more than a three-hour tour
Aug. 9th, 2010 11:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gilana I'm way behind on reporting on my sailing adventures. I haven't mentioned that I've started taking out less experiences sailors for instruction -- there's nothing to show you just how much you've learned like teaching someone else! -- and I haven't talked about the second time ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
muffyjo and I went out on the Schooner Fame in Salem, on a windy enough day that they had put a reef in the mainsail, where I got to take the tiller for a good long while, including taking us through some tacks, while the captain casually chatted with passengers on the middeck and only one of the greener hands was watching me. (Although of course I'm sure the captain was complete aware of what the ship was doing, and would have corrected me if necessary -- he did have me alter course slightly a few times to better catch the wind.)
But yesterday was perhaps the best adventure yet. Community Boating does Harbor trips a during the summer; most of them are on Saturdays, and the last Sunday one I tried to go on was cancelled due to thunderstorms, but we had glorious weather yesterday. About 23 of us met up at CBI around 8:30am (this after I had been out until 2am celebrating a friend's birthday with drinks and ballroom dancing). We were split up into groups of 5, assigned to boats (Rhodes 19s), loaded up all the necessary equipment, took off the booms, folded down the specially modified hinged masts, took a look at wind and weather conditions, and decided that our destination would be Lovells Island, a nice little island near Georges Island in Boston Harbor, a little off the beaten path. Each boat had a skipper who has experience and training on Harbor trips, chart-reading, etc, and they were *supposed* to have a crew member who had been trained as well. We ended up with 3 crew members, not 4, and I was the most experienced of the bunch. But our skipper was great, assigned us tasks, talked us through what had to be done, and we managed pretty well.
The five boats were all tied together into a line, and the lead boat was attached to a motor launch. The launch towed us under the Longfellow Bridge, through the locks near the Museum of Science, and out into the Harbor. The skipper, Don, asked for a volunteer to man the tiller during the tow, and no one stepped forward, so I ended up doing that. And then when we got into the Harbor and got the mast back up, well, I was already at the tiller, so somehow I ended up just staying there and sailing us all the way through the Harbor, with the skipper navigating and giving me occasional suggestions, until it was time to drop anchor off the island and get a lift in on the launch. There was definitely some good wind; luckily the Rhodes have a way to secure the mainsheet so that I didn't have to manage it by hand the entire way, but still, I was pretty tired by the time we landed.
One couple had accidentally left their bag of supplies and lunch on the dock, so a bunch of us found a picnic table and laid out a nice shared feast. After eating, I spread out my picnic blanket, blew up my inflatable pillow, and lay down for a rest. Didn't manage to actually nap, but it was still very relaxing. We were on the island for about two hours, then set off to sail back.
The two other crew members took turns on the tiller for a while (although the skipper managed the mainsail for them) so I got a chance to mostly hang out and enjoy the ride. It was a little choppy and overcast, and somehow I evinced a particular talent for managing to turn forward just in time to take every major wave right in the face. But once we reached the inner harbor the water got calmer, the sun came out, and I went and sat out on the foredeck, back against the mast, face up to the sun, and just soaked in the sun and the gentle motion of the boat until it was time to take down the mast, re-form our little convoy, and ride back to the docks.
All in all it was a really great day. I got lots of time on the wato feel useful and competent, and I had a lot of fun talking to the skipper (who is a big geek, in the best way, so we kept discovering shared references that made us think "Aha, you're one of my kind of people!" He's promised to take me out on a 420 some time soon, woohoo! That's a much higher performance boat than any I've been on so far.
And then I got to run to auditions for PMRP, whichayelle had been ably handling for me, in time to run the second and third group of auditions myself. I feel good about the way I managed to assign sides -- a more challenging task than I've ever realized! -- and run my part of the readings, and I heard some very exciting auditions. Looking forward to hearing more tonight! ...after I take some ibuprofen, a hot bath, drink more water, and take a nap. I hadn't realized sailing was quite the strenuous, but I feel like I've been run over by a truck. Oof!
muffyjo and I went out on the Schooner Fame in Salem, on a windy enough day that they had put a reef in the mainsail, where I got to take the tiller for a good long while, including taking us through some tacks, while the captain casually chatted with passengers on the middeck and only one of the greener hands was watching me. (Although of course I'm sure the captain was complete aware of what the ship was doing, and would have corrected me if necessary -- he did have me alter course slightly a few times to better catch the wind.)But yesterday was perhaps the best adventure yet. Community Boating does Harbor trips a during the summer; most of them are on Saturdays, and the last Sunday one I tried to go on was cancelled due to thunderstorms, but we had glorious weather yesterday. About 23 of us met up at CBI around 8:30am (this after I had been out until 2am celebrating a friend's birthday with drinks and ballroom dancing). We were split up into groups of 5, assigned to boats (Rhodes 19s), loaded up all the necessary equipment, took off the booms, folded down the specially modified hinged masts, took a look at wind and weather conditions, and decided that our destination would be Lovells Island, a nice little island near Georges Island in Boston Harbor, a little off the beaten path. Each boat had a skipper who has experience and training on Harbor trips, chart-reading, etc, and they were *supposed* to have a crew member who had been trained as well. We ended up with 3 crew members, not 4, and I was the most experienced of the bunch. But our skipper was great, assigned us tasks, talked us through what had to be done, and we managed pretty well.
The five boats were all tied together into a line, and the lead boat was attached to a motor launch. The launch towed us under the Longfellow Bridge, through the locks near the Museum of Science, and out into the Harbor. The skipper, Don, asked for a volunteer to man the tiller during the tow, and no one stepped forward, so I ended up doing that. And then when we got into the Harbor and got the mast back up, well, I was already at the tiller, so somehow I ended up just staying there and sailing us all the way through the Harbor, with the skipper navigating and giving me occasional suggestions, until it was time to drop anchor off the island and get a lift in on the launch. There was definitely some good wind; luckily the Rhodes have a way to secure the mainsheet so that I didn't have to manage it by hand the entire way, but still, I was pretty tired by the time we landed.
One couple had accidentally left their bag of supplies and lunch on the dock, so a bunch of us found a picnic table and laid out a nice shared feast. After eating, I spread out my picnic blanket, blew up my inflatable pillow, and lay down for a rest. Didn't manage to actually nap, but it was still very relaxing. We were on the island for about two hours, then set off to sail back.
The two other crew members took turns on the tiller for a while (although the skipper managed the mainsail for them) so I got a chance to mostly hang out and enjoy the ride. It was a little choppy and overcast, and somehow I evinced a particular talent for managing to turn forward just in time to take every major wave right in the face. But once we reached the inner harbor the water got calmer, the sun came out, and I went and sat out on the foredeck, back against the mast, face up to the sun, and just soaked in the sun and the gentle motion of the boat until it was time to take down the mast, re-form our little convoy, and ride back to the docks.
All in all it was a really great day. I got lots of time on the wato feel useful and competent, and I had a lot of fun talking to the skipper (who is a big geek, in the best way, so we kept discovering shared references that made us think "Aha, you're one of my kind of people!" He's promised to take me out on a 420 some time soon, woohoo! That's a much higher performance boat than any I've been on so far.
And then I got to run to auditions for PMRP, which
ayelle had been ably handling for me, in time to run the second and third group of auditions myself. I feel good about the way I managed to assign sides -- a more challenging task than I've ever realized! -- and run my part of the readings, and I heard some very exciting auditions. Looking forward to hearing more tonight! ...after I take some ibuprofen, a hot bath, drink more water, and take a nap. I hadn't realized sailing was quite the strenuous, but I feel like I've been run over by a truck. Oof!
