So I finally got to go sailing for the first time, and it was as awesome as I hoped it would be and then some! I'm hooked. I sailed out on Travis Lake (TX) with the UT Sailing Club. It was a beautiful day with a moderate amount of wind... a perfect day to learn how to sail!
The first boat I sailed on was a small sailing dinghy called a Sunfish. It is a small, 1-2 person boat that utilizes a single lateen sail. A lateen sail is a triangular sail that has 2 yards (poles attached to the sail.) and is not directly connected to a mast. Anyway, I crammed onto it with 2 other guys. I was manning the main sheet (the cord that controls how far out the sail is let out) while my new friend Jacob (pronounced "Yacob") manned the helm (steered). Although it is ideal that one person does both things at once, there were more people than expected that showed up, so we had to make do. The third guy (can't remember his name) just clung to the mast for dear life... I kinda felt bad for him. The Sunfish is a very light boat that maneuvers fairly well for its size although it tends to give way to the leeward force of the wind a bit; you don't sail exactly in the direction you are pointed.
After spending more than a few hours sailing around the lake in the Sunfish (time FLIES when you're sailing), we came back for lunch. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, I met another new friend Neto (sp?), who has been with the team for a while. Since he has climbed the ranks a bit, he is allowed to sail the next ship the team has above the Sunfish: the Laser. The Laser is a fun boat! It is a larger boat with a very large fore-and-aft mainsail. It can fly compared to the Sunfish, however it is also easier to capsize. Jetto showed me the ropes, and was eager to let me man the helm solo. He said I did a good job as I never capsized her, which is apparently very common among beginners. That made me feel somewhat accomplished.
After sailing the Laser for a bit, we pulled all the boats out of the water, and Paul (the unofficial leader of the club) showed us how to pack everything correctly. And so ended my first sailing adventure.
Although it was completely amazing, there were several things that surprised me about sailing. A) Being able to keep track of the direction of the wind is not as easy as you would think. Because the apparent wind (the wind you feel while sailing. It is different than the true wind, but the apparent wind is what really matters) changes depending on both the fluctuating speed and direction of the true wind as well as the speed and direction of your boat. I think practice is the only way to really get a feel for that.
B) I also found docking to be a challenge. You have to do a lot of juggling and the technique of it varies depending on the direction of the wind relative to where the dock is. I think just explaining how to dock would take a whole post in itself, and since I don't have that great a grasp of it just yet, I'll save that for another time.
I was so intrigued by how well a sailboat harnesses the earth's natural energy. Even when there was hardly a wind at all, it was possible to sail at a fairly decent speed. Although a person can go on and on about the physics of sailing (which is quite interesting), the truth is that the best sailors just learn how to attune themselves to nature. It's kinda like dancing with Mother Earth; you just have to practice. And on that note, I intend to!
Term of the Day: To Know the Ropes
This one is actually fairly self-explanatory. On a typical ship there are literally miles of rope that are used to rig the ship. As would be expected, it took quite a bit of time for a sailor to learn all the ropes on a large ship, and an experienced sailor was referred to as someone who "knew the ropes".
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