Playing with the Big Boys

Departure: 8:00am
Return: 1:00pm
Weather conditions: foggy then clearing
Tide: High/Low
Boat: 40' CNC
Crew: 7 (Ron, Connie, Dan, Marvin, Chris, Lisa & Woody)

The weather ahead looks ominous

Just for the record, it is now January 2008, and quite a bit of time has passed since the next few entries happened. I've been reticent to sit down and write for some reason. Anyway, I'm back, and I need to catch up. As usual, I claim this will be a short entry, but make not promises.








I was introduced to Ron and Connie by an acquaintance from the Gig Harbor Sailing Club (Steve). Steve is what I'd call an honorary instructor or manager or owner - something like that. He shows up at odd times and teaches a class here and there or does some racing with the club. It was during one such race that we got to know each other and he said he'd hook me up with the Holbrooks.

Scary visibility

Ron and Connie Holbrook own, and race, their own 40' CNC. They are very enthusiastic and very friendly and welcoming. True to his promise, Steve did tell them about me, and they were kind enough to contact me and invite me to join them for a race. How could I say no?

Probably the most gloomy weather I've ever sailed in. Very ominous.

Two nameless individuals (to me) prepare for the race.

The fog lifts a little as the race begins.

The morning of the race broke gray and somber with no wind, and I left the house anxious that they wouldn't cancel. I did and felt the usual excited thing; I left the house way to early, packed everything I could think of and used the restroom about a hundred times (okay, maybe you didn't need to know that). I want to get to the race, so lets skip ahead past the waiting, past the gloomy morning, past the wondering if I was waiting at the right marina, past the friendly introductions, and past the non-eventful departure. We were off.

One can never capture the thrill of heeling in a photo.

The morning had gone from gray to foggy. I have to confess something very foolish; I've always wanted to see what it's like on a boat in the fog. It was cool! Of course, it's more dangerous to be on the water in the fog. Not all boats have radar, and not all sailors are careful and so it's much more easy to strike an object in the water, lose one's bearings, or crash into another boat in the fog. Nevertheless, it was quite pretty.




The main concern was whether the race would be canceled, but I needn't have worried. Sailing may be an outward expression of some sort of insanity because there were about 12 of us congregated at Brown's point to race. Clearly, it wasn't cancelled.

The race was a lot of fun. The start snuck up on me. I didn't realize we'd started until about 5 minutes after the start. We started by flying the spinnaker which is the large, colorful, balloon-sized sail one usually see's in pictures of sailboats. This was a learning experience for me as I'd never flown a spinnaker. It about 5 of us to manage it. There were a couple of times that I screwed up, but I started getting the hang of it after a while.

A beautiful start to the second leg of the race.

The race course was to start at Brown's point, circle a buoy off the mouth of Gig Harbor, then circle another buoy off Dash point and then finish back at Brown's point. We used the spinnaker all the way to Gig Harbor, then switched to Jib from Gig Harbor, and finally back to Spinnaker at the end.

Back at the starting point- Browns point. Is it really the same place?

The fog cleared after a while and the sun even peeped out a couple of times. The wind kicked up for the first leg, almost completely died in the middle of the second and then picked up again during the third.

Totally random, but strangely appealing photo of the paper mill.

All in all it was a fantastic day of new experiences, new friends, and new sites. I will definately be sailing with them again.

Until then.
Bon Voyage

October Club Sail

Departure: 1:00pm 9/10/2007
Return: 4:30pm
Weather conditions: Partly Cloudy and windy
Tide: Flood tide
Boat: Blue Club Boat
Crew: 3 (Woody, Terry & Greg)

I read the online weather forecast with a heavy heart - 4 mph with gusts up to 7. I had hoped for a more exciting sail today; especially after the great winds we had the day before. Still, the club sails are a chance to go sailing for "free" so I can never not go.

Arriving at the dock promptly at 1pm, it was immediately clear to me that the weather forecast was wrong. There was a nice strong breeze blowing in the harbor, with the promise of more in the sound.

I had thought I would be late since the other regulars usually show up early, but no one was there. I was kind of excited to get a chance to rig the boat alone. I jumped in with gusto, hoping to have it all done before anyone else arrived. And I did get most if it done, but Greg eventually arrived followed by Dave. Greg is a fairly new member, but is quickly becoming and old hand. He's been on 3 club sails.

Another new member, Terry, was on her way so we waited a while at the dock for her to arrive. I didn't mind waiting too much, but it did deflate my pride in getting ready so efficiently.

Terry arrived and we left. Greg was at the helm and took us straight to the public dock for a pit stop. This is probably more than you want to know, but I have a bladder the size of a thimble; that is, if I have a bladder at all. I've often wondered if I just have a stretched out spot for, ahem, collection, somewhere in my urinary tract. Anyway, it was the men that needed the restroom.

I have to say something about Greg's docking skills; they're amazing! He came in faster than I ever would, took a quick turn and then stopped us at the last minute with reverse. He also did this when we came back in. I thought we were going to make a new slip, but we didn't crash. I'll have something more to say about this in a minute.

We decided to head straight into the sound to see what the conditions there were. We didn't need to motor too far out of the mouth before we hoisted sails and we were on our way.

It really was a glorious day for sailing. True, it was cold, but it was windy and clear and we had the water to ourselves. I found it interesting sailing with newbies. When it came to steering the boat, or trimming the sails, I had to bite my tongue to give them time to work it out themselves. In fact it's still sore. We chose to head across Pt. Defiance toward Tacoma. And here's where it gets a little embarrassing.

We just weren't making very good progress. The winds were plenty strong, and we hadn't reefed yet. We were sailing upwind sometimes, and sometimes more on a beam reach. We even hove-to at one point. Finally Greg realized what was wrong. The boom was still clipped to the backstay above his head. We were lucky a big gust didn't knock us down up until then. After unclipping the boom, we immediately felt an improved performance.

We eventually did reef when we started seeing white caps. Greg, the man who played chicken with the dock with no fear, did not like heeling. Here we had great winds and seas and we had the sails depowered to where it felt like we had half the wind we really did. Still, it was fun, and in a club sail, we need to cater to everyone's comfort. We still zipped around and had a nice time.

And that's it. Another great sail.

Early morning sail

Departure: 7:30 am
Return: 8:30 am
Weather conditions: Partly Cloudy and breezy
Tide: ??
Boat: Wee Blow
Crew: 1 Me

The other morning, I had a yearning to be on the water. I woke up bright and early on a Saturday morning, bundled up and motored to the water. The morning was gray, and cool, and the harbor was just waking up. The wind scattered little dimples across the water like morning goosebumps.

Originally I'd planned on just going for a quick row. But, I needed to get the rudder and leeboard back on the boat and it seemed a good time to do so. Then it was a short jump in logic to rigging the sails, and well, then I was sailing.

After sailing about a bit, I got the idea to row upwind and sail back. After that, I had to rush to get back to the family and soccer games and Saturday chores.