Thanks Lee! I command you for engaging into an activity that requires you to travel 400 miles to get to it. Next time I frown about driving to Santa Cruz I'll think of your commitment and go along ...
About the life raft it's also a matter of satisfying the family, wife and mother who are a bit concerned about the boat sinking. They're supportive but they don't want recklessness! And I'll think about going for a cruise ... when summer's here
It'd be great to see more folks post videos of them doing stuff on the boat, single handed. I always pick up things (e.g. cleats in interesting places, a different process, how the boat is behaving, attitude, moving about the boat, ...).
All right then ... As Skip said it was quite windy this weekend. I've been wondering if it's me who's getting more sensitive to conditions or the wind was really stronger this time. I got to the marina about noon'ish Saturday and once again got going when the yacht club boats were coming back into safe harbor. I noticed the lack of spinnaker and a small fleet; it made me wonder if they knew something I didn't. I had looked at the forecast and knew it'd be windy. I left under jib #4 and no main; my thinking was that it'd be good practice to put the main out under way.
My goal for the day was to see how conditions were and if reasonably pleasant hit 20 nm offshore but, yeah, that didn't happen. Instead I had a shower, a sunset, a moon rise and a sunrise.
The main staid put until night came down. I did all my day sailing under #4 alone. I didn't do much really. I just beat up the coast as usual and then tuned around for a bit of downwind, with just the #4, the boat was still heeling too much for what she likes. The one thing I tried during that afternoon was to go the bow in "busy conditions". I'll see if I can post a video of that: I reached amidships, a wave come over and I was showered, so I turned around to dry; I didn't reach the bow but it was all good learning.
I staid there for a while then went back into the protected waters of the bay after sunset. It's quite eerie to come out of 25+ kts of wind and then ghost along in barely a whiff. Anyways I finally put out the full main as I was making my way back to offshore winds. I wanted to take it out to remove all the water that had accumulated in the rolls and I was still thinking that if the wind was coming down I'd got out 20 nm. As wind built up (it does so pretty quickly; there really was a clear demarcation line where it'd go from <5 to 25) I worked on putting the first reef and then second. It was a real nice job this time. I took my time to do things right and it showed. I rolled the loose sail nicely and tight, put plenty of reef ties too. And I beat up the coast one more time, in the dark as the moon hadn't risen yet. That's when I realized that I had forgotten my headlamp.
After spending more time than I care in the "washing machine" I came back and sailed in the protected waters until the next day. The moon rise was splendid. Sunrises and sunsets are magnificent in their display of color and associated human allegory but the moon is something different all together, never spoken off, like a soft secret held closed to heart by those who know.
A few other things that happened: I popped the spinnaker in 1-3 kts of apparent wind but it never really flew. I tried to sleep and went in the pipe berth (solitary confinement comes to mind) for 5 minutes then 7.5 minutes, yeah! I didn't stay longer because I had the boat on auto-tiller and I didn't want to go too far down or too far out. Basically I just stood there, two reefs in and a #4. I didn't do much. The sun came out. I shook both reefs, and, after two failed attempts at entering the harbor, I wait until 8 am to be able to sail back into harbor. Prior to that the wind was really light, variable and straight down the channel. With rocks left and right, swell pushing straight into them ... it didn't feel right being there moving <1 kt. I was tired but retained enough judgement for that decision.
I eat and drink to stay hydrated and nourished. One thing I noted is that it's probably best to eat on a different schedule than on land, more frequently and less quantity. Food generates energy boosts and those can be useful to overcome lethargy or plain procrastination. Now I don't know if it's the sound of all that water sloshing around me, and I don't drink that much, but boy, do I use the bucket ... should I talk to my doctor?!?! It's always quite the experience: get the bucket from the stern hatch, take the jacket off, open up the bibs, the pants, do my business, dress back up, throw out, clean the bucket, put the bucket in stern hatch. It's a good thing I haven't had to deal with #2 yet.
Anyways ... boat on the crane, tidied up and drove home to pass out in my bed at noon ...
I'm going to fly the spinnaker one day, I will. And it'll be blowing a howling, and I'll get wet, and the boat'll get wet, and I'll be scared ... Then I'll be grinning from ear to ear ... with salt in my ears. And then people will ask me to go sailing with me because they'll see it my eyes, and I'll be like: any time ,join me in the washing machine ... you'll come out purified.
