Learn to Sail: 8/3/09 - 8/7/09

Let me be completely honest here. Before my Learn to Sail course at Boston Sailing Center I had never even set foot on a sail-powered vessel. I would watch longingly from the harbor's edge as the boats would cut about the incessent traffic between my vantage point and Logan Airport. BSC's LtS is a great course. If you're thinking about doing it yourself, by all means please do! I chose to take the "vacation week" option which stacks all your training into 5 back-to-back days. Monday thru Thursday you do 2 hours each day of classroom training followed by 3 hours of on-water instruction. Friday is a full 6.5 hours of sailing to one of the islands in Boston's outer harbor. I found that like snowboarding, your sailing skills benefit the most from consecutive days on-water. On Monday I was a real donkey - I couldn't steer a true course, and the instructor had to manage all the sail trim. Tacking and Jibing (Gybing for the UK folks) were as foreign to me as reading or speaking Telegu. So many things to think about, and we're moving at less than 5mph!

Tuesday was a much better day on the water, but still I struggled. Tiller steering was still occupying far too many of my brain's available cycles, but the footwork and coordination for proper tacking and jibing was starting to come together. Like the geek I am, I came home and ran through the process a number of times to try to cement the steps in my head. I did start managing the tiller and mainsheet on this day of sailing, but I certainly have a very long way to come.

Wednesday had very high winds. Let me repeat that, Wednesday's winds averaged 15kts and were gusting regularly to 25! It was one of those day where you really tested how far a Soling will heel up. I really hoped that we'd get some experience in heavier conditions with an instructor onboard, and it was this day that my wish was fulfilled. I really learned alot this day. It seems that as the maxim states, whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I'm no doubt a stronger sailor because of this experience!

Thursday was exciting for the greenhorns, as we had our final hours of classroom training. The biggest excitement for me was really feeling like I don't have to think through the tiller anymore, and I'm finally feel things being to slow down on the boat. I recognized my situational awareness is greatly enhanced by not having to think about every little thing. Maybe I will learn to sail in one week!

Friday deserves it's own post, so I'm going to do just that. Pick me up on the next entry to read about our nav-sail to George's Island. As a teaser, I'll let you know that we faced a rare, but critical failure on our boat.