checkride number 1
John at the club had offered earlier in the week to do my first checkride in the club boats this morning. The day dawned with nary a cloud in the sky, light winds, and the temperature was only 78. This is a marked change from the last several weeks of low clouds, rain, and intermittent thunderstorms. The forecast called for the wind to pick up some and a heat index of 105 later in the day, but we'd be long off the water before it got that hot.
7:45 finds me at the marina with plenty of time to apply my sunblock and decide what I'm taking on the boat with me. I really need to get a bag that is dedicated to sailing that I can leave packed with everything I might need on board the boat. My gloves in my pocket I grab my cap and am walking towards the marina down to the marina when John sees me, grins, and calls a hello from far dockside. I call back to him and we meet up on the public side of the gate. He'd asked me yesterday if a friend of his could join us and I said sure. We decide to go on out to the and get started with prep for the sail and he'd go back and walk her in when she got there. We go over where to get the gate access keys and head to the boat.
( Cut for length-but a fun ride! )
John and I talked about the ride while we sat in the shade on the dock. He said that I passed all points on the checklist without a problem. He had heard I had only had the sailing class for experience wasn't sure I would be able to complete in the typical 3 rides. However once we were underway he saw that I had a good sense of all the processes, how the hardware worked, and what needed to be done. My book knowledge was outstanding, and my helmsmanship was really very good for such a low time sailor. Most folks will tend to get distracted on what they are doing and get the sails beating/luffing all the time when the first start. I tended to pick my point of sail and hold it fairly close, if I started to drift, I'd catch it and fix it. He was actually pretty impressed. I showed good habits in the marina, kept it slow, and approached docking with the politeness and finesse it demands. The icing on the cake was that I showed that I cared about the boat, the equipment, and I had a good safety mindset when it came to being on the water.
He had a few suggestions on other skippers to call on for my other checkouts and suggested I try to take the rides on the other two boats because each of them is a little different.
I'm tired but I'm very happy. I managed to pass the first checkout. One down, two more to go! I've already emailed the other skippers to see if I can set something up soon.
7:45 finds me at the marina with plenty of time to apply my sunblock and decide what I'm taking on the boat with me. I really need to get a bag that is dedicated to sailing that I can leave packed with everything I might need on board the boat. My gloves in my pocket I grab my cap and am walking towards the marina down to the marina when John sees me, grins, and calls a hello from far dockside. I call back to him and we meet up on the public side of the gate. He'd asked me yesterday if a friend of his could join us and I said sure. We decide to go on out to the and get started with prep for the sail and he'd go back and walk her in when she got there. We go over where to get the gate access keys and head to the boat.
( Cut for length-but a fun ride! )
John and I talked about the ride while we sat in the shade on the dock. He said that I passed all points on the checklist without a problem. He had heard I had only had the sailing class for experience wasn't sure I would be able to complete in the typical 3 rides. However once we were underway he saw that I had a good sense of all the processes, how the hardware worked, and what needed to be done. My book knowledge was outstanding, and my helmsmanship was really very good for such a low time sailor. Most folks will tend to get distracted on what they are doing and get the sails beating/luffing all the time when the first start. I tended to pick my point of sail and hold it fairly close, if I started to drift, I'd catch it and fix it. He was actually pretty impressed. I showed good habits in the marina, kept it slow, and approached docking with the politeness and finesse it demands. The icing on the cake was that I showed that I cared about the boat, the equipment, and I had a good safety mindset when it came to being on the water.
He had a few suggestions on other skippers to call on for my other checkouts and suggested I try to take the rides on the other two boats because each of them is a little different.
I'm tired but I'm very happy. I managed to pass the first checkout. One down, two more to go! I've already emailed the other skippers to see if I can set something up soon.