Saturday, June 18, 2005

New Boat To Learn

Today is my friend's birthday. She wants to go sailing. Given my dead battery situation, this will only work if she picks me up. I will now be learning how to sail a new boat!

The race started at 1730. We had until 2400 to hit the finish line. It started from Harrington Harbor, and went to R82, a red bell marker on the other side of the shipping channel near Sharps Island. We had about 2 knots of wind, and it took us 3 hours to round the mark! While rounding the second and last mark, and about an hour from the finish line at that wind speed, the wind suddenly and without warning picked up to 15 knots. This made for an active finish crossing.

I learned what the topping lift does! The topping lift is the line at the end of the boom that holds the boom up to the mast. When we dropped sail, so did the boom drop because the topping lift had, for reasons unknown, become unclamped. That means the triangle of the sail was holding up the boom. With the sail down, nothing was holding the boom. So, down it came at a rapid rate of descent... right on top of my head. (It wasn't as bad as it sounds, really!)

To make a long story short, I will only say that everytime I am on a boat for the first time, the boat beats me up. I think they are testing me to see if I am worthy of them. After the first time, I still go back, so the boats must approve!