Last Tuesday I started sailing lessons; I did this we great trepidation. I don't do water. I have an innate fear of water. I learned as a young adult that when I was about three years old I went under the water and they had to pull me out and pump the water out of me. That explains the subconscious fear of the water. But anyway, as I was saying I started sailing lessons.
Lesson 1 took place in the classroom. We started with introductions and were given some handouts. We learned about environmental awareness and safety, common sailing ailments to avoid, personal sailing gear and PFDs (personal floatation devices). We learned the parts of the boat, toured the boat house and practiced common sailing knots. We also took one of the sailboats out to a grassy area and learned how to set the sails. Then we were sent home with homework and the knowledge that we needed to come back on Thursday prepared to turtle (capsize) a boat. YAY! Their idea is that if you intentionally turtle the boat and know how to right it again and get back on then when it happens to you, and it will, while you are sailing you will know what to do. Yeah, whatever!
I spent from Tuesday to Thursday worrying about what to wear because it's going to be flippin' cold in that water and I totally stressed over the idea of capsizing the boat. Anyone who knows me knows I don't do water. You are not going to see me jumping off a diving board, a dock or any other object and into the water. No way did I want to go into that lake. Yes, I understand that sailing requires one to get wet and that there is a chance that the boat will tip over while you are sailing but do we really have to intentionally tip it over?
Let me say, my fear of water has never stopped me from participating in water adventures, I've snorkled several times in the ocean, Hawaii, Jamaica and Key West, I've waterskied, innertubed down rivers, went rafting, canoed, and been pulled by a speedboat on an innertube etc. So I was sure I would deal with capsizing the sailboat just fine. But I still stressed over it, thankfully it was a short time between Tuesday and Thursday.
Thursday arrived, I worked all day then came home and spent quite some time deciding on what to wear. I really don't have water sport clothes. I do however have a lot of nylon, polyester, quick dry clothes for biking and curling. I settled on some biking tights with shorts over them, long sleeve poly shirt covered with a short sleeve poly shirt and a windbreaker type jacket and water shoes.
Lesson 2: We pretty much headed to the boat house right away. There are three students, Dave (my work spouse), Mike and I; two instructors, Tom and Jon and one assistant, Tracy so we had great one on one training. Mike did not make it to the Tuesday class so he was not prepared to get in the water and stayed on the dock with Tom. We set up the sailboats and discussed the terms and functions, determined the wind directions, and discussed capsizing and recovery.
Tracy demonstrated capsizing and recovery, she made it look easy.
Jon and I went out in one boat and Dave and Tracy went out in another. Jon actually sailed the boat and we talked about the wind, how to steer, what the sail was doing and how to determine the wind and other elements of being on the water. It was great fun zipping across the lake. I don't think we were traveling real fast but it felt like we were. After spending about a half hour sailing around the lake it was time to turtle the boat. We sailed closer to the dock area so we could be observed by the others. Jon gave the heads up and we capsized! We gave the thumbs up to the people on the dock to let them know we were fine. Then it was my job to recover the boat. It was much easier than I thought it would be. I pulled the daggerboad up grabbed onto it, put my feet on the bottom of the boat and let my body weight tip the boat towards me, then I reached up grabbed the side and righted the boat. The next thing was to haul my ass back into the boat. Piece of cake, much easier than getting into a canoe or innertube. After Jon got back into the boat we sailed into shore and derigged the boats and put them away.
I can tell you I had a big ol' smile on my face after this adventure. The water was not really cold but after getting out of the water it was a bit chilly. On a warm sun shiny day it would be perfect! I can hardly wait for my next lesson.
Lesson 3 we practice rigging the boats and sail a figure 8 course by ourselves.
