Fumbling at Sea

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a blog. My life has been full these last few days and I haven’t taken the time to write.

Well, we finally got the boat underway. My wife and I sailed it north from the marina where we’d launched it to the marina we moor it in. Our cruise took 8 hours. Some of that time was taken up by my ineptitude at sailing. (It’s been awhile.)

We sailed around in circles while I attempted to raise the sails. Why circles? Because I was all thumbs and three left feet. I had prepared the sails in the harbor – which meant it would be much easier to raise them when underway. That was the last smart move I made. All down hill from there.

Out on the water I attempted to raise the mainsail. Standing on deck, holding the mast with one hand to keep from joining the fishes, I pulled on the mainsail line. The sail only went halfway up; one of the clips that’s supposed to slide up the mast, pulling the sail with it, got jammed. I had to pull the sail back down. This took awhile since the stuck clip was arguing with me.

I finally got that fixed and pulled the line hoping the sail would go up. No luck there. Back in the harbor, doing my brilliant make-ready, I’d tied rope around the rolled up sail to keep it snug on the boom while sailing out of the harbor . My brilliance soon faded once in the open water. I forgot about the rope and, though I heaved on the mainsail line, it wouldn’t budge. I finally saw the rope, untied it, and got the mainsail up.

When underway the boat was keeling over to a very steep angle. “I’m a little uncomfortable with this,” my wife said in a seemly calm voice that was actually masking a scream. I’d forgotten about the little hook at the end of the boom that’s supposed to be released once the sail is up. This kept the boom from swinging out which meant the sail was catching too much wind.

Okay, so I fixed that.

Oh, forgot to mention. We had to motor against the current for over an hour (very embarrassing for a sailor). I had problems tacking probably because of the hooked boom problem mentioned above.

The rest of the sail was great. I’d timed our sail through a narrow passage so the current would be in our favor and the wind at our back. Smooth sailing all the way home.

There were actually other problems caused by my mushy brain, but I’ve embarrassed myself enough already.

But really, mistakes aren’t so bad. They make for memories you laugh at later.

I’m enjoying this Summer immensely. Who knows if I’ll be sailing next year. I hope so. But for now life is good and definitely worth living.