my first sailing adventure (part 2)

(the adventure continues) after lunch we had a choice of starting for home or sailing out of the bay and into the open water . yeah, let’s sail more! 😆 .

maine is so gently beautiful, the water and wind so sweet...i really just wanted to keep going, even if it meant that the wind might not be with us when we did finally head home .

with my hand on the tiller, we headed out to the open water. the wind picked up, the waves followed suit and i realized with a gasp that i was, at long last, sailing on the ocean . the peep hen made sure that i quickly learned what shemaya was teaching me. tiller to lee to dump air when gusts threatened to push us over. let out the sheet to do the same .

it suddenly dawned on me that in order to fill the sail with wind, i just had to do the opposite and pull the tiller toward me! i know, obviously...but it didn’t occur to me until that moment 🤣 . and then i felt it. i finally was clear about how to control the vessel. it was a simple realization but it made so many pieces slam into place. i was fucking sailing 😉.

i don’t know how long we were out there with me enjoying my newfound skill. time wasn’t really happening. at some point though, shemaya said that the current was headed for home and we should take it . “aye, skipper!” . (alright, i’m gonna admit, i love sailor talk when i’m sailing. i will shout, “ahoy!” if i like you) .

we headed back to the bay and found that while we had the current with us, the wind wasn’t from a favorable direction. getting home was gonna be a long haul and the odds were good that we might not get there before nightfall when the tide turned against us as well . and no, couldn’t just turn on the motor because we didn’t have one. we had a ‘yuloh’ which is a big-ass chinese skulling oar. think venetian gondolas).

i remember wondering why i was so happy. tacking back and forth to slowly make our way home while it quickly got dark hadn’t been on the itinerary but it didn’t matter . i had been out to sea, i’d learned a key piece of the sailing puzzle (couple thousand more to go) i was on the water with a dear friend, it was quiet and beautiful...i was sailing.

(to be continued)

#sailingpast60 #sailingadventure