So Saturday I promised my niece a nice sailboat ride. The morning seemed calm enough. My wind chimes out back where singing and that told me the wind was around 5 mph.
Got to the marina and it was blowing nice and steady. Looked over at the harbor office and no red flags were flying so it should be good.
Had to use extra power to back out of my slip, that was the first indication that I was thinking it might not be a good day. Heading out to the harbor entrance I could see the breakers where rather large. Larger than normal. Turned to port to start heading out and the swells were a good 5~6 feet with white caps and a very strong current. So strong it seemed like I was not making much headway.
It was about that time that I decided it would not be a good day for someone who has never been sailing. So I decided to return. Made my 180 and a few times my outboard came out of the water if only for a second or so.
Listening to the weather report would not have told me that this was not a good day for a 27 footer. I guess I had to actually be there to make the decision that I would return. My niece was a little upset but I explained the safety aspect. Then I elected to head back out to the harbor entrance and let her drive the boat. She totally understood when she found out how difficult it was to maintain a course when being bounced around by the swells.
Lesson learned, and a good one for my niece.
Got to the marina and it was blowing nice and steady. Looked over at the harbor office and no red flags were flying so it should be good.
Had to use extra power to back out of my slip, that was the first indication that I was thinking it might not be a good day. Heading out to the harbor entrance I could see the breakers where rather large. Larger than normal. Turned to port to start heading out and the swells were a good 5~6 feet with white caps and a very strong current. So strong it seemed like I was not making much headway.
It was about that time that I decided it would not be a good day for someone who has never been sailing. So I decided to return. Made my 180 and a few times my outboard came out of the water if only for a second or so.
Listening to the weather report would not have told me that this was not a good day for a 27 footer. I guess I had to actually be there to make the decision that I would return. My niece was a little upset but I explained the safety aspect. Then I elected to head back out to the harbor entrance and let her drive the boat. She totally understood when she found out how difficult it was to maintain a course when being bounced around by the swells.
Lesson learned, and a good one for my niece.
