Today's sailing adventure was brought to you by the Newmans and their friends Dutch & Alice, who are old hands at sailing. The weather forecast was ideal: 6-8 MPH winds, with a high in the low-70's. A sunny-but-not-too-hot Saturday was actually less crowded than I thought it would be. We cast off with a minimum of fuss. I still don't feel in control of the boat as it gets walked back the dock - it feels as though the bow swings around and I don't have control over it.
We slowly worked our way out to the river, and then hoisted the mainsail while facing into the wind (to make it easier to raise the sail). The wind was coming from the W/NW, and so we were able to run on a broad reach for much of the time. We jibed a few times and that went smoothly, and kept working our way upriver towards the bridge. The way they talked about the jibing, it sounds like it went much more smoothly than they might have expected. I think I find tacking harder, because you have to tighten up the sail so much more when you're more in a close-reach situation. We did make it past the sea scout base, but did not venture all the way to the bridge. I was pleased to note that we were (for a little while) keeping up with another sailboat that was under motor!
There were a number of sailboats out, all headed upriver. Mental note - you can learn a lot looking at the other sailboats and how they have their sails trimmed. Some have their sails very tight and heel over (without needing to). Alice, Kathleen & I all prefer the boat to heel over less rather than more, so we got along just fine.
Close reach is a lot harder, I think. Harder to keep the wind balanced, and of course it doesn't help if you get a little panicky when the boat heels more than you're comfortable with. We tacked on the way back - it's trickier with boats coming towards you - you have to plan out when you are going to tack (say, waiting until a boat is just past you, to tack before another boat would cross your path. I probably need to spend more time with the sailboat right-of-way material.
There were also a number of logs, which we did a pretty good job of spotting and avoiding. When not engaged in conversation, that is. I know now that I've been a passive passenger in the past on other people's boats (Sorry Dan & Doris) and I had no idea how much attention you really need to pay to where you are going. That's actually one of the hard things - is trying to do the whole sailing bit when people are talking (sometimes two at a time, sometimes both at you) when maybe you need to figure something out.
We took down the sails on the early side - before entering the slough, because the current was fast and I didn't want to panic about getting too close to something while also trying to keep the boat into the wind. However, in thinking about this rationally, there are benefits to doing this closer to shore - the wind drops off. And when you're more out in the river, there is more wake and more wind (but LOTS of space to manoeuver).
Other things... I think for my comfort level, keeping to four total might be a bit less tight in the cockpit. I had four wonderful, very patient people, but it was sometimes a bit crowded, and I'm over-sensitive to stress in the boat right now. .
I met (again) Greg, my other neighbor, who went out sailing with one other person. He's obviously a hugely experienced pro at this - just zipped out and cruised out, nary a flinch. I wonder how many outings it will take for me to be that blase' about it?
LESSON OF THE DAY:
Try the docking with lines attached to the boat rather than the dock lines. Alice made a very good point that it gives those helping the process a much better opportunity to control the boat and help pull it in. This seems glaringly obvious in retrospect, and we will do this next time. Once the boat is under control, we can always change lines over for the old dock lines if needed.
Next plans:
Get some practice just with the early part of the casting off - I want to get more comfortable with how the boat moves in& out of the slip when it's all lined up.. We could tie a long line, and have someone at the bow to keep me from doing anything too stupid (like, nudging Kim's boat), and I could just pull it in & out a few times.
Get a better feeling for how shallow the sandbar is entering the river proper. Maybe talk to Greg when I see him again? His boat will definitely have a deeper draft.
Work on a checklist for people on the boat - it should include all the safety items, not hanging on the dodger (holding for balance, yes - using it to hoist yourself, no). Show people how to use the auto-tailing winches, how many wraps, and how quickly to let loose the lines when tacking or jibing.
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