I've been sailing now for just three years, mostly self taught with the exception of a pretty rushed small boat course I took the year prior to buying my boat. This website and the various sub forums have been a true blessing and our experience in the past weekend is a great example of how far we have come in our sailing and much credit is due to the experienced people here and the copious amounts of good advice they have so willingly shared. A couple of instances were good illustrations of how much I've learned here.
My wife is an experienced Laser sailor, but has struggled to feel comfortable sailing our displacement hull. Accustomed to an extreme sensitivity to heeling, she has had a difficult time NOT correcting too quickly when our boat heels. Having read practically the same scenario on this site a few times, I was ready to help her. On Friday we had sustained winds of about 10-12mph and gusts up to around 15mph, so we packed on all sail (130% genoa, full main) and made it our goal to really feel how the boat wants to round up in a gust. As we were close hauled and starting to heel more, and I told her I was going to let the boat heel; the boat stiffened up and we ended up in the groove at about a 15 degree heel. I gave her the tiller and told her to try to do the same, making helm corrections without letting the boat round up. We talked about weather helm, the shape of the boat's hull and how it responds to heeling (all stuff I've learned here). Then we played around, falling off with the sails trimmed tightly to see how far over we could heel until the boat rounds up and gradually I could see the light in my wife's eyes and she came to understand how a keel boat sails. By Sunday evening, she was steering with the sails and said she had mostly lost her urge to head into the wind, feeling very comfortable letting the boat settle in to a comfortable 15 degree angle.
We also practiced heaving-to and had it not been for a thread here I would have struggled with it. Someone here mentioned that one needs to experiment in order to find the right balance where the boat will calm down. After about ten minutes of work, we settled in for a nice lunch while hove-to, feeling rather yachtsman like, bobbing gently along in a 10mph breeze.
On the next day, after some intervening sailing/swimming with the kids, I took a neighbor and her 4 year old out for a sail. They arrived just as the winds were reaching the 10mph range, so I wandered over to a picnic shelter in order to have a look at the lake and how others were sailing. One of the people there asked if I had sailed yet and I explained that I was contemplating reefing since it would be essentially single handling with a young kid on board. He agreed and we talked about whether to sail under one sail, but I determined that it would be fine with a reefed main and the genoa. As it turned out, this was perfect- the boat stayed pretty much on its feet and we had a pleasant, easy sail. Lesson learned that has been written countless times here- if you're thinking about reefing, it's time to reef.
This website has been my own primary school of the sailing arts. Without it I would not have been able to do the things I did this past weekend, which was pretty much a constant stream of decision making and tricky boat handling on an extremely crowded lake. We had powerboats with tubers cutting in front of us- one stopped dead in our course two hundred yards ahead and we simply headed up and neatly around him (without any cursing). We also had to get in and out of our new slip, which is very tight and is accessible via a narrow channel. Using advice found here, we have perfected the tight turns and figured out the best way to get in and out without going aground. As my wife was wagging the rudder, turning the corner into the slip last night, under the eye of a few fellow sailors as we had to pass nearly every boat in the marina on the way back into the cove, I overheard someone say, "Nice" as she kissed the finger of the slip at nearly a dead stop. On the way home I tried to count how many things done in the weekend were made easier because of the help I get here, but decided that it's pretty much pointless. I learn something just about every time I visit here.
My wife is an experienced Laser sailor, but has struggled to feel comfortable sailing our displacement hull. Accustomed to an extreme sensitivity to heeling, she has had a difficult time NOT correcting too quickly when our boat heels. Having read practically the same scenario on this site a few times, I was ready to help her. On Friday we had sustained winds of about 10-12mph and gusts up to around 15mph, so we packed on all sail (130% genoa, full main) and made it our goal to really feel how the boat wants to round up in a gust. As we were close hauled and starting to heel more, and I told her I was going to let the boat heel; the boat stiffened up and we ended up in the groove at about a 15 degree heel. I gave her the tiller and told her to try to do the same, making helm corrections without letting the boat round up. We talked about weather helm, the shape of the boat's hull and how it responds to heeling (all stuff I've learned here). Then we played around, falling off with the sails trimmed tightly to see how far over we could heel until the boat rounds up and gradually I could see the light in my wife's eyes and she came to understand how a keel boat sails. By Sunday evening, she was steering with the sails and said she had mostly lost her urge to head into the wind, feeling very comfortable letting the boat settle in to a comfortable 15 degree angle.
We also practiced heaving-to and had it not been for a thread here I would have struggled with it. Someone here mentioned that one needs to experiment in order to find the right balance where the boat will calm down. After about ten minutes of work, we settled in for a nice lunch while hove-to, feeling rather yachtsman like, bobbing gently along in a 10mph breeze.
On the next day, after some intervening sailing/swimming with the kids, I took a neighbor and her 4 year old out for a sail. They arrived just as the winds were reaching the 10mph range, so I wandered over to a picnic shelter in order to have a look at the lake and how others were sailing. One of the people there asked if I had sailed yet and I explained that I was contemplating reefing since it would be essentially single handling with a young kid on board. He agreed and we talked about whether to sail under one sail, but I determined that it would be fine with a reefed main and the genoa. As it turned out, this was perfect- the boat stayed pretty much on its feet and we had a pleasant, easy sail. Lesson learned that has been written countless times here- if you're thinking about reefing, it's time to reef.
This website has been my own primary school of the sailing arts. Without it I would not have been able to do the things I did this past weekend, which was pretty much a constant stream of decision making and tricky boat handling on an extremely crowded lake. We had powerboats with tubers cutting in front of us- one stopped dead in our course two hundred yards ahead and we simply headed up and neatly around him (without any cursing). We also had to get in and out of our new slip, which is very tight and is accessible via a narrow channel. Using advice found here, we have perfected the tight turns and figured out the best way to get in and out without going aground. As my wife was wagging the rudder, turning the corner into the slip last night, under the eye of a few fellow sailors as we had to pass nearly every boat in the marina on the way back into the cove, I overheard someone say, "Nice" as she kissed the finger of the slip at nearly a dead stop. On the way home I tried to count how many things done in the weekend were made easier because of the help I get here, but decided that it's pretty much pointless. I learn something just about every time I visit here.
Last edited:
