10:38am
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Potomac River

"There's nothing better than a heartbeat over mind, so shout it from the rooftop," Twenty-four year old Allison Silvestre sang as she steered an equivalent of the Club 420, a 13 foot dingy up the Potomac River. A wide smile on her face, the wind caught her blonde ponytail as she ducked under the boom passing over head. If you could see her green eyes under her sunglasses, they would have shown. There were few things she loved more in life than sailing.

Next to her Kate simultaneously ducked under the boom, singing along "here I go, beating on the backdoor of your soul" releasing the jib sheet so the bow could pass through the wind in their effort to tack to port. Allison didn't have to say anything as she worked in tandem with her best friend. With her Hispanic coloring Allison's crewmate and best friend Kate Rodriguez was complete opposite in appearance, but the two girls were alike in every other area that count, including their taste in cheesy 70's music.

Allison with her type-A personality had become the de-facto skipper over their seven years of sailing together, plus she had been sailing since before she could walk. What else would you expect of the heiress to the Silvestre Sailing Empire? Her best friend Kate, had never been in a sail boat before being assigned as Allison's roommate freshman year of college. It hadn't taken a whole lot to convince Kate to walk onto the sailing team, just one windy exciting day on the Potomac. Seven years later it was arguable who the more skilled sailor was.

"Walking on a tightrope don't you know," Allison sang out as she switched hands on the tiller extension. In one smooth move, she turned the rudder as together they rocked the boat, preparing for their next turn.

In a fluid motion, Kate trimmed with her forward hand, then reached around by her aft hip and found the turning block, pulling the slack out of the jib sheet. As the boom once again passed over their heads the wind caught the sail and pulled the boat away from shore and back into the middle of the river.

"Takes you higher, Takes you higher." The two friends shouted breaking into the rest of the chorus of Sasha's "Rooftop" as they skimmed along the water under the bright blue cloudless sky. They had lost count of how many roll tacks they had done since passing under the Key Bridge, but on a good sailing day no one really kept count anyway, both just naturally responding to the wind. Anyways, a sailor never complained when the wind was good.

On this Saturday they were just out for a lazy sail. Well as lazy a sail as two competitive girls could manage. But it was nice just being out on the water. Since Allison had started traveling so much for her job and Kate began work on her Masters, the available time for the two of them to just hang had been limited. Yes, they got together for drinks or dinner at least twice a week, but it was different from college when they had been nearly inseparable.

When the weather report had said that it might hit seventy degrees on this mid-March weekend, neither had to ask if the other wanted to spend the day sailing. They were further north than they would normally sail on the Potomac, but the wind had continued to be good past the Key Bridge so they kept tacking up river, putting a show on for the pedestrians crossing the bridge above. Above them loomed Healy tower and the rest of the brick buildings that made up their alma mater.

"Hey Ally, keep your eye on that skull, they like to turn around about here." Kate said gesturing to their port side. The river was getting narrower now that they had passed the Hen and Chicks rock cropping. Since they were on a port tack, they would have to give way to the boat on their starboard side.

Just like Kate predicted the skull began turning into the middle of the river and they wouldn't be able to tack fully to starboard without running the damn rower over. Kate eased the tension on the jib trying to slow them down, Allison pushed the main and the boat turned leeward.

Thinking they were clear of the skuller Kate put tension on the jib, anticipating that Allison would trim the main, pulling it back towards center which would have turned them starboard. Rocking before she ducked under the boom, she realized her partner hadn't rocked with her and the main wasn't moving. Half way across she pushed off with her left foot trying to hike back up on the port side of the boat.

For just a moment the boat was unbalanced and as the wind caught the over tight jib sail, the boat turned further leeward before the wind pulled it over and slammed the mast down into the water with a splash. Both girls tumbling into the water with it.

Even the most practiced sailors may not be able to avoid every problem, but getting the boat back on its feet was a determining factor in a team's skill. And they were skilled.

"You okay?" Allison called out to her partner.

"Yeah, just a little wet."

"Oh, that is so totally your own fault." Allison said as she swam around to the back of the boat and climbed onto the centerboard sticking out on the water. She knew by now Kate would have found her footing, this was not the first time they had ended up in the water. "One," she called, asking if her partner was ready. "Two," Kate called back, affirming she was. As they both called "three", Allison jumped down on the centerboard as she climbed over the side, meanwhile Kate pushed the boat over, riding it as it righted with Allison's momentum.

The two girls were lying soaking wet on their stomachs, laughing. Sometimes flipping and righting the boat was just as much fun as sailing it in the first place. With the sails loose and shooting into the wind, the river current was pushing them downriver, back towards Georgetown. "You want to head back toward the marina?" Allison asked.

"Sure as long as we aren't going to the marina yet." Kate said. It was only 10:30 in the morning and they knew from experience that the breeze would probably last until one, before picking up again around dinner time.

"Hey what's that?"Kate asked, her arm extended in front of her point to something about a quarter of the way to shore.

"It looks like a garbage bag or something. Damn hikers." For a moment she thought about just diving back into the Potomac and swimming over to grab it, but she thought better. Allison pulled on the cord to start the outboard motor, "we should probably go get it."

Instinctively Kate uncleated the halyard line, effectively dropping the main sail as the motor came to life. In less than a minute they had pulled up alongside the object, Kate hanging over the port side to grab it. She pulled up, but it was heavier than she has anticipated. Instead, it only flipped over.

"Hey Kate, what is it?" Allison asked from her position in the stern. "Kate?" She asked again when Kate didn't say anything.

Putting the motor in neutral, she stood up allowing herself to see over the side of the boat, she realized why Kate hadn't responded. The two girls were staring into the hollow eyes of a dead body. A scream erupted from within her, echoing out over the picture perfect waters of the Potomac.