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.