[Rhodes22-list] Salt Water Sailing (was Outer Banks...)

[Bob Weber]

Slim, Almost all of my passangers are first timers since I teach sailing.  I 
make every effort to make the trip enjoyable no matter what the conditions.  
If they even think they might get sea sick have them medicate well before 
getting on the boat.  Set the right amount of sail out for the conditions to 
reduce the heeling - the uninitiated tend to get hurt playing on a slanted 
boat.  If it is over 20 steady we have a dock party and tell stories about 
other sailing adventures.

Bob Weber
Odyssey Sailing School
www.Odysseysailing.com

>From: Steve Alm <salm at mn.rr.com>
>Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>To: Rhodes <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Salt Water Sailing (was Outer Banks...)
>Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 14:44:57 -0500
>
>Richard,
>
>I sympathize.  No sailor wants or intends to scare the bejeezers out of
>first-timers and give them a bad impression of sailing.  Last summer I had 
>a
>first-timer out in some rough conditions--washing the rails and so on, and 
>I
>was getting ready to reduce sail when I noticed my guest had intuitively
>perched herself up on the windward rail and was fearlessly grinning from 
>ear
>to ear.  But I think that's the exception, not the rule.  Most of the
>first-timers I've had on the boat were pretty nervous about all that 
>heeling
>over, so I tend to sail very conservatively with newbies onboard.  But if
>the weather picks up, whacha gonna do?  When we start rockin' and rollin'
>the first thing I think about is keeping my voice low and calm.  I think
>that helps a lot.
>
>You said it was a CD 25.  Cape Dory?  Full keel and built like a Mack 
>truck?
>Good thing you weren't in a more tender R22!
>
>Slim
>
>On 4/27/05 12:55 PM, "Richard Smith" <sailnut at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >> It is a challenge, and I think what most folks are saying is that you
> >> must prepare for the challenge before hand, and not take it too
> >> lightly.  It is a very different experience from drifting on a pond. >
> >
> > Here is a true story which in retrospect always saddens me.
> >
> > About 25 years ago we owned a CD-25 which was docked at the Barren 
>Island
> > (later Gateway Marina.)  My in-laws (non sailers) had a very dear friend 
>who
> > sailed a small daysailer on some mid size Jersey Lake.  They pressed us 
>to
> > take him for a sail.
> >
> > This guy always dreamed of salt water sailing.  After all he regularly 
>read
> > the boating press which did and still makes much of the mysticism of the
> > sea.  Needless to say Fantasy was strongly in play.
> >
> > So... one day our hero and the in-laws showed up.  They wanted to sail
> > around the Statue of Liberty, maybe 12 miles away.
> >
> > We left the slip around 10:00AM.  A light sea breeze was blowing.  A bad
> > sign if it starts that early.
> >
> > Of course sailing to the Statue was easy enough (broad reach and then a 
>run)
> >
> > As we all know the experience became very different when I reversed 
>course
> > for home.  Now it was a matter of beating against a steadily increasing 
>sea
> > breeze and attendant building wave conditions.  Fortunately the tide was
> > flooding so I only had to contend with a smallish 1 foot sea but still 
>the
> > boat was heeled over so that the lee rail was awash (ordinary behavior 
>for a
> > CD-25) and with everything trimmed in tight the experience was anything 
>but
> > relaxing.  At one point we took a smallish sea over the bow which 
>deposited
> > an inch or so of water on the cockpit deck.  Really nothing unusual and
> > actually rather common for Gravesend Bay.
> >
> > After a couple of hours of this we rounded the point and took off on a
> > reach... hull speed...  exhilarating!!  To late for my passengers they 
>were
> > ashen with fear.
> >
> > When we got back to the slip our guests abandoned the boat with unseemly
> > haste and fled to the parking lot and home.
> >
> > I later learned that the guy with the freshwater boat never sailed it 
>again
> > and the in-laws could not be lured to near the marina let alone "risk" 
>them
> > selves by going for a sail.
> >
> > Fantasy vs reality....
> >
> > Richard Smith
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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