I have the worst luck taking people sailing. I don't know why it is, but for some reason I can sail the boat perfectly fine on my own; but when I try and bring people along there's some kind of catastrophe.
My friend, Dani, is home for a couple weeks visiting from Alaska. The plan was to go sailing after church on Sunday. It all seemed like a good idea. There was a fair breeze coming out of the west. I had learned my lesson last time to just go out using the jib in this type of wind. Dani brought along her two brothers and two sisters to enjoy the beautiful sunny day out sailing. So far so good. My neighbors had left and sailed on down to Racine for the rest of the season, so there was plenty of room to turn my boat around in the slip and head out forward. It should have been the easiest time ever. AS we were shoving off, we all hopped on board except for Dani's older brother; he hesitated slightly and with each passing second the boat got further and further from land. I had the dinghy behind, but he didn't jump into that one either. He also had some electronics with him, so he couldn't very well jump in and swim. I'm not one to leave anyone behind, so I sailed down to the end of the dock and tried to spin around. This was much harder than anticipated, and we only just made it back to a slip at the very end of the dock. Once again we were close to Chance a Santa Cruz 70...very expensive boat. I was a bit nervous of shoving off so close to this other boat, but we made it around ok, and just as I turned the boat to head up into the wind more and trim the sails in a bit, my boat started to head for the rocks. I tried counter steering as much as I could, but in the end had to flip the tiller to avoid the breakwater. We did a 360 degree turn and tried it again. the same thing happened this time again. In hindsight I should have just eased the jib out all the way and let that carry us out of the harbor. I'm pretty sure I did, and it didn't work, but it was so stressful that the details are a bit blurry right now. The second time we were headed straight for the rocks again, and even though I spilled the sail completely, we were still drifting sideways towards them. Once again I flipped the tiller over in hopes that we could swing around and miss the rocks. No such luck. I called for people to be on the fore-deck to kick off the rocks if anything were to happen, but I forget that most people don't know how heavy the boat is, how deep the rocks are. I'm sure if it was my first time on a boat I wouldn't want to run the risk of getting crushed.
In the end I had to run foreward and try to stop the boat. I jumped onto the rocks and braced myself against the bow pulpit, but we were already moving too fast. there was a loud CRUNCH! as the bow slammed into a submerged rock. I had run aground before, but that was slowly, and against sand. There was no telling the damage that had just been done. I pushed the boat back and tried to head out again, but the wind resisted my best efforts at even getting back to the slip. In the end some concerned citizens in rigid inflatable boats came over and pulled me back to safety. Reputation: gone. Confidence: shattered. Boat: battered.
We tied up at the slip and thanked our rescuers. The siblings left and Dani stayed behind to make sure I didn't die of shame. For some reason she blamed herself, but this wouldn't have happened if I had my engine working, or possibly if I had my mainsail up. It was to blustery for both sails in the harbor. I wish I had been able to learn what I needed to do and still gone sailing, but after an attempt like that I feel much better just sitting at the dock and not risking it again. Sailing is a risk, and I guess this is my "practice boat", I just wish I could sail whenever and wherever I want.
I put on my snorkel mask and dove down to assess the damage. Luckily I did but such a sturdy boat. I know she can take quite a beating, but that doesn't mean I like inflicting injuries. There was a small chunk of fiberglass below the waterline. It looked like a little divot. There was no hole, and no water coming into the boat, it's just one more thing I'll have to repair when I pull her out in October. We went for a walk, I was able to clear my mind a bit, but then we sat on the boat chatting for the rest of the day. I really wanted to go sailing.
Today we were planning on sailing as well, but the weather called for damaging winds, hail, thunderstorms, and possibly tornadoes. It's probably wise that we didn't go today.
No comments:
Post a Comment