LADIES, FIRST

It's been a long time coming, but a persistent shift is reshaping the sport.

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ON the first day of the 2023 J/24 North American Championship on Lake George, New York, whitecaps cover the racecourse frothed by gusting winds tumbling down steep green mountainsides. My mates and I are sailing upwind before the start of the morning's first race, and the mainsail flogs with each angry gust, the boat heeling and sliding sideways despite our crew being right at maximum weight. We're at the blurry crossover between using the genoa or the jib, and obviously we're struggling with the big sail.

After we turn downwind and return to the starting area, we agree that we're big boys and we've been sailing the boat for the better part of three decades, so we should be able to handle the genoa. Yet as we reach back and forth across the starting line, waiting for signals and looking up the course for any sign of the wind abating, we take stock of the rest of the fleet. Who here is confident or skilled enough to go with the genoa? Who already has the blade on deck?

The fleet appears split 50-50, so that doesn't help sway us either way.

We soon rationalize that this is our first regatta of the season, we have not sailed together in nine months, and the genoa is brand-new and not worth destroying on the first day-all valid reasons to hank on the blade. After I hastily flake the genoa, shove it below, and shuffle forward with our cute little jib, I note aloud to the rest of the team: "For what it's worth, the ladies on Sea Bags are going with the genoa-are you sure you want this?"

"Go with it," is the call. "We change downwind if it's the wrong sail."