Weekend of Sailing

Last weekend was a heavy sailing weekend.  Saturday I sailed on the Sirena with Chris and Ken.  We headed out the gate and into some heavy fog and winds.  This made for exciting, exhilarating sailing until we decided to turn around and head back on a run.  Then it just got scary for a while, because all of a sudden, looming out of the fog on either side, came not 1, but 2 giant tankers.  And for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out where the one closer to us was going.  The one to our starboard side (and further off) appeared to be taking the traditional route through the center of the bridge.  I advised Chris (who hadn’t sailed out there before) to head towards the North side and hug the coast.  Unfortunately, the other tanker appeared to be trying to do the same thing, and you know, it was way bigger than us.  So Chris turned on the motor, and we kept having to jibe to change course, which is a major hassle for multiple reasons.  First, the main sheet on the Sirena is really swollen, so even with two of us (me and Ken) hauling on it and using a winch, we couldn’t effectively center the main.  This led to some bad jibes.  Second, it turns out that Chris and I were taught vastly different and rather contradictory methods of jibing.  We agree on centering the boom, okay there, but then he was taught to lock it in place through the jib while I was taught to do a controlled release through the jib.  Trying to mix and match methods just didn’t work.

Things were a little tense there for a while, and I believe the upshot of it all is that the Sirena is going to get a new main sheet.

We got back to dock and shortly thereafter were visited by Ultan, singlehanding his 30 foot Bahama in for a spell.  Watching him pivot and dock was awe-inspiring – he was one with his boat.  I think I’d like to adopt him as my new sailing-guru.

 Sunday, I got to take a few newbies (Amy and Tony  ) out for a sail.  Anna got promoted to second in command and rose to the occasion – raising the sails and dealing with the jib sheets and fenders, etc.  It was a really mild day, so we drifted for a while, then made landfall and Ayala Cove for a picnic – this time I made it as far as the museum!  Anna and Amy actually went for a short hike and took photos from the hilltop.  I should try that someday. 

Bopped around between Angel Island and Tiburon and Sausalito a bit more to enjoy the day.  Anna lost another hat.  I offered to do a MOB for it but she wouldn’t hear of it.  There was a rather unfortunate amount of singing of the Christopher Cross song “Sailing.” 

I think Amy and Tony had fun – the Indian Summer was very gentle to the non-sailors that day.   I don’t think there were any boat-related injuries.  Amy turned out to be very skilled at an essential element of sailing, namely, maintaining her own beer while taking brief custody of the captain’s beer.