Greg

one more time on the water

Last night we had what may have been the "last" of our SailNow lessons - not because we're 100% competent but because we're coming to the end of the program.  We'll be finding out whether we can get a couple more lessons in since we didn't get out on the water much.

How are the skills?  After last night I think we're both much more comfortable with tacking and jibing, man overboard stops and docking.  Well, we understand the basic concepts of docking under sail which is different from saying that we'd execute it well on our own.  You also may have noticed that I said "much more comfortable" not "we're comfortable" - we did fine in light to medium winds, but if we had winds back around what we saw on Sunday then I'm not sure that we'd do very well...  And every so often, we'd forget to do something or drop a line when not meant to, etc. because we'd be thinking about what we're supposed to be doing.

Hopefully it's all just a matter of more time on the water at this point before the basics are just ingrained... :)

Tangent - ever curious the weather conditions on Lake Union?  Check the CWB's weather station.

third time's not a charm (Sunday's sailing lesson)

Well, we got out for our third lesson this past Sunday and unfortunately it was a bit of a dud.  Enough that we cancelled our fourth lesson which was supposed to be Sunday afternoon.

Why?  For starters there was a strong wind (for the size of boat that we're sailing) and stronger gusts - it was averaging around 12kts and at the CWB they actually close the livery and stop renting boats when it stays at that range.  Sailing lessons do continue to go out - just with the mainsail reefed.  I don't think our instructor was super comfortable with the boat in that wind.  Or maybe he just wasn't comfortable / confident that we were confident enough at that wind - either way it was a bit of a vicious cycle because it made us less comfortable and I think that made him less comfortable.  You see where this is going.  I don't think we helped this by starting the lesson saying that we weren't super comfortable on the water yet and making comments about the wind strength.  Did we learn anything?  A few things - when you get the gust, turn into the wind and it'll right the boat.  Or, during the gust let the sails a bit loose so they just run out and the boat doesn't heel too much.  Also, tack at all times instead of jibing when the wind is strong.

In hindsight I think both of us think that we probably made a mistake in cancelling the second lesson.  One reason is that we would have had a different instructor which may or may not have helped.  More importantly in my mind is that if you're out sailing for the day and the wind picks up then you need to know what to do - even if it's only used long enough to get you back to the dock...

Oh well, just things to think about until our next lesson later this week.

random tuesday morning thoughts

Just a bunch of random thoughts on Tuesday morning:

• do you really need air conditioning in Seattle?  more & more I think the answer is yes - even if only for brief periods.  we made the "mistake" of buying a thermometer last summer so I know that our bedroom was 78 last night when we were going to bed.  even though it was probably 50 outside.  it was a lot hotter this weekend.
• another person i know just got a digital SLR this weekend - which puts it around ten people who own one that i can name off without thinking much about it.  it's amazing how much they've lowered the barrier to entry into SLR photography (both price and stigma attached) over the last few years
• am i the only gadget geek who doesn't want an iphone?  i'm in the midst of figuring out what phone should replace my current phone - largely because i want to move away from touch screens / "softkeys"
• sailing is full of life lessons - like this one our instructors keep reinforcing: "you may have right of way but if the other boat is bigger than you or just crewed by an idiot who doesn't know the rules of the water, it's probably better to just yield the right of rather than crash"

the second on-the-water sailing lesson

Those of you in Seattle know how nice the weather was this weekend - and what better way to beat the heat than be out on the water?!?!?  Except that's a crock - unless you're in the water then it's still super hot and there's not really any shade for relief from the sun.  But I digress.  What I meant was as of Sunday afternoon we've now completed our second on-the-water sailing lesson.

Are we now experts?  Not even close :).  We're both still much better at tacking than jibing.  A lot more confident about the initial shove-off from the dock, including all of the work of getting the rigging and sails ready, etc.  We can stop (just turn into the wind - it's that easy!), and a few other minor things.

There's still a lot that's pretty awkward though - primarily during jibing or other steps where you're trying to do three things at once.  Let's see - turn tiller windward, haul in main sheet, let main sheet run free, step to other side of boat, stop turning, cleat sheet.  And don't forget to look ahead because you're the only one steering the boat.  Technically you should be doing a few things while on a normal course as well.  It's amazing there aren't more collisions or boats that are just keeping crappy courses weaving all over the lake - beyond the normal tacking and jibing...

Looks like our next lesson isn't until the weekend which works out OK because the weather this week is supposed to be fairly crappy.  Stay tuned for the continuing Adventures of Greg and Clodagh On The Water(c)...