Cloudy weather won't stop us!

Sailing under main alone

The weather wasn't the best, but it was better than trying to sail when the water still has ice on top. We were more than anxious to get back on the boat, so despite the cloudy skies and cool temps, we set off from Marshall Park to run Wrinkles through her paces. The rigging went faster this time, which is always a good thing. We knew where everything went - well almost everything. It seems that we have misplaced the boom vang. Anyone seen where it is? Soon we were on the water facing 15 mph winds and two foot waves. We decided to reef the mainsail until we were sure how Wrinkles would perform in the wind. Probably wasn't necessary, but better safe than sorry.

Fun!!!

We played around in the waves for a while and then headed over to our favorite anchoring spot at Picnic Point and a light supper. The Super Moon was just rising over the treetops. We had read on our Com-Pac forum that the Super Moon is when the moon passes closest to the earth giving us the biggest, brightest moon of the year. It was truly a beautiful sight. The pictures we took did not do it justice. So there we bobbed with a beautiful moon, the wonderful smell of a campfire from shore and a bottle of wine. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Prepping supper

Super moon rising

Weems and Plath oil lamp making the cabin cozy and dry

Some would think that anchoring out for the first time on a new boat would be difficult. New sounds, new motions, different ground tackle all conspire to make sleeping difficult. We must be very comfortable with our new boat because we slept like rocks. In fact, we slept in later than we have in ages. When we finally got moving, we had our usual breakfast of oatmeal, coffee and tea. The morning was another ugly gray one, but the winds were good, so it was a sailing day. We were able to zip along on a beam reach and covered more ground than we ever remember doing on the 19.

Party in Madison!!

We sailed in next to the shore to get a closer look at the lake-side frat parties. Last weekend before finals and the stereos were pounding out some good tunes while frisbees and footballs were tossed around. We dropped the anchor over by the Memorial Union for lunch. From there we got to watch the big crane lifting deep-keel boats up and over a tree and into the water. After splashing, they putted out to their mooring balls. Sailing season begins! We heated up a can of soup and paired that with a gourmet PB &J sandwich. It is funny how a simple, inelegant lunch can be something special. The police raided the parties, shut down the music and kicked everyone out. Since we lost our entertainment, we hoisted sails and sailed off the anchor.

Sailing wing and wing

We decided that the weather looked worse for tomorrow, so we headed for home. For once the wind was pushing us directly where we wanted to go, so we set the sails for wing and wing and glided across the lake the five miles back to the ramp. For those non-sailing readers, wing and wing means that the sails are pushed out to opposite sides of the boat and you run with the wind directly behind you. Kind of fun!

Time to head home

Back to the ramp and pull-out. We had another picture perfect docking with no one to see it. Tear down went quickly and we were soon on the road back home. If tomorrow turns out to be sunny, we are going to be really mad.  What a great start to the 2012 sailing season.  Can't believe it is only May!

Learning to Sail

We have been working at learning the art of sailing a boat for a few years now. I've often heard that anyone can sail a sailboat within a couple of hours. It just takes the rest of your life to get good at it. Brenda's sister and her husband recently told us that they had booked sailing lessons in the Caribbean for this spring. How fun would that be! Sailing lessons on a beautiful yacht in the blue waters of the Caribbean. This got me thinking about the best way to learn how to sail. Should a person take a sailing lesson, join a sailing club, participate in local sailboat races or just do what we did and jump into a little dinghy and sink or swim?

My guess is that the best method really depends upon the individual. We each learn in a different way and with sailing there are no shortages of methods available. No matter how you start, you will become hooked on this sailing bug and you will immerse yourself in reading sailing books, taking lessons and pulling on the sheets and halyards of your own boat. Brenda and I haven't taken any classes yet, but we dream of a 7 - 10 day charter in the Caribbean with a captain who certifies us in the ASA classes. Maybe after we are done paying for our daughter's upcoming wedding we can make this dream a reality.

In the meantime, Brenda and I will continue to read everything we can lay our hands on about sailing while we continue our self-taught lessons aboard the good ship Wrinkles.

 

Tracks in the Sea Book Review

Tracks in the Sea, by Chester G. Hearn, chronicles the quest of Matthew Fontaine Maury to "shape the course on voyages as to make the most of winds and currents at sea," thereby perfecting the "navigators art."  The back cover of the book explains further that, "In a brilliant eighteen-year effort between 1842 and 1861 he transformed the oceans from trackless hazards into a network of highways marked by dependable winds and currents and showed shipmasters how to shave weeks and even months from voyages."

We both enjoyed this book for its wonderful mixture of science, geography, sailing, commerce, rivalry and ambitions with history written in a story format that we couldn't put down.   The book tells how careful observations and coordination of endless bits of data related to sea temps, depths, wind direction and speed, currents and general weather were gathered from observations made by many seafaring captains.  The author relates how Maury solicited the collection of this data from commercial and military ships and then synthesized the information into useable maps.  Maury's desire was to develop a mapping system that would be readily available and accurate for mariners' use. 

This is a nice book to add to any sailor's collection.  It will truly give you an appreciation for the origins of our modern maps.  Our fancy schmancy GPS's are amazing, but probably not nearly as monumental an accomplishment as these original maps of the seas.