Some may immediately recognize what I am referring to when I mention Fiberglass and Canvas. Others might recognize it better if I said Wood and Canvas. Either way, ultimately the reference is to sailing.
On July 7th I was blessed with my first experience on a sailboat. It was a J24 racing cruiser, which is exactly what we were doing with it. A couple of the people I work with have sailboats and are members of the Windycrest Sailing Club. They actually go out and race these things a couple of times a week on Keystone lake.
On the 7th I took Tammy with me, and we met co-workers John, the skipper, and Margaret who was crewing. It was a beautiful evening, but the wind was low, somewhere around 5-7mph maybe. We had a good trip out and the race went well. I even got to help crew by stowing the Spinnaker (the sail that looks like a parachute when deployed), and hauling in the Ginny (the front, of the two sails.) Tammy’s job was to not get hit with the Boom as it moved from one side of the boat to the other, which she did beautifully.
On the way in, after the race was over John looked at me and said, “you want to drive a while?” I wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity, so I was seated with the tiller in hand. John was teaching me how to know when to tack and how to steer to keep the sails in the right wind. I was doing great until we got into the cove, and John was watching and said, “OK I guess we aught to tack about here”. So I yelled to the crew, “preparing to tack,” then “tacking” and about that time….the boat stopped dead in the water.
Yes, the first time I was ever in a sailboat I managed to run it aground. I was slightly embarrassed, right up to the moment Margaret reminded me that John was still the skipper and I was just doing what crew should do…following instructions.
We did finally make it in to dock.
Yesterday I got the chance to go again. And yes, John let me back on his boat. Not only that, he let me drive again, more than once. I don’t yet know if he is brave or stupid…I’m going for brave. Yesterday however was a very different experience. John’s experienced crew of Mike and Margaret neither were able to be there, so for last nights race we had a crew of exactly two, the skipper and me.
I got the full sailboating experience crewing a J24 with just two of us. I got really good at tacking the Ginny (moving the front sail from one side of the boat to the other depending on wind direction and where we were headed. I also got experience “flying” the Ginny kinda like a Spinnaker. Since we didn’t have someone to fly the Spinnaker we had to make the most of the wind we had on downwind legs, so we went into something called the “wing and wing.”
Well, I don’t know how John will come out in the standings, but I think we did pretty well. And, buy the final leg, I was getting used to the procedures and what was next, so I was getting quicker and quicker at making the changes. However, I have to say that today I am sore from hauling the sail around and getting it “trimmed,” which really means, “fight the wind until the sail is as taught as you can get it.”
I have really enjoyed sailing, and look forward to crewing again. The best part is I have been invited to crew any time I am available.
All of a sudden I know what Christopher Cross was talking about when he sang,
“Sailing… takes me a way…”
