First Spring Sail

The water was cold, although it didn’t numb my toes. It is so hard to push past the inertia to take that first sail of the spring. I was eager this year, but somehow the weather was always a few degrees too cold or the wind felt a bit stiff for a sail by myself in cold water.

I had dropped the Laser off at the club last week. Sunday the temps hit 60 and the wind forecast was 10 or less, great conditions for a first sail. Trouble was everything went up, the temp a few degrees and the wind about 5 to 8 more in the gusts. Since I was there, the decision was easier, a push off the sand and the season opened up before me.

I was out for about an hour and a half with lots of gusts and moments of perfect breeze. The first few minutes I felt clumsy, a little like a clown in shoes that were too big, but once I got my balance the moves started coming back.

I took a few planning reaches across the lake to really get the feel and got wet from the spray, but the neoprene did its job and I turned the Laser up wind and began to step through the stages of a tack. It took a few sequences and I was reasonably certain I wasn’t going to have to swim on one of the easy moves.

At the upper end of the lake I reached off, blew out a couple of deep breaths and turned down wind. The first jibe I threw in between gusts and then I heard myself talking about focused practice and saw my goal of more confident jibes. I watched over my shoulder for a gust, accelerated, turned to leeward and pulled the sheet across. The rig slacked, the boom swept across and the sail snapped back into its powered out shape and I headed back down, one down and lots to go.

I was exhausted after only an hour. Okay for the first time. No rescue boat so I played it safe and went in. Ashore I wondered why I hadn’t used the wind to practice holding my position or starting up from a stop. I realized that I had been so busy that morning wondering if I was going to go out that I hadn’t really planned my practice session. I’ll probably do better next time.

Jay