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Dude, Get Out On The Water And Sail As Much As Possible

By on December 9, 2014

Rory, our sailing instructor, – we’ve talked about him a lot here on Sail Loot so please try and keep up – left us with one last piece of advice.

Dude, get out on the water and sail as much as possible. If you like sailing, and you’re having fun, then practice the skill that you’ve learned over this past week as much as possible so that you don’t lose those skills.

The crazy thing is, on the ferry to Tortola, we met some of the people in the sailing club that we would end up racing with for the rest of the summer. So it ended up that we knew somebody who knew somebody who had a sailboat up on Lake Lanier. Not only did they have a sailboat up on the lake, but they also raced that sailboat and they were always on the lookout for some crew.

All it took was an email. I asked our friend if her father was still involved in sailboat racing up on the lake, and if he ever needed any help. A forwarded email here, a few replies there, and the next thing you know we were fighting traffic out of Atlanta on a Wednesday night to make it to Strega before she pushed off from the dock.

Lake Lanier Sailing Race Committee

 

Strega is a Hunter 30 with a Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) of 186 that Mike, Paul, and John have been racing up on Lake Lanier for about 20 years now (that’s what they tell me anyway).

Tim and Robin were also available to help crew. Tim lives on Lake Lanier and is a sailing instructor in the BVI.

Robin and John took foredeck crew duties. Megan and I each had a jib sheet. Paul had the main. Mike owns Strega so he was at the helm. Tim was there to help wherever needed, and spent most of his time coaching Megan and I.

We learned a great lesson about sailing on different sailboats and with different equipment. Every boat is different and has to be learned. The basics, theories, and principles of sailing don’t change, but it would be advisable to get an equipment, sail, and rigging briefing on every boat you board.

We had electric, self tailing, two speed winches on our catamaran in the BVI. Strega has two speed winches, but none of them are electric or self tailing. How are all of the lines run? Which lines are which? Where’s the spinnaker pole and how do they like to fly the spinnaker? How are the jib sheets run? Where do they like to place the fairleads?

Strega Bow

 

The Strega crew is fantastic to sail with and learn from. There is no yelling. There is no getting mad. Their theory is that everybody makes mistakes. They’ve been doing this for 20 plus years and they still make mistakes so how can they get angry at anybody else?

I’ve heard horror stories of how people sign up to crew on a racing boat and they end up just getting yelled at to pull a line here or release a line there with no explanation about what that line does and why they’re doing it. Not on Strega. 

On Strega we push off the dock an hour before race time, crack open a beer, and make sure that everything is set up properly and everybody knows what they’re doing. If something goes wrong, we just fix it. We don’t get mad about it because there’s no point. Everything is explained, and questions are asked freely (and often by Megan and I).

I’ll admit, racing is a little different that cruising.

Rubbin, son, is racing. – Harry Hogge, Days of Thunder

Sailboats get a whole lot closer to each other when racing than when cruising the open waters. This is more true at the start. Everybody is circling around the race committee boat trying to get a good look at the course that the committee has come up with for the evening, looking for their fleet’s flags, and listening for the starting horns. It’s a controlled chaos, and the skippers seem to know what they’re doing, but it is also nerve-racking to be sandwiched inches between 2 boats that are trying to get to that starting line at the same time.

Race Committee Boat

 

Needless to say, Strega made it through the start unscathed and pulled out to an early lead. The upwind leg of the race was first, and if you ever want lessons on reading the wind, head out to a lake when the wind speeds are 6 knots or less. The entire crew was calling out every puff and header they saw and explaining everything the entire way.

We were tacking to stay on the best course and with the best wind that we could find. Megan and I had to quickly recall our jib sheet skills. Tim was giving us pointers on every tack and explaining how they like to keep Strega’s sails trimmed. It was like a more intense version of our Basic Keelboat course all over again, and we loved it!

We rounded our first marker, buoy C, to port and it was time to go downwind and fly the spinnaker. Megan and I took control of the spinnaker sheets while it  was raised, released the jib sheets while it was lowered, and used the spinnaker sheets to control the whisker pole and fly the spinnaker. Everything seems to happen twice as fast (if not faster) when you’re racing. I’m really glad that we had a full crew that day to help with everything and make up for our lack of experience.

PHRF Spinnaker

We went back through x-gate still headed downwind and rounded the K buoy to starboard. We dropped the spinnaker, raised the jib and beat back up to x-gate for the win!

That’s right! We won our first sailing race! I’d like to thank everybody else on board. Without them, it definitely wouldn’t have happened!

Teddy

 

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About Teddy

I am a 37 year old that just wants to find a way to make a remote income, gather some Sail Loot and cruise the world! I have been sailing for a couple of years now, but mostly on 10 day trips as vacationing crew. I just recently took sailing to the next level by completing my Basic Keelboat, Basic Cruising, and Bareboat Cruising Certifications! I am also Vice President of a Medical Consulting Company, have a Mechanical Engineering degree from Georgia Tech, and have taken several Coding, Computing, and Online Business courses. It's time to share what I have learned!