take this all-girl race crew on a weekend cruise. If this is what they mean by “vacation,” sign me up again for next year.