Final thoughts

So this is my last post on the sailing class. For those of you who wanted to know "how was your trip" and only wanted the short version, this is it.

I loved the class. I really enjoyed getting out into real water. Looking out and seeing nothing but horizon. There is a kind of freedom and power you feel when you catch the wind. My friend, Steve, who recommended this school to me, said that sailing was all terminology at first and all dream later. When I asked "what dream", he said, "the dream that you can go anywhere." I think this is that freedom and power you feel. The adventure, the travels, the stories, the wind, the fun, the excitement, the DREAM.

I learned a lot. If you've read some of the posts, you know generally what I learned. Navigation, boating systems, anchoring, sail theory, etc. What I didn't share was what I learned about myself. That is that as much as I loved the class and sailing on big water, I had much more fun racing this summer.

It's not that I don't want to go cruising, or that the dream of sailing the Greek islands is out, only that racing was more exciting. When you race, it is all about the wind, the course, the competition. If there is no wind, there is no race. When you're cruising, if there is no wind, there is always the motor. Whenever we chose to motor because we had no wind and had to make time, I thought, if I wanted to motor, I'd get a motor boat. So I've decided to spend more time at the weekly regattas this summer. There will probably be another cruise sometime in the upcoming years, especially if I can talk a few friends into a long weekend somewhere.

Photos From the Trip

Click the title for the photos. :) I only have four right now and I only took three of them. Eventually I'll put up more.

Occasional Quote:

Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.
Ralph Charell

Last Day

Ok. First things first. Shower---long, hot, continuous, shower. A few days of freezing while you lather up with the water off taking a Navy shower makes you appreciate running water.

After that I took a few minutes to study before our final test. It took the most amount of time of any of the tests, but I passed.

Since two of us passed, we were able to take the boat out for 24 hours without our instructor. Our only real option was to sail out and back, anchoring at the same place we went the first night.

At first, there was no wind to speak of, so we primarily trimmed our sails as best we could and cruised along at 1 to 2 knots. I think I can swim faster than that. Just before dusk, the wind picked up and we got some good wind going into our anchorage.

Once we set our anchor, we hoped for a calm night. Unfortunately, we had the biggest winds over night. Both Rob and I were up checking on our anchor to make sure it was holding.

And the next morning, we got up and motored back to our dock. There was no wind and so no point in trying to sail.

Once we were back, we got our certificates and went our separate ways. In my last post about this, I'm going to write my take away lessons and sum it all up.

Docking

So we were back at the Harborage marina and had to dock the boat. We were all thinking about hot showers, fresh food, full flush toilets, unlimited water, but we had to dock the boat first.

I always got nervous docking the little J boats in Denver. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stop the momentum of the boat and would crash into the end of the dock. Now we're driving in a much bigger boat in tighter quarters. Rob drove in the first time while I handled the spring lines. We pulled out and docked a second time for practice. I drove that time while Rob handled the spring lines. Once we had the plan down, it was actually pretty easy. I think docking the J boats is going to feel a lot easier after this trip.

Once we were docked for the evening, Rick tells us our final exam will be in the morning and then he disappears. I'm sure he was anxious to get home to his wife after being trapped on a boat with us for four days.

I split the rest of the evening studying and walking the docks of the marina. It is really interesting to see the people who choose to live on their boats. They seem normal, but they are bound to a boat with limited space. Granted the yachts are huge! They have everything you'd ever need. The women in our group visited a boat which had a washer/dryer, fresh water maker (from sea water), plus the works entertainment system. If I didn't have as much stuff as I have, I could live on a boat---maybe.

While I was on the dock, I noticed there were two or three cats roaming around. One of them was a tailless manx. It makes me wonder if the cats go sailing with the boats they live on and do they ever fall off? Do their owners lock them in a room down below?

Translating my posts to English

I know some of the people who are reading this know very little about sailing. So I've included this link which shows some of the basics.

Blown away

So we motored along the ICW to get back to Tampa Bay. We opened a couple of the draw bridges, which was kind of fun. It is sort of like playing with the CB radio when you're a kid only the guy on the other side stakes you seriously and they stop traffic to let you through.

Finally, mid afternoon the wind picked up. We were getting 10 knot winds and had to compensate about 20 degrees up wind just to keep on our planned course.

We sailed back to our destination and the wind picked up even more (15 to 20 knots). The boat was heeling so we had to adjust our sail plan to depower the sails.

To maximize power of the sails, you want sails trimmed perfectly and close to the wind. You want them a little loose to catch as much wind as possible in light winds. Essentially, you want a big parachute to catch the wind.

Powering up the main sail is done by:
1. Slightly lowering the main or loosening the Cunningham to let the part of the sail next to the mast bow out a little.
2. loosening the outhaul to let the part of the sail next to the boom bow out a little.
3. Tightening the boom vang to eliminate twist.

To depower, do the opposite.

The only way to power up the job is to move the jib fairlead forward to eliminate twist.

So we played games with our sails and finally made it back to our starting point.

Intercoastal Waterway

After the test we started up the motor again and headed down the Intercoastal waterway (ICW). Since I knew nothing about the ICW prior to this trip, I'm going to bore you with a description. The ICW is a long, marked waterway that runs along the east coast of the US from Maine to Texas.

The direction is important because the buoy markers are marked as if you were headed back to Texas. When you enter a harbor, the rule is "red right returning". This means all red buoys, which are numbered and triangular on top are kept to the right. This ensures that you don't go into water that is too shallow and run aground. The green buoys, which are rectangular, are kept to the left.

On the ICW, they are marked independently from the harbor or channel markers. Each existing buoy is marked with either a yellow square or a triangle. Just like the normal buoys, the triangles are kept to the right and the square are kept to the left as if you are headed to Texas.

Sometimes you will have a red buoy with a yellow square or a green buoy with a yellow triangle. In these cases, if you want to enter the harbor, you follow the color of the buoy and if you want to follow the ICW you follow the yellow markers. This is sort of like highways which are marked [I-25] and [US85]. Sometimes the highways will separate and you have to watch the correct sign to stay on your chosen path.

By the way, I sometimes have to create pictures in my mind to remember things. For the buoys I've created two images. The green buoys are called cans, are rectangular, and are marked with an odd number. To remember this, I think of a 7UP can. It's a can, it's green, it's marked with an odd number. For the red markers, which are called nuns, marked with an even number and are triangular, I think of a nun dressed in red, wearing the pope's hat with a number 6 on her frock. I know it is a silly way to remember it, but I haven't been able to forget it either.

Second Test

I came primarily to learn about sailing, chartering sailboats, and to sail on something bigger than Cherry Creek Reservoir. The secondary purpose was to get the certification from US Sailing which acts as a kind of international driver's license for sailors. Most charter companies internationally want you to show that you have, at a minimum, received their yachting certification. To get the certification, you have to pass their tests. I challenged the basic keelboat sailing course and this morning I'm taking the bareboat chartering test.

The test wasn't really that difficult, but you had to really think through your answer. It helped to be able to visualize yourself on the boat, in the water. It also helped to know each of the systems within the boat. I passed.

Dinner and Jokes

Dinner tonight was a blast. We were on shore for the first time in three days, so we were all walking a little crooked. We all ate seafood, drank beer and told jokes. We ended up having a joke orgy. Each joke spawned another joke, which lead to another. One joke after the other, each laugh egged on more laughter. We fanned the flames with a lot of beer.

I love eating. I love telling jokes. I love laughing. I had a great time.

Seasick

I almost got seasick today. We were getting pretty strong winds and the woman who was driving couldn't keep a steady course. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. My stomach started to rebel after about half an hour. I took some ginger tablets, which they say will calm your stomach. Based on my reaction to it, it does. I felt better in only a few minutes. I didn't feel entirely "right" until Rob started driving.

You remember the four books I was supposed to have finished for this trip. If I had finished them, I would have learned that seasickness comes from a faulty sense of horizon. When your body is being shaken about, but the horizon doesn't seem to move, you get seasick. It helps to drive the boat, or to keep moving because it helps to reestablish the horizon. The book also says if you cant move, it helps to stare at the horizon for a few minutes.

Waste

We finally had to deal with the nasty business of dumping our waste. You have to be out at least three miles from shore before you can legally do this. Otherwise you have to use a giant shit vacuum at a marina. You throw the switch which allows flow out of the holding tank and turn on the macerator (1 part pump, 1 part blender). We left it open once we were done to let the sea water into our holding tank, which we pumped out just before closing the valve off again.

Yack. Nasty business.

Navigation tips and tricks

One little trick we used to "shortcut" our navigational duties was to back sight channel marker in order to set our course. We knew the channel marker was in a direct line with the point we were headed at a bearing of 240 degrees, or about 7 o'clock with north at 12 o'clock. We couldn't see the point we were headed directly because the Earth is still round. If we looked back and the channel marker was at 60 degrees (240-180) we knew it was time to turn. What this allowed us to do was to cut a corner. Instead of sailing straight in one direction and then making a hard turn, we were able to sail more directly to where we were going.

Quiz... what do you mean quiz?

Started this morning with a quiz which was clearly designed to show us how little we knew about sailing. None of us knew most, let alone ALL, of the answers. Rick used it as a teaching tool. I think it would have been easier to skip the quiz and go straight to a lesson, but it's not my school.

Rick taught us about how to modify the rigging of the boat to give the sails additional power or to depower the sails. These are definitely useful skills in high and low winds.

After our lesson, we charted our course, hauled up our anchor, and fired up the engine. (Yes, there was no wind again this morning.)

We decided that we wanted to go to dinner at this restaurant that will let us dock overnight if we buy dinner. This, in my view, is one of the coolest things I've learned. That you can dock close to a town, stop in for dinner or to see some of the sights. I guess this bit of travel lust is what draws me to "cruising" in the first place.

OUCH!

Crap! I dreamt a fox was chasing me and when it attacked me, I kicked at it both in my dream and in reality. I woke up when my foot connected with the cabinet in my coffin-like bedroom. My toe is killing me!

Day 2

This morning we started with a navigation lesson. We began with the chart for the area and filled out our course for the day. Our log included our course distance, bearing, weather conditions, and actual times between course points.

We appointed a skipper, navigator, engineer, and crewman for the day. I was the skipper for the day, so my job was to steer the boat. I didn't have to do it all day, but I was responsible for pulling up anchor in the morning and dropping anchor in the afternoon. The navigator plots the course and keeps us on it. The engineer is responsible for checking the engine and all of the mechanical systems. The crewman basically took care of the dinghy we were towing.

After our navigation lesson, we pulled up the anchor and headed to the fuel dock. Talk about anti-climactic. We pulled up the anchor and MOTORED about 100 yards. I got to practice docking without sinking our boat.

We docked mostly because we were worried about running out of water. We actually didn't use that much, but it was nice to top off just in case.

Finally, we headed out. We let the blow us off the dock, and once we were clear we motored out of the marina. Unfortunately, there was no wind, so most of the morning we motored up the channel, following the channel markers and double checking our navigation.

One of our navigation points was the Skyway Bridge. They had enormous concrete pillars on the starboard side as you crossed under the bridge from either direction. Apparently in the '80s, a big ship knocked down the last bridge and the concrete pillars were their solution to prevent a repeat performance. I guess the last accident caused 20 deaths.

After we passed the bridge, we finally picked up some wind. So we sailed around, mostly practicing the man overboard drills. This was a little different way of picking someone up than I learned in the Denver course. Instead of drawing a figure eight around the victim, you immediately tack and draw a circle around the victim. Once you are upwind of the victim, you heave to and let the boat drive slowly toward the victim. It is actually easier to do than the figure eight because you have to think about the sailing less than the figure eight drill.

Once we finished these drills, we hove to and had a second navigation lesson. I'd heard the phrase "taking a bearing" and triangulation, but I never did get my mind on the concept until today. I guess I always thought I'd need to review my trigonometry and review sine, cosine and tangent, but it isn't even that hard. All you need to do is to pick three points you can identify on the map. Measure their compass readings from where you are, mark a line that parallels those compass readings on the map through each of your landmarks, and the point where those three lines intersect is your location. Maybe this is quite simple, but for me it was a big a-ha or more of an "oh, that's too easy".

So I was the one who anchored the boat last night. It was very different than in Denver. Instead of driving fast against the anchor, we let the wind blow us back against it. Then we started the engine in reverse and SLOWLY increased the RPMs until we were backing up pretty hard against the anchor. We were anchored near Long Boat Key.

The Orientation

We met our instructor, Rick, in the morning. He seems to have been born on the water. He said he started sailing when he was young. After school, he got his captain's license and started sailing tug boats, while he was living on his boat. He said that after the first couple years of marriage, he and his wife decided that the boat was too small for two people and moved to shore. I think he said he lived on his boat for 15 years total. He's a pretty relaxed guy, but extremely knowledgeable.

The boat is fantastic and huge, at least it is huge compared to the J boats I sail on CC Reservoir. It's twice the size of what I'm used to, 43 feet. It is only a year old and has all of the latest technology--a furling main and jib, self tailing winches, a mechanical winch for the main sheet, GPS, "auto pilot", electronic apparent and true wind indicators, etc. Raising the sails is so easy compared to the boats I'm used to, it almost isn't any work at all.

It is hard to say if I learned anything at all today. It was so exciting getting the big boat going it was hard to remember what was new and what was just fun.

Oh, Yeah. We went over the mechanical systems. The engine, generator, water system, sanitary system. And all of the trouble shooting for each system. It was a lot of information to take in and it seemed like it was all crucial. If you don't do X, we crash/sink/suffer.

I'm used to an outboard motor, so this inboard is a big change.

After the systems lesson, we got the underway. Instead of going out directly, we spent an hour driving circles around the marina to see what our turning radius was. Rick taught us about prop walk-the boat's turn to the starboard side when the motor starts initially. We used it to turn the boat more quickly to the starboard.

We set sail for a little bit, but the sun was going down, so we didn't have much time sailing today.

At sunset, we anchored. It was only the second time I've anchored, but it was really easy. I guess on the J boats it is so much more work because we have to haul out the anchor from down below, measure our scope, get the outboard running. In this boat, everything is stored in the bow of the boat with a mechanism to ease it out and pull it up.

Ok. That's all for today.

First Night

Tonight, I met the other students enrolled in the sailing course.

Rob is a self described "doctor's wife." He's taken on the role of raising the kids and "homemaking" while his wife, the dentist, makes the bread. He recently took the "learn to sail" course and is ready to buy a new sailboat. They are thinking of getting a 45 foot boat.

Linda is a retired widow who lives in Florida. She's originally from the northeast and belongs to the Princeton Ski and Sail Club. She hasn't taken any of the courses and doesn't seem to be prepared for the course--although she has a lot of experience sailing with the group.

Monica also belongs to the Princeton club. She seems to be the most experienced sailor. She's a middle aged divorce'. It should be an interesting week.

I'm posting all this one week late

I'm going to try to keep the dates to when I wrote them. If I forget the dates, let me know. I'll fix it.

To St. Pete

I’m flying out to St. Petersburg on Sunday and start my sailing classes Monday. I am going to try to blog the whole trip. If I can’t, I will take a journal and then enter it in later. So either you’ll get lots of posts next week, or lots of post the following week.

Kelo Relief

The Kelo decision was the most vile, repugnant, unpopular decision the court has made in years. Many of the states are passing laws to directly prevent Kelo condemnations. A developer has applied to condemn Justice Souter's home to build the "Lost Liberty Hotel". And yesterday, the House moved to counter the Supreme Courts decision. It is nice to see the checks and balances of our government working in the right direction.

Sunken Treasure

I found this article on Tall Ship Geeks. Construction workers discovered an 1850’s gold rush ship as they were excavating the site. Apparently, several ships were abandoned in this land fill site which lies underneath San Francisco. This is almost as exciting as Odyssey Marine Exploration’s find.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

About six months ago someone turned me on to Firefly. It is the science fiction/western produced by Joss Whedon. I loved it!

 

Since I’m a little obsessive about things I like, I checked into what else Joss has done. I found out he was the creative force behind “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and its spin-off, “Angel”. Both of which I now love. The funny thing is that I never watched a single episode while it was on the air. I discounted it as a show because 1) the movie was silly and 2) I had a friend who was wrongheadedly snarky about Sara Michele Geller.

 

I’m glad I didn’t miss the witty dialogue, the killer fights, and the emotional rollercoaster that is Buffy.

 

 

Finally...

...someone exposes the truth about SNL criticism.

Occasional Quote

There are three faithful friends, an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.

-Poor Richard, 1737