The wife and I have been sailing for the better part of three years now, and I was thinking I was getting pretty good at this sailing thing , however for the first two years we were frequenting a more "urban" lake (Lost Creek) due to low water levels at the historic "sailing lake" (Howard Prairie). On the rare occasions when another sailboat happened to be out on LC when we were, I felt pretty confidant that I could shame them with my superior sailing skills . Now turn the page to a brim full "sailing lake" where sailing has had a strong history of racing and recreational sailboats for many many years, and I'm a duck out of water again . We always try to go sailing on weekdays to avoid the big pb and fishing crowds, but even mid-week there are always at least a few others out sailing for us to play with. yesterday was the last of three such days for us this week. conditions were less than stellar compared to the usual superb winds, so I got a really good afternoon workout each day in 10-20+ winds. one day there was a (I think) Cat 22 Mk2 that wanted to play, so I "let" him chase me for a wile . As we headed North on a port tac I was a bit puzzled by his sail trim because it appeared that he was allowing the jib to luff most of the time, to the point of being powered by the main only. I surmise this may have been his way to depower due to the rather strong gusty winds, but I felt ok with full sails and a firm hand on the main sheets. we were running up a shoreline, which was getting uncomfortably close, so I tacked off to gain some room to work, thinking he would have to do the same.....
But was left holding the bag..
I always felt I could run pretty close to the wind, but even after I tacked and gave myself some room from shore, and he passed me, I couldn't hold the line that he was . he never did have to tac away from the shore line, and I was unable to run him down.
It was getting late, so we played around for another hour or so as we worked our way back to the quiet boat ramp at the South end of the lake and packed her up for the drive home. As usual we stopped by the marina for a burger, a cold drink, and a recharge before the drive home. it's a nice place to sit and watch the boat ramp action and the very active marina traffic also.
As we sat enjoying our burgers I happened to notice a Cat 25 raising his main sail at his slip deep in the pack. his row has a rock jetty about 1 1/2 boat lengths behind the slips, so this caught my attention as he calmly backed out of his slip, made a 90* turn and raised his jib as he sailed out along the pier as if it was a no big deal.
Man have I got a lot to learn. I should have started this about 50-60 years earlier .
But was left holding the bag..
I always felt I could run pretty close to the wind, but even after I tacked and gave myself some room from shore, and he passed me, I couldn't hold the line that he was . he never did have to tac away from the shore line, and I was unable to run him down.
It was getting late, so we played around for another hour or so as we worked our way back to the quiet boat ramp at the South end of the lake and packed her up for the drive home. As usual we stopped by the marina for a burger, a cold drink, and a recharge before the drive home. it's a nice place to sit and watch the boat ramp action and the very active marina traffic also.
As we sat enjoying our burgers I happened to notice a Cat 25 raising his main sail at his slip deep in the pack. his row has a rock jetty about 1 1/2 boat lengths behind the slips, so this caught my attention as he calmly backed out of his slip, made a 90* turn and raised his jib as he sailed out along the pier as if it was a no big deal.
Man have I got a lot to learn. I should have started this about 50-60 years earlier .
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