Sailing
Sheila has been good at grabbing one of my cameras whenever I'm out on the sailboat. She's gotten some good shots of Lukey and me sailing as well as good shots of me sailing solo.
There was one particular day which was a very frustrating day. It looked like a good day for sailing with the rough chop and stiff wind and I did have some really nice and exciting runs but the wind turned out to be a major disappointment after a few wild and wet runs.
I didn't notice the problem with the wind until I lost all wind... I sat there in calm water all of a sudden... then, I looked more closely at the direction of the chop all around me... to my left, the chop was headed toward me... ahead of me, the chop was headed toward me... to my right, the chop was headed toward me... and here I sat in calm water. The wind all around me was blowing hard in very different directions.
When the wind blows hard it is usually a good thing for sailing but when it is coming at you from three different directions, it can get dangerous very quickly! If it doesn't instantly flip the boat, it can cause a mast to snap right out of the hull. I didn't want either of these to happen.
As I waited for one of these mini fronts to reach me, I sat with the boom wobbling directly over my head. I had to crouch, scrunched down, in the cockpit to keep the boom from whacking me in the head... although it had already bumped my head a few times.
Then... one of my muscles running diagonally across my ribcage started to cramp and pull from crouching so scrunched down for so long (and, admittedly, from being old). Then the wind hit me... from an unexpected direction... sending my boom flying off at a million miles per hour, slamming hard and tight when I ran out of rope... I was still cramping and couldn't stretch out enough to relieve the muscles. I also couldn't concentrate on sailing at this moment because of the pain but the wind had different ideas.
As I got the sailboat turned around and moving in a fairly slow and predictable direction, the wind abruptly changed direction again... bringing that boom whipping back across the boat and almost taking my head off again! Because of the cramped muscle(s), I couldn't react quickly enough and I was far too distracted.
This time, I decided to let the rudder go and just let the boat bounce around in the rough chop meeting from different directions so that I could attend to my cramped muscles and figure out how to safely get the boat out of this crazy triangle of wind directions. The problem here with this plan is that I will eventually run out of mainsheet rope and then it will be tight again and the wind will fill the sail while I'm trying to recover...
I tried rubbing the cramped muscle but that was impossible while wearing my thick neoprene life vest. The wind and water were both so rough that I didn't dare open my vest to rub down a cramped muscle... all I would need is for me to open my vest and then for the wind to whip in the opposite direction again, grabbing the sail and slamming that boom upside my head! I could do nothing but take some deep breaths... try to relax... and then try to bring the boat around again so I could find an easy tack back home...
There were these mini fronts all around me... I sailed the boat between them as I continually scanned the water for the telltale signs of wind direction. I managed to get the boat back home quickly, skirting around the dangerous areas this time.
After securing the boat with Sheila, I stepped up on our deck. From this higher vantage point, I could clearly see these different fronts of wind blowing in opposite directions... in the middle of each of these was chop going in opposite directions and just bouncing around like a pool filled with active kids. This is the type of thing I was trapped in while I was out there with my cramped chest muscle!
At one point, the wind created a big arc of calm water centered out in front of the house.... you could see the chop on the other side of the arc... the arc was like a 200 yard cyclone... calm water in the middle and wind running around the perimeter of the arc... to the right, the wind was blowing away from us... straight ahead, the wind was blowing left... and to the left, the wind was blowing toward us... so this is what I had to contend with while I was out there! I was expecting a waterspout to develop right in front of us!
I could swear the wind wasn't doing this when I initially set out but next time I will definitely be more observant of the type of wind out there before I set sail.
Anyway, Sheila captured a few photos of me out there on this relatively short sail...
There was one particular day which was a very frustrating day. It looked like a good day for sailing with the rough chop and stiff wind and I did have some really nice and exciting runs but the wind turned out to be a major disappointment after a few wild and wet runs.
I didn't notice the problem with the wind until I lost all wind... I sat there in calm water all of a sudden... then, I looked more closely at the direction of the chop all around me... to my left, the chop was headed toward me... ahead of me, the chop was headed toward me... to my right, the chop was headed toward me... and here I sat in calm water. The wind all around me was blowing hard in very different directions.
When the wind blows hard it is usually a good thing for sailing but when it is coming at you from three different directions, it can get dangerous very quickly! If it doesn't instantly flip the boat, it can cause a mast to snap right out of the hull. I didn't want either of these to happen.
As I waited for one of these mini fronts to reach me, I sat with the boom wobbling directly over my head. I had to crouch, scrunched down, in the cockpit to keep the boom from whacking me in the head... although it had already bumped my head a few times.
Then... one of my muscles running diagonally across my ribcage started to cramp and pull from crouching so scrunched down for so long (and, admittedly, from being old). Then the wind hit me... from an unexpected direction... sending my boom flying off at a million miles per hour, slamming hard and tight when I ran out of rope... I was still cramping and couldn't stretch out enough to relieve the muscles. I also couldn't concentrate on sailing at this moment because of the pain but the wind had different ideas.
As I got the sailboat turned around and moving in a fairly slow and predictable direction, the wind abruptly changed direction again... bringing that boom whipping back across the boat and almost taking my head off again! Because of the cramped muscle(s), I couldn't react quickly enough and I was far too distracted.
This time, I decided to let the rudder go and just let the boat bounce around in the rough chop meeting from different directions so that I could attend to my cramped muscles and figure out how to safely get the boat out of this crazy triangle of wind directions. The problem here with this plan is that I will eventually run out of mainsheet rope and then it will be tight again and the wind will fill the sail while I'm trying to recover...
I tried rubbing the cramped muscle but that was impossible while wearing my thick neoprene life vest. The wind and water were both so rough that I didn't dare open my vest to rub down a cramped muscle... all I would need is for me to open my vest and then for the wind to whip in the opposite direction again, grabbing the sail and slamming that boom upside my head! I could do nothing but take some deep breaths... try to relax... and then try to bring the boat around again so I could find an easy tack back home...
There were these mini fronts all around me... I sailed the boat between them as I continually scanned the water for the telltale signs of wind direction. I managed to get the boat back home quickly, skirting around the dangerous areas this time.
After securing the boat with Sheila, I stepped up on our deck. From this higher vantage point, I could clearly see these different fronts of wind blowing in opposite directions... in the middle of each of these was chop going in opposite directions and just bouncing around like a pool filled with active kids. This is the type of thing I was trapped in while I was out there with my cramped chest muscle!
At one point, the wind created a big arc of calm water centered out in front of the house.... you could see the chop on the other side of the arc... the arc was like a 200 yard cyclone... calm water in the middle and wind running around the perimeter of the arc... to the right, the wind was blowing away from us... straight ahead, the wind was blowing left... and to the left, the wind was blowing toward us... so this is what I had to contend with while I was out there! I was expecting a waterspout to develop right in front of us!
I could swear the wind wasn't doing this when I initially set out but next time I will definitely be more observant of the type of wind out there before I set sail.
Anyway, Sheila captured a few photos of me out there on this relatively short sail...
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