Sailing lessons learned...

[capt jake]

OK, another fine day on Puget Sound. I little more wind than in the recent past, just as sunny and highs in the 80's again.

Lesson number 1: Just because you got burned the 'last' time out doesn't mean that you don't need sun screen 'this' time!!:shock:

Lesson number 2: After you make modifications to the boat, remember what they are. In my case, remeber to install the cockpit drain plug 'prior' to launching! (Thank goodness I have a hand bailer). :oops:

Lesson number 3: when you see a big@@s power boat go by, watch his wake. Just because most big @@s power boats only through up a wake for a few hundred feet behind doesn't mean that there aren't exceptions! This one's wake got larger the further behind the boat that it got! It near white caps when we spotted them coming at us broadside. First wave wasn't too bad but as we came out of the second one we got swamped good! Of course it had to be at a location where are all of the tidal crud was floating! :roll: Remember the hand bailer from lesson number 2?

Ok, lesson Number 3 was bad enough, but then this idiot had to wait until we got totally bailed out and reasonably dry before he makes pass number two at us! :evil: Drop the motor and point into him and ride it out this time. I still don't think he ever got it. :roll:

Oh, lesson number 4: Put the wind direction guage on the mast 'before' you step it! :roll: I have lost track of how many times I have done that one. :shock:

[kydocfrog]

Lesson number 4 has a certain resonance for me. Charlie Girl I, my old Cape Dory catboat, had this mast that had started life as a rather significant spruce tree and had lost little mass in its rebirth in nautical glory. Of course it had to be hauled up bodily, positioned, and dropped into the step well all while balancing desperately on the very eyes of the bow --either at the dock or on the trailer. It seemed a feature of my boating life that the THUNK the mast made when it dropped into the step would be immediately followed by a thin wiffff wiffff wiffffffff thhhplop-- the noise that either the peak halyard or the throat halyard, depending on which one I had fogotten to tie off, made as it whispered up through the masthead block and fell at my feet. That noise was followed by smothered snickering from the crew and a stiffled volley of military french from me.

DocA

[capt jake]

I can picture that one! LOL I 'have' had the opposite problem a time or two; get the mast just over your head and you can't raise it any more! Then you realize that the sheets are still cleated from trailering! :roll: Lower it donw and start over again....

I thought of lesson number 5: This is retrospective and for the new launchee's. I wish I had kept a log book, like they give you in the back of the Weekender plan package. It woudl be nice to look back over that, ponder the hours spent, world problems solved, and other lessons learned.

[Frank Hagan]

Lesson number 5: Don't sit on the main sheet.

Lesson number 6: Even if you don't think your glasses will come off, don't bend over at the dock without holding on to them.

There's an acronym to apply to all of these: DAMHIK! ("Don't Ask Me How I Know!")

[capt jake]

Hey! I am liking this! I started out thinking it would be fun and funny; then I progressed into a little more useful stuff (like Frank and Ray have).

Frank, I already had 5. :roll: You have 6 and 7.

[Stump]

lesson 8. Don't pass your car keys to the wife from the boat to the dock without a float attached. :roll: :oops: found that out yesterday.

[Guest]

Way too many regiments going on here for me to ever fit in with you bunch of clowns on the water. Heck rules and regulations, crazy guildlines and procedures to follow before proceeding to the next step, you guys done lost me. I don't even do well with boat plans and now you all gots all this stuff listed to follow......

[capt jake]

Oh, come on Mike; you have to have done SOMETHING worth mentioning!

Car keys and no float. I assume you either dove down or had spares. If you dove, did you get Jodies hair clip?

[Guest]

Oh, come on Mike; you have to have done SOMETHING worth mentioning!

Well,,,,,well,,,,, all I do is to make sure my wife packs the food and liquids. Boring, I know..... :cry: Oh there is one thing that fits on the top of the list for me, that my short term memory forgot, and that is Don't forget the food. And last but not least,

Honey did you get the food cooler?

:twisted:

[John B]

wakes! don't get me started....:roll:

I dropped my wife in the tide one day. We sailed onto the mooring in a wind against tide situation. She picked up the mooring Ok. I dumped off the mainsheet Ok and dropped the sail mostly down Ok and went back to the cockpit to sheet it in. As we were walking back, the boat swung to the tide , the wind pushed out the boom and what was left of the sail out the same side Kirsty was walking down. She backed up until she walked overboard.

Remember Flipper?. she was Flipper. I reckon she didn't get wet above her belly button.

I would have helped but couldn't because I was rolling around in the cockpit at the time.

[capt jake]

Good one Ray. Is that 9, 10 and 11? I like the visual of the self inflating vest. :shock:

[capt jake]

Well, I am heading out again today. Hopefully I have 'learned' something by all of this and won't repeat any of them! Of course, I am gauranteed no wind. :roll: ;)

The experiences I previously wrote of happened on a weekend with my son-in-law. Not his fault by any stretch, I think sailing on the weekends makes it a bit more interesting with all of the added traffic.

[capt jake]

OK, not really a 'sailing' lesson;

Vinegar really does cut uncured epoxy! :shock:

And during the building of Fire Escape I used Acetone! Blah!!!

[kydocfrog]

:shock: Fooey. I wish I had known that two weeks ago....

DocA