Sailing

Captain's Log

April 26, 2009

Today Krista and I became light wind (up to 15 knots) dinghy certified sailors.  The course lasted 8 hours today and yesterday, so it was pretty time consuming, but it was really a lot of fun.  I used to hate sailing; my dad used strap my brother and I into life preservers and would drag us on to his old boat for hours of boredom.  I wish we would have been able to appreciate that boat before he sold it, not after.  Nonetheless, I have developed quite a liking for the open sea.  

We sailed Capri 14's, a two person "recreation" boat, although "recreation simply means that there is slightly more space in the boat than a quicker racing grade boat of the same size.  There really wouldn't be too much room for more than two, but its doable in theory.  I proud to say that we did not capsize either days, on purpose anyway, (day one we had to in order to learn how to flip the boat back up) despite moderately high winds, at least for beginners anyway.  When our instructor wasn't making fun of the foreign people in the class, he was telling us how our entire relationship's future could be dictated by how well we sail together.  Well, thanks John, I think we did just fine.  Sailing does really require a lot of communication and team work in all honesty though, but Krista and I managed to keep the boat right side up the whole weekend, though I admit we did come close once.  I when I say close, I mean the leeward (that is side of the boat opposite the wind) side of the boat was completely submerged for a good 2 seconds at one point.  We had to jump to the high side of the boat in order to keep it down.  It was quite the adventure!  I really like the sailing (not just boating) part of our water adventure.  Maneuvering a craft by just the wind can be quite challenging, but way more exciting and rewarding when you get it, especially when you get a good close haul point of sail and you have your main sheet pulled nice and tight so that you start to keel, requiring you to lean out the windward side to flatten out the boat, and then you whip around a quick tack sending the boom flying over your head....  Sorry, I got carried away.  If you get a chance, go sailing!  

I'm available as crew or skipper upon request :-)