The Ladies' Cruise

The "Ladies" of CAPAZ: Laurian Toland, Jill Hendrick, Ann Ferguson, Jan Holbrook, Barb Pomeroy, and Kelly Scholl


Now this is my kind of party. Invite some friends to go out on your boat, one of them hostesses (thanks, Laurian - you are the best), the rest bring the food and drinks, lunch is catered, and all I had to do was a little boat cleaning.
I guess I should start at the beginning. The "Ladies' Cruise" or "May Cruise" is an annual Seattle Yacht Club event. It's the last event for the Women's Group each spring before many people take off for the summer. Anyway, this has been something that my mom has participated in for at least 4o years. When she first became involved, there were many young women her age. However, the median age of this group has climbed a little bit over the years and they are looking to get some of younger women (I love being referred to as a younger woman - I guess it is all relative) to attend some of the events. They have some interesting speakers, but they also have the problem that a majority of the "younger" women work and have children. Anyway, since there has been sincere efforts to include us, I thought I would do my part to encourage some of my friends.
I figured: now that we have this fairly weather-proof boat, maybe it was time to volunteer for the Ladies' Cruise. So, I polled a few friends mostly from my book group and it turned out that they were all pretty much game. We even got to add an extra off the waiting list at the last minute (and we weren't too squished).
With Brad as our trusty captain, we pulled away from the dock sipping mamosas under clearing skies. We even had a sprig of lilacs tied to our ensign on the stern (I am sure that Kelly O'Neill was smiling). Once past the breakwater, Brad hoisted the sails and off across the Sound to Port Madison we went. As we were about 2/3 of the way to Point Monroe, our captain noticed powerboats converging on us from both the locks (the other boats that had left from Portage Bay) and from Elliot Bay (ditto from Elliot Bay). Of course, then it became a race with only two overtaking us before we got into the channel and the rest just patiently had to follow us to the dock. We were the only boat with sticks at the dock.
Cocktail hour commenced under clear skies and a wonderful steak and salmon lunch was had by all. The return trip was even better with Brad and his sailor girls enjoying a day that truly makes the last few months of crappy weather truly worth it from our roomy cockpit! Finally, with the boat tucked back at the dock and everyone off to their respective rest of their days, the captain, my hostess and I enjoyed refreshing mojitos in the sun (a nice northerly was blowing for those who were off to racing!).
What a truly fantabulous day! I wish Behan had been able to join us. I guess we will have to do it again when she is back in this neck of the woods.

Sailor Girl Extraordinaire