Two More

Been way to busy to post anything but gotta keep up the sailing log in case I ever apply for a captain's license. Sunday was a brief but fun sail with a lot of wind. BethAnn came along... I've been trying to convince her to go for like years now, so that was great. She would have liked a bit less wind though. It was just right for me. :-) Wednesday looked like it was going to be a good teaching day for Ana, with 11mph winds. By the time I got there, it was more like 18, gusting well into the 20's. But I reefed the mail sail and hoisted the jib and went for it... by myself at first. The wind kept getting stronger and stronger until it got to the point where I would have done without the jib too if I was by myself, but then George came along... he's great rail meat, I think over 200lbs, and knows the ropes (when he pays attention). Soon after that Ana came. It is hard to teach in those conditions without risking capsizing, which I'd prefer not to do in my boat. But I think she learned some things to do and a lot of things not to do by observing me. Then when I was just about to call it a day, I got a call from Greg who I had mentioned in a previous post. He was setting up his 12 footer and had his wife with him, who had previous said she didn't want to sail anymore because of how the "last time went". But Greg convinced her to come along and that I could teach him to sail better... but the conditions were pretty hairy... the wind was getting even stronger now and actually broke his boat while he was trying to set it up. So they came with me instead, and I think she actually had a pretty good time. I kept it very short, like 10 minutes, because it was a wild and wet ride, but I think she had a good time and just might do it again.

Any sailing day that helps strengthen a marriage is a good sailing day, I say! Then again, pretty much any sailing day is a good day.

Right at the end, my outhaul suddenly came undone because of all the wind, and nearly ripped the main sail... but... it didn't... so... that's good. :-)