Racing and mentoring

I dropped into the old office to say hello yesterday and Todd told me I hadn't written in my blog in a while. OK...I did that yesterday, but will try harder to do it more often.
Yesterday was a day for laundry and errands so pretty ordinary...until 6:00. The first race of the OWSA (Oregon Women's Sailing Assn) series and I was a mentor on the ISC (Island Sailing Club) Catalina 25. OWSA and ISC have partnered to give a scholarship each year to 4 lucky OWSA members. They must take and pass a Basic Keelboat class through ISC and then they can use the ISC boats for that year. The expectation is that they'll expose other OWSA members to sailing and participate in OWSA events. Since Sue, Helen, Robin & Wendy don't have much racing experience I was asked to mentor. The wind was blowing 20 mph so it was fast racing and every time we had to tack or jibe the excitement level (fear factor?) went up for "the girls". We were last in fleet but had a great time and the women did well and learned a lot. I have been racing on the J-30 for many years, but still remember when I had little boats and was just starting out with them in races. Many was the day when I'd stand on the dock looking at the whitecaps and beg "the boys" (my crew) to stay at the dock...they wouldn't let me. They were right. Those gnarly, scary nights when I'd almost throw up at the start and rounding marks in a tight knot of other boats was terror like I'd never known before, were when I learned the most. Once I realized I wasn't going to die and the boat wouldn't disintegrate it started to become fun...very fun...loads of fun. It was all a great proving ground for the upcoming adventure. I learned to trust my boat and honed my abilities so I now feel confident that I can accomplish my dream.
Mentoring is another somewhat uncomfortable place to be. I still doubt my experience (even though I have 17 years of it) and ability to teach (the women disagree), but it is most definately a duty I have. My mentors were a huge reason I have been able to make my dream come true and it is time to give back.