Day 2 - Brown Eyed Girl
Jun. 6th, 2010 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slipstreamsurfrToday we reviewed what we had learned the day before on parts of the boat and such. Then we learned about points of sail and jibeing on the downwind run in the book work section. We also had a contest to see who could tie a bowline the quickest :)
After the 3 hours book work they placed me on one of the club 22 foot catalinas, Brown Eyed Girl. Me and one other guy with our instructor, Terry.
We were doing jibes. I don't know I like that much. Plus, my first time at a tiller. Then we swapped off and on either being helmsman or working the lines.. The 22 footer you helm from a seated position. You change sides when you jibe or tack so your back is always windward. That was hard a bit hard on the knees. But I figured it out and managed to do it without hurting anything. We even put out the whisker-pole on the jib once on a downwind run to open up the sales. jibeing back and forth when we needed to. I let my student partner work the foredeck. He was a bit more sure of his footing than I was today. I'm still working on my sea legs and like to have something close by to hang onto if I need to. When 3 o'clock came and we had the boat back at the dock so my fellow student could leave (he wanted to go try sail his boat now), Terry asked if I had to be somewhere or did I want to sail some more. I said sure, let's go!
Out we went again and he let me practice tacking back and forth. I thought about making a comment about thanks for taking on the slow to learn student on tacking with a tiller, but instead I just said thanks for taking me out to practice some more. He laughed and said it's all practice, besides, it was too nice a day to quit just yet. I have to say, it helped. Back and forth across the lake I would say "Ready to Tack?" he'd say "Ready" I'd say "Helm to lee" and push the tiller away from me while he ran the sheets on the jib for me. He also showed me how to heave to, that is to bring the boat to a stop. I'm not sure I really have that down, but it was neat to give it a shot. I knew it was getting close to time for us to get back and I could see he was itching for the helm so I asked if he'd like to take the helm and I'd work the sheets for him. He grinned and said that was taking care of your skipper, that he'd been doing checkouts and the classes and hadn't had much time to just sail. So I then let him have the tack back and forth and around while I ran the sheets for him. Running both sheets by yourself you very quickly realize why the gloves are a great idea! Soon it was time to head back to the dock though. As he brought us in I deployed the bumpers and he had me furl the jib on the roller furler. I dropped the main when he asked me to while he started the little outboard to slide us in the dock. I hopped off the boat onto the dock and grabbed the boat and muscled her into the slip and tied off her bow. I stayed and helped him flake the mainsail on the boom and put the cover on and clean/close up the boat. On the way out we ran across the guy who runs the sail away program and stopped to help him square away his boat. I learned how to flake and fold a jib off the boat on the pier!
Boy, am I wiped out right now. It was 100 and about a 40% humidity at the lake. Even with all the water I was drinking I'm a bit dry now.
I wore lots of sunscreen today, but did get a little burned.
Sheesh! This will wear you out when you aren't use to it. I'm going to request that I be put on another club boat at least one of the two days I have left. I want to stay in something with a tiller and get better about it.
So, you sit with the wind coming over your back (windward side) while you are either on a beam reach or close hauled and to tack you push the tiller away from you and then switch sides so the wind is again on your back. When you jibe you are running with the wind while your back is to the windward side and you pull the tiller to you and change seat to the other side while you guide the main over with your free hand so it doesn't swing wild on you. Things to remember.
One on one after 3 hours in the heat for an hour and a half will wear you out in a sailboat. Next lesson, weekend after next.
This is a LOT of fun!
After the 3 hours book work they placed me on one of the club 22 foot catalinas, Brown Eyed Girl. Me and one other guy with our instructor, Terry.
We were doing jibes. I don't know I like that much. Plus, my first time at a tiller. Then we swapped off and on either being helmsman or working the lines.. The 22 footer you helm from a seated position. You change sides when you jibe or tack so your back is always windward. That was hard a bit hard on the knees. But I figured it out and managed to do it without hurting anything. We even put out the whisker-pole on the jib once on a downwind run to open up the sales. jibeing back and forth when we needed to. I let my student partner work the foredeck. He was a bit more sure of his footing than I was today. I'm still working on my sea legs and like to have something close by to hang onto if I need to. When 3 o'clock came and we had the boat back at the dock so my fellow student could leave (he wanted to go try sail his boat now), Terry asked if I had to be somewhere or did I want to sail some more. I said sure, let's go!
Out we went again and he let me practice tacking back and forth. I thought about making a comment about thanks for taking on the slow to learn student on tacking with a tiller, but instead I just said thanks for taking me out to practice some more. He laughed and said it's all practice, besides, it was too nice a day to quit just yet. I have to say, it helped. Back and forth across the lake I would say "Ready to Tack?" he'd say "Ready" I'd say "Helm to lee" and push the tiller away from me while he ran the sheets on the jib for me. He also showed me how to heave to, that is to bring the boat to a stop. I'm not sure I really have that down, but it was neat to give it a shot. I knew it was getting close to time for us to get back and I could see he was itching for the helm so I asked if he'd like to take the helm and I'd work the sheets for him. He grinned and said that was taking care of your skipper, that he'd been doing checkouts and the classes and hadn't had much time to just sail. So I then let him have the tack back and forth and around while I ran the sheets for him. Running both sheets by yourself you very quickly realize why the gloves are a great idea! Soon it was time to head back to the dock though. As he brought us in I deployed the bumpers and he had me furl the jib on the roller furler. I dropped the main when he asked me to while he started the little outboard to slide us in the dock. I hopped off the boat onto the dock and grabbed the boat and muscled her into the slip and tied off her bow. I stayed and helped him flake the mainsail on the boom and put the cover on and clean/close up the boat. On the way out we ran across the guy who runs the sail away program and stopped to help him square away his boat. I learned how to flake and fold a jib off the boat on the pier!
Boy, am I wiped out right now. It was 100 and about a 40% humidity at the lake. Even with all the water I was drinking I'm a bit dry now.
I wore lots of sunscreen today, but did get a little burned.
Sheesh! This will wear you out when you aren't use to it. I'm going to request that I be put on another club boat at least one of the two days I have left. I want to stay in something with a tiller and get better about it.
So, you sit with the wind coming over your back (windward side) while you are either on a beam reach or close hauled and to tack you push the tiller away from you and then switch sides so the wind is again on your back. When you jibe you are running with the wind while your back is to the windward side and you pull the tiller to you and change seat to the other side while you guide the main over with your free hand so it doesn't swing wild on you. Things to remember.
One on one after 3 hours in the heat for an hour and a half will wear you out in a sailboat. Next lesson, weekend after next.
This is a LOT of fun!