In second grade, in my autobiography, I proudly wrote that I could drive a boat. At that point, driving only meant the act of steering with a tiller so I was telling the truth. However, the more I learn, the more responsibility that falls under the umbrella of “driving,” so I’m still working on it.
Over the past seven months, I sailed out of Shilshole in Ballard quite a bit.
- 2 social sails
- 4 full days of sailing for sailing classes
- 3 practice sails with the women’s team
- 13 races
Although I’ve been on sailboats since I was a baby (see picture of my first cruise at 6 months), I learned a lot this year.
I took the ASA 101 and 103 classes. In the 103 class I learned a lot about the engine, docking and dropping anchor. I think most of my apprehension about docking was really a lack of comfort with engines. I feel a lot better now and hope to practice more over the winter. In the 101 class I refreshed my knowledge of the points of sail and rights of way and some terminology.
Racing was a good experience, though we were not very competitive. We had an all women’s boat of 5-7 people and we did noticeably improve our process, if not our results. For your amusement, here’s a list of all the reasons we Did Not Finish races:
- grounding – This was a regrettable first race but we got off on our own by heeling and turning on the motor. It was in mud and there was no damage, thankfully.
- seasickness – We had to take someone back just before the start though it turned out to be food poisoning.
- over early – We crossed the line early along with a bunch of other boats.
- radio off – The committee boat had to leave to rescue someone and we failed to radio in our finish time.
- wind too strong – We weren’t allowed out once.
- ridiculous spinnaker tangle – We had to keep sailing downwind, without crossing the finish line when the spinnaker got tangled in the jib roller furler. It took four of us about 15-20 minutes to untangle it. No one fell overboard and we didn’t have to cut any lines, but dang it was a stressful mess.
To our credit, we did not have any accidental jibes or collisions.
Highlights were some really good starts and spinnaker raises/douses, seeing improvements, a few experienced guest crew members (including my dad once) and the beautiful scenery. I saw many sunsets, some dolphins, and daredevil kite boarder that buzzed the back of several boats. It hardly rained at all.
