Stardate 06092010.1405
Like the Shirt Logo says....LIFE IS GOOD!
Time moves very fast when you are having fun. As I mentioned earlier Mary and I had our first sailing lesson and yes we forgot to take pictures. Sorry about that but this past week we had our first outing on our own. It was just MARVELOUS BABY! As you can tell by the pictures! Sure we had our mistakes but what do you expect from beginners. Especially since this was our only time out since our lesson 4 weeks ago. Between the weather and the trip to Florida we just could not find the time.
Anyway, this past Sunday we took Midnight Breeze out around 11AM. They were calling for thunderstorms later in the evening so we decided on a quick sail to refresh our minds on what we had learned. Well, everything did not go as planned and we forgot several things, like if your putting up or taking down the sails you have to have two lines that have to be free. OOOPS! No harm done and we eventually figured it all out and just had a ball out there. We stayed close to the marina and sailed back and forth in front of the Bay Bridge for several hours. The first tack went fine, however, the second tack ended up right back where started. Of course the first thing I went for was the engine to get us out of the bind we were in, but Mary had her say of the situation and wanted to work it out without the engine. Hey, can't blame me for wanting to take the easy way out. So, I hauled the jib back over to the other side, trimmed, got us going, and tacked again, this time it was perfect. Boy did we have fun!!!! We were lucky we returned to the dock when we did because an hour later we had tornado warnings and severe thunder storms rolled in. The wind picked up so bad we had to have the dockhands help us tie down the lines. Did I forget to mention we had Fun!
A little note for those that are getting up there in age and are like me, where the muscles and bones just aren't what they use to be. Both Mary and I have trouble with arthritis and hauling the sails up and down will eventually take its toll on us. I looked into getting electric winches WOW! three grand apiece. There had to be a cheaper way. I was reading my Latitudes and Attitudes Mag and came across an add for the WinchRite, a motorized winch handle. Now, get that! Now it wasn't a very hard decision, cough-up six grand or $600.00. I bought the unit and used it this past week and it owns up to its award winning design. I can say it really helps with the work load and wallet! We used it to get the sails out and in and then went to the regular handle for trimming the sails. It's a rechargeable unit and has variable speed in both directions allowing for two speed winch rotations. Check it out it works. It charges off 120 or twelve volts and comes with both.
Well, the work week is upon us and next week, weather permitting, we have another lesson. Hope to work on the anchoring and mooring techniques. I'll let you know how it goes. We are both itching to anchor out over night.
One last item did I tell you we had fun!
Be safe!
Dave and Mary