Day 1

I got to the marina early and checked in. They had the US Sailing textbook Start Sailing Right! for us as well as a syllabus. It looks like somewhere north of fifty people are in the class. The age range ran the gauntlet from maybe 19 to 20/21 or so to a couple in their 60's. The first 3 hours of our day was spent learning the parts of the boat, the parts of the sails. They gave us a short section of rope and taught us the first two knots we will need to know. The Bowline and the figure 8 Stopper knot. The bowline was a little confusing at first but I got it together. Then the other 3 on my table were having problems with it so I tried to show them how it worked for me. I think they mostly got it figured out. Then we talked a bit about what was to come. They called out all our names in groups of 2, 3, 4 and called out a skippers name as well. These are the the people in our crew for today. Every day we will be in a new crew with a new skipper on a new boat. That way we get to meet more of the people, we get to try different sorts of boats.

My skipper's name today was Bob. He sails a 30 foot Catalina built in 1984. It's a very nice boat. We spent the next 3 hours being introduced to the various stations around the boat, each getting a chance to try our hand at sailing at the helm, working the sheets on the jib and the mainsail. Talk about an upper body workout. Even with being able to grind the winches to help bring in the sails it's work.

It's so cool though...
to feel the wind in the sails...
the power in the lines/sheets, in the helm...
it's like being in control/riding a living breathing creature of immense power...

It is cool...