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“Mark!” Garrett shouted, glancing backward. Two other sailboats raced past them, as the Timothy dropped in the standings. The Ciao Bella’s rash move had put it in second place. Dave was fighting her off but not doing a great job of it. The St. Claire and the Jetstream battled it out for the lead ahead of even the Tanner. Soon, the Ciao Bella would catch them.
“Let’s do this,” Laura said.
Mark nodded. “Okay.” He directed her back to her post and then he took the wheel from Garrett. He nodded at Gretchen and Tim.
“Let’s get the spinnaker up!” he said. And the five of them worked furiously to get the boat back on course, as they focused on gaining on the Tanner. The St. Claire fell back two boat-lengths as the Tanner passed it and then the Timothy did, too. Laura could see the female sailors on that boat furiously working together to keep the boat competitive.
Then the wind kicked up and they sailed on, nudging forward, and Mark managed to inch the boat ahead, surfing on the waves as they headed downwind. Soon the inches grew into feet as the Timothy knocked out its first competitor. But they had one more lap to go. And the Tanner, Ciao Bella and Jetstream were still ahead of them.
She told herself that she would just live in the moment and that she’d think about what happened to her and the baby later. That for now, she’d just focus on the time they had and on the wind in the sails. How she wished she could sail around the world with Mark. But when a baby arrived in seven months, then what? They couldn’t have a newborn on a boat. And even worse, Mark had made it clear he didn’t want children. Not in seven months, not ever.
She focused on the other boats and all their colorful spinnakers, as they sailed down the race course together.
“I’ll never get tired of this,” Mark shouted and Laura nodded. She could see why he loved racing so much—the thrill, the amazing expanse of water and being part of a floating city, the sea dotted with these majestic boats. The only blemishes on the day were the dark storm clouds hanging out to the west, out to sea. They were far enough away not to be a concern, and the weather report had said rain wasn’t supposed to hit until later that evening.
Ahead, the Jetstream, the Ciao Bella and the Tanner jostled for positions. Mark inched closer to the Jetstream, alongside its huge red-and-blue spinnaker, looking tall and menacing as they tried to move forward. The Jetstream wouldn’t be an easy boat to catch, but they’d have to do it.
Laura tried to focus on her task at hand, trimming the sail, but then she thought about her fall and the baby.
Is the baby okay? She hoped so. But there was hardly any time to think about it. The race continued as the bow slashed through the water, the spray dotting her legs. The sun beamed down and Laura focused all her attention on the boat. The Timothy had to win.
It seemed like just a few minutes, but Laura realized more than an hour had passed as they worked their way around the course. Soon came the last rounding, a big neon yellow buoy, and the homestretch. Right before the turn, they managed to inch past the Jetstream, the sail sinking a bit as it just narrowly lost wind.
Now it was a race of just the top three: the Ciao Bella, Tanner and Timothy. But it looked as if there was no way the Timothy would ever catch either boat. They were too far ahead.
Laura glanced at Mark, and his face told her everything. There wasn’t enough time to make up the difference. Not enough time, not enough wind. They were almost certainly going to come in third.
They could see the finish line, and Laura felt her stomach tense. How could they ever make up that distance? It seemed impossible.
Meanwhile, the Ciao Bella had spent the entire race using aggressive and risky tactics, and now as they barreled down on the Tanner, it looked like they had a serious chance to win.
The crews had one more chance—the final tack to the finish line. As they headed into the tack, the two boats ahead of them clustered together, while the Timothy lagged behind half a boat length. Then, hoping to make their move, the Ciao Bella headed up hard, trying to inch out the Tanner, but it also put the Ciao Bella right in their path.
Mark shouted, “Look out!”
And Laura realized that they needed to maneuver away, or they’d hit the stern of the Ciao Bella.
“Trim!” Garret called and they worked hard to take the boat up, barely making it away from the Ciao Bella, but with the Timothy out of the way, it meant that the Ciao Bella was heading on a collision course straight for the Tanner. And Laura noticed, Dave wasn’t going to get out of the way.
“They’re going to hit,” Garrett shouted, and Laura realized he was right. The Ciao Bella wasn’t going to make that angle on the turn. They were going to ram right into the Tanner.
