Cruising Musing #4from Julia in Dallas, Texas regarding this month's Cruising Musing:
Your website is great. Thanks for letting me know that I am not the only one that has been spooked by a fast moving storm. Making or Breaking a First Mate A lesson I have never forgotten occurred just prior to closing the deal on my first cruising boat. Our broker lent us his sailboat, a Tanzer 30-something, for a weekend sail on the Chesapeake Bay. We were having a nice trip, heading for St. Michaels on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and I was thinking that this sailing stuff was pretty cool. At one point in the afternoon, one of us chanced to look astern, and saw a dark gray mass filling the sky and heading our way. Dan warned me that showers were going to overtake us, and he left me at the wheel while he went forward to take down the jib. The sail was halfway down when the squall hit us—the wind veered direction drastically and suddenly whipped up. The main sail, trimmed relatively close to the center line, took the wind and pushed us over so quickly that I panicked. “Release the main sheet! Release the main sheet!” Dan called from the bow. “What’s the main sheet?!!!” I screamed, clutching the tiller and desperately trying to retain a foothold on the slanting platform. Dan left the jib (which start to raise itself again), ran back, and released the sheet. The main luffed, the boat headed into the wind, and my platform became level again. I sat and panted at the helm while Dan brought the jib back down again and we both got drenched in a summer thunder shower. Though I learned a really good lesson about sailing that day, I don’t recommend this kind of schooling for novice first mates. It’s too risky. Whether stupidly or courageously, I didn’t allow this scare to dampen my determination to cruise. But I could have just as easily gone the other way—shot off the boat when we made port and walked away for good. The cruising village is littered with stories of first-mates-in-training that never got past the first big scare. I think that there would be less of these casualties if the right kind of preparations were made prior to leaving home shores. Being prepared as a first mate is of great benefit to both partners. Knowing that you will be able to handle the boat on your own in case of emergency can make cruising more enjoyable—the first mate knows she will be able to handle the boat in case of emergency, and the skipper knows she knows. In the nearly two decades since the day Dan and I sailed through a thunderstorm on the Chesapeake, I have learned volumes. Skip and I have weathered all sorts of situations and conditions in our travels on Nehalennia. I love sailing her, and am secure knowing that I can handle her in a wide range of conditions. In fact, a little over a year ago, we were sailing into San Diego harbor when one of us chanced to look behind us and saw a dark gray mass heading our way. I was at the wheel, and Skip went forward to untangle the jib sheet. The sail was halfway furled when the squall hit us—the wind veered direction drastically and suddenly whipped up. The main sail, trimmed relatively close to the center line, took the wind and pushed us over. I released the main sheet, and the boat headed into the wind. We waited for the squall to blow over, and resume our course into port. I chuckled as I thought back to the last time I’d been through this drill, and reflected on how far I had come! ---------------------------
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