The road to learning how to sail independently isn't an easy one as I have been learning over the last couple of months. I would call the learning curve very steep as you can also read in my previous post about learning how to sail here.
One of the main things that really helps on your skills is to just go and put in the amount of hours to just run into the stuff that you need to learn. No book can tell you about all the possibilities of what might not work. They eventually will all find you, let me tell you that.
Planning
Since the last time that we went I have been looking at the weather closely witht the idea to head out again. But the week before the weather in Holland was super nice and sunny, but way too much wind for a rookie like myself. I mean 25 knots of wind (like 45 km/h or windforce 5) is not that appealing if you are just starting out and learning.
Initially there was no intention of going because after the windy days the wind had died out again, but in the morning I heard the trees blowing and was triggered again. Luckily the boat was still for rent because it is after season and it was time to head out the lake again. Impulsive decision and just randomly checking out the circumstances is winning!
Since it was the weekend it was a lot more crowded on the lake but because it is after season mostly the people are all water lovers versus just drunks hanging on a boat, so that makes it a lot easier to make an interpretation is what others will do.
That is what it is about I have learned, checking out what others are doing and also making your move on that. It remains weird that on these kinds of lakes you can rent boats without having any kind of idea of the rules on the water.
Boat prepping
Last time when we were out this 'falcon' type of boat was new to me and while raising the sails it was a lot of checking out how that works. For this time I was not worried about the prepping of the ropes and the sails and the overconfidence took over for a bit.
In my previous session I didn't know that these white ropes on this boat were for opening the genoa. Minor detail, but that one was covered this time.
All roped were prepped and it was time to leave the harbour on the motor. Yes, on the motor, because I am not confident enough for the small movements as yet around the harbour to not damage everyones else property. A small motor is your best friend.
Until the motor died after just going out of the harbour, not being in the preferred spot as yet. It sounded like it was out of gas, and we decided to leave it for a bit and take care of it later and just raise the sails.
But in that mean time we were seriously drifting off, so there was a bit of a rush to raise the sails.
As you can see it was quite busy on the water still, but everyone really looks out for each other so the drifting was not the issue. However what was the issue is that I could not get the sails raised properly, and that is when I realised that the sail was reefed from its previous session.
And also that there was still a knot in the main sail to keep it in place overnight. Yeah, you can say that the boat prep wasn't that good after all....
After drifting into another boat while raising the sails who were trying to push us off (sorry guys!!!!) we finally were able to raise the sails and head out in the world freely!!!
Heading downwind with a butterfly to start with I was quite happy with getting into less busy water and see that everything went calm again.
The wind was dancing around a bit changing every 5 minutes from direction which is the perfect day to stay alert and anticipate at everythting that you rund into
Fixing the gas
After a good hour of sailing and having everything back under control it was time to fill up the motor with gas again which is a bit of a hassle since it is so for outside on the back which means you are out of the tub. If you suddenly heel that means you will be knocked in and I didn't really feel like that.
So steering the boat into a corner with less wind and dropping the genoa sail seemed like a good idea to create a bit more calmer situation to manage the gas to fill. And it worked, so super proud of dealing with that again!
All in all it was a good day on the water with again a lot of learning moments and a ton of rookie mistakes. Thinking the boat was good to go was an assumption and those are also things to check again.
I saw this hot air balloon which was passing by super fast because of the wind and that is something I have zero ambitions to do. Uhh...where are the breaks on that one?
Let me stay on boating and learning to sail a bit. That seems like enough to do for now! Next stop....putting in more hours!
Oh man this makes me miss sailing.
My intro to sailing was a friend telling me at my wedding “you are married now. Time to learn to sail.” Then a beer and a session on how the keel works. Then Wednesday races on a 27 foot boat.
Definitely an amazing thing to learn for the advanced physics, nature/water, physical exercise, mental calisthenics, and disposable income! ;). Like playing a bass guitar. Easy to start and have fun but very difficult to become good at.
Love the insight and seeing you having fun discovering something awesome.
Haha you are married now and now learn how to sail. Genius!!
Well there is a lot more in there with sailing than I always thought so that is really cool. Also with calculating routes on maps considering wind and water current is like a whole new level of life unlocked and that is really cool.
There is still soooo much to learn, but then again in Holland I see these golden oldies sailing around..and then I think I eventually will be fine right haha
Hah!
That was 2 decades ago and the skipper who kidnapped me happens to be Dutch.
After a few years of club races and regional regattas, we started winning and ended up North American champs for our specific boat in one-design. Covid knocked it off the rails and your post makes me long for Weds night sailing and the odd regatta again.
Im not surprised at all that the sailor was Dutch as it is so big and common here.
Wow! Just look at those spinnakers going there, beautiful! So you went on to racing even? That is even better but also gives a whole other dimension to it. Can you still enjoy a slow and lazy sail or does it always need to be fast now?
The odd regatta haha. I joined in a race once in a regatta as weight and was surprised on how fast they are able to go. Lovely sport indeed!
Thanks for having the community dude. Weekend stories rock! (Especially sailing ones haha)
You're welcome...I set up this community for stuff like you've posted about, real people doing real things, so thanks for doing a great post and being awesome...I'm sure you'll be awesome at sailing too.
What a pleasant experience, sailing your own boat. I've never done it but it looks super. The pictures are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Well not my boat as just renting one. But indeed the skill of knowing how to sail with nothing but the wind is really something super cool!
Thanks for the find!
Okis.
This made me laugh because it's so damn true.
Looks like a great day out even with all the mishaps. Nice of the guys that pushed you off, I must admit I'd be too scared to do something like this. I just don't have sea legs and I'm way too clumsy.
Super nice indeed because there had could been so many different reactions of them , and they wouldnt even be unfair..you know
Honestly .on a small lake..it is not that scary even!
Great work
Thanks!
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