Who needs a stair stepper when you can have a sailboat?
While I think of this journal as the place to talk about all my lovely sailing adventures, truth is, since we moved to Florida, I feel like our sailing is a bit bland. I mean, blogging about it, not doing it. Because Florida has so many beautiful days with awesome wind, and gorgeous sunsets....that's sorta how it butters it's bread. We live on a cool river with adventures to be had, we just never seem to get organized enough to have them. So my entries are just that: wonderful day, great wind, gorgeous sunset, wish you were here.
This one starts out the same, but there's a twist at the end.
It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon as it tends to be in Florida in the fall (and spring and winter). Two happy sailors dragged the in-laws (it was hard twist their arms don'tcha know) down to the dock to have the first sail of the fresh new season.
So, it's been awhile, due to an especially long hot and rainy season, since we'd taken the boat out. We had enough fuel but not much excess so, just to be sure, we sent the FIL to get more. In the meantime, J started the motor to see if it could be done. Two pulls and it started right up, just like normal. So he turns it off and we finish getting the boat ready to go. I even thought to ask J if he was going to want to run the spinnaker. He thought not (I knew better, it was that kind of day) and so we were ready. Along comes FIL, motor starts right up, we pull out of the slip all professional like (because there was nobody watching), and off we go.
Here's where I say it: Wind was perfect, day was gorgeous, sailing makes the soul sing. It was an awesome sailing day. We puttered around our piece of water for the afternoon.
And, sure enough, we got to the other side of the river and J wanted to play with the spinnaker. So again he sets the whole thing up on the water. Not that there's anything wrong with that; I just have it in my head it would be faster and easier while tied up. Once it was up, however, we had a wonderful run back toward the slip.
As we got back to the bay, the sun was headed down and taking the wind with it.
So J fired up the engine. Except for the part where the engine didn't fire up. Hmm. FIL and J tried it for a bit longer. Then got to dismantling the thing. MIL drove. I manned the sails and took pictures. Waiting until the clicking would finally drive my husband insane (which it never did, have I mentioned he's cool?).
Oh! sorry, the engine wasn't working, right, back to the story. They tore it apart, gave it new fuel, babied it. No good. I finally did go down and give it a try (because sometimes she needs me) and it was no go. Well, by this time the wind was gone, as was the sun. There was a mile and a half between us and shore.
There was nothing for it. We had to scull in. For the uninitiated, you can achieve forward motion in a sailboat by rocking it back and forth while using the rudder as a paddle.
I took down the sails. MIL took the rudder duty and the three of us remaining set the boat in motion, me in front of the mast pushing side to side, while J and FIL hung on to the shrouds and swung their weight as far out as possible. We were a bit disgruntled; this isn't a quick way to move a boat and we figured this would comprise the rest of our Saturday night. However, our spirits rose to the occaision as we could tell, from the movement of lights on land, we were making progress.
Soon we were sculling our way through the mooring field, MIL waving that rudder with all her might and still managing to keep us headed straight for the pier. Then we were sculling up the channel to our slip, much to the amazement of several onlookers. Apparently this is a mountain sailing thing, not a Florida sailing thing.
A very nice guy came up to help catch the boat as we pulled in. While I was grateful, as I always am when someone takes the time to help, I was also pleased that I didn't feel we couldn't have done it without him. Then we were floored when FIL checked his watch. It had only taken us a little over an hour.
Feeling accomplished but exhausted, we did the most cursory boat clean-up ever and went off to dinner. After a good night's sleep, J and I headed back to do a serious clean-up and retrieve the aggrieved engine to take her home.
Turns out she needs some serious TLC. The question is not so much why didn't she start, as how on earth did she get us out there in the first place. Poor girl.
All in all it was still a wonderful sail. Though we had practiced sculling before, it was nice to see that it really can work in a pinch, although, without the in-laws, it would have been a whole lot bigger task.
This one starts out the same, but there's a twist at the end.
It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon as it tends to be in Florida in the fall (and spring and winter). Two happy sailors dragged the in-laws (it was hard twist their arms don'tcha know) down to the dock to have the first sail of the fresh new season.
So, it's been awhile, due to an especially long hot and rainy season, since we'd taken the boat out. We had enough fuel but not much excess so, just to be sure, we sent the FIL to get more. In the meantime, J started the motor to see if it could be done. Two pulls and it started right up, just like normal. So he turns it off and we finish getting the boat ready to go. I even thought to ask J if he was going to want to run the spinnaker. He thought not (I knew better, it was that kind of day) and so we were ready. Along comes FIL, motor starts right up, we pull out of the slip all professional like (because there was nobody watching), and off we go.
Here's where I say it: Wind was perfect, day was gorgeous, sailing makes the soul sing. It was an awesome sailing day. We puttered around our piece of water for the afternoon.
And, sure enough, we got to the other side of the river and J wanted to play with the spinnaker. So again he sets the whole thing up on the water. Not that there's anything wrong with that; I just have it in my head it would be faster and easier while tied up. Once it was up, however, we had a wonderful run back toward the slip.
As we got back to the bay, the sun was headed down and taking the wind with it.
So J fired up the engine. Except for the part where the engine didn't fire up. Hmm. FIL and J tried it for a bit longer. Then got to dismantling the thing. MIL drove. I manned the sails and took pictures. Waiting until the clicking would finally drive my husband insane (which it never did, have I mentioned he's cool?).
Oh! sorry, the engine wasn't working, right, back to the story. They tore it apart, gave it new fuel, babied it. No good. I finally did go down and give it a try (because sometimes she needs me) and it was no go. Well, by this time the wind was gone, as was the sun. There was a mile and a half between us and shore.
There was nothing for it. We had to scull in. For the uninitiated, you can achieve forward motion in a sailboat by rocking it back and forth while using the rudder as a paddle.
I took down the sails. MIL took the rudder duty and the three of us remaining set the boat in motion, me in front of the mast pushing side to side, while J and FIL hung on to the shrouds and swung their weight as far out as possible. We were a bit disgruntled; this isn't a quick way to move a boat and we figured this would comprise the rest of our Saturday night. However, our spirits rose to the occaision as we could tell, from the movement of lights on land, we were making progress.
Soon we were sculling our way through the mooring field, MIL waving that rudder with all her might and still managing to keep us headed straight for the pier. Then we were sculling up the channel to our slip, much to the amazement of several onlookers. Apparently this is a mountain sailing thing, not a Florida sailing thing.
A very nice guy came up to help catch the boat as we pulled in. While I was grateful, as I always am when someone takes the time to help, I was also pleased that I didn't feel we couldn't have done it without him. Then we were floored when FIL checked his watch. It had only taken us a little over an hour.
Feeling accomplished but exhausted, we did the most cursory boat clean-up ever and went off to dinner. After a good night's sleep, J and I headed back to do a serious clean-up and retrieve the aggrieved engine to take her home.
Turns out she needs some serious TLC. The question is not so much why didn't she start, as how on earth did she get us out there in the first place. Poor girl.
All in all it was still a wonderful sail. Though we had practiced sculling before, it was nice to see that it really can work in a pinch, although, without the in-laws, it would have been a whole lot bigger task.