Frostbiters set sail for more than just winning

Tranquility, therapy and exhilaration explain why Frostbiting sailors put up with the cold

By DeWolf Fulton
Posted 3/3/18

Racing sailboats in Bristol Harbor every week throughout the dead of winter is mostly not about winning.

On Saturdays from November to April a group of about 20 diehards gather at the Bristol …

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Frostbiters set sail for more than just winning

Tranquility, therapy and exhilaration explain why Frostbiting sailors put up with the cold

Posted

Racing sailboats in Bristol Harbor every week throughout the dead of winter is mostly not about winning.

On Saturdays from November to April a group of about 20 diehards gather at the Bristol Yacht Club, rig their one-man Laser sailboats, and hold five or six races around the inner harbor, each skipper for different reasons.

Frostbiting fleet co-captain Karen Binder won first place last season, but this week as she rigged her Laser for a day of racing, she turned to the other reasons she likes to get on the water in frigid weather.

“I like the peace and quiet,” she said as a late morning breeze pushed 6 miles per hour, and clouds parted on a sunny 45-degree day. “Yes, I’m competitive, but we have a strong, close camaraderie. If somebody flips over, everybody is there to help.”

She said last week it blew hard, with 18- to 25-mph winds, and she flipped over twice into the 35-degree water. Fully protected with a dry suit, she said it was no problem, and with a little help to right her overturned boat, she continue racing.
Frostbiting races are called off only when temperatures drop below 20 degrees or the wind is less than 5 miles per hour or over 20. As one can imagine, Ms Binder has called off races several times this season.

She said sailing in the open harbor with the summer boats all hauled out brings a serene escape from the routine of dry land. This day, diamonds of sunlight off small waves framed a scenic view across the harbor to Bristol. “On the water you’re not thinking of anything else,” Ms Binder said.

Hers is a sailing family. Now in her fourth year of Frostbiting, she also races J22s on Thursday nights in the summer, her 18-year-old son Luke races 420s for Diman Voc Tech High School in Fall River, and her 17-year-old son Adam races their J22 “Orwiler” for Mt. Hope High School. As executive director at Blithewold, she has a full life and appreciates the respite found sailing solo.

David Paine of Barrington shares Ms Binder’s appreciation for the “exceptional peace and quiet” of Frostbiting, a sport he took up in 1995. “If you dress right,” he said, “it’s indistinguishable from sailing in the summer.”

Ralph Kinder of Bristol learned sailing with his father Joe, frostbiting in Penguins as early as four or five years old. “I’d sit at the base of the mast by the centerboard trunk and twist the mast for him each time we came about,” he said.

Mr. Kinder recalled hearty souls like Peter Hallock, Bob Peck and Bill Barlowe racing with him over the years, none with dry suits. “I remember capsizing,” he said.

“Nobody had equipment, just a bunch of wool.” If a boat swamped, its crew was hauled out and taken ashore, Penguin in tow.

Also a competitive sort, Mr. Kinder races for its healthy lifestyle. “It’s incredibly exhilarating,” he said, adding, “Endorphins really roll in the cold,” a reference to the human hormones said to produce a feeling of euphoria. “With a little movement, you stay warm. It just makes you feel good.”

As an example of how sailing prolongs good health, Mr. Kinder pointed to his friend Peter Seidenberg of Portsmouth, who at 78 races in the Master Laser class during the summer. The Laser sailboat, at less than 14 feet in length and weighing 56 pounds, requires good balance and agility for a solo sailor.

For Faye Flam of Providence, Frostbiting is a kind of therapy. “It’s a physical and mental challenge,” she said, “a great sport for people of any age. I keep working to build my strengths and overcome my weaknesses, not to be timid or hesitant. It’s also beautiful on the water in winter.”

A science feature writer for Bloomberg, she first sailed at the Cooper River Yacht Club in Collingswood, N.J., then via Philadelphia and Cambridge to last year in Newport, where she caught the Frostbiting bug and switched to the closer location at Bristol Yacht Club.

Ms. Flam said she doesn’t draw parallels between science and sailing, but tends to take a more personal, fatalistic view. “I just ask myself if I did something wrong, or was it luck,” she laughed.

Ms. Binder and other Frostbiters delight in calling Graham Kilvert, 21, of Barrington the “rock star” of the group, currently in first place in the standings. He started racing young at the Nantucket Yacht Club, then in Newport. Mr Kilvert has competed internationally in Optis and Lasers in England, Italy and Ireland.

Except for some course work in photography at the Rhode Island School of Design, he has put aside formal education for learning the ways of the open seas as a deck hand and first mate aboard giant, custom power boats out of West Palm Beach, Fla.

So why does he enjoy racing Lasers with other Frostbiters? “If you can sail in New England winters, you can sail in any conditions,” he said. “I like the challenge.” He said he hopes someday to compete in the Olympics.

Madeline Murphy of Barrington, a senior at Wheeler School in Providence, found Frostbiting an exciting way to endure the harsh New England weather. “I hate winter,” she admitted. “I wanted something to make it bearable.”

A sailing counselor at the Barrington Yacht Club, she teaches the Optimist “Green Fleet.” She has also raced 420s in Raymond, Maine. Headed next year for Georgetown University, she was not recruited as a racing sailor, but she knows they have a Laser fleet, and she hopes to earn a spot on the team.

To that end, she saved $3,500 from teaching at Barrington Yacht Club to buy her own Laser and trailer. Asked why she enjoys winter sailing, she responded, “When my feet are frozen numb, I ask myself the same thing. But I really enjoy being in a boat by myself. I get a chance to focus. It’s relaxing ... a kind of meditation.”

Listening nearby, her dad, a radiologist at Rhode Island Hospital, also sees relaxation in Frostbiting, and a new way for him to bond with his daughter on the water. “I’m only here since she started coming. We wanted to do it together,” he said as he rigged his own Laser.

A long-time sailor from Belfast, Ireland, Mr. Murphy said he has sailed for years with his daughter and family, largely on cruising boats. “We’re more into just getting out on the water, away from the competition and stress,” he said with a smile. “It’s one of the reasons I frequently place last.”

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