Ok, since several others posted a sailing story, here's mine. We sail our O'Day 25 on Lake Winnapauskiee in New Hampshire. This is our 3rd boat on the lake in the last 15 years, so we know the waters well. We took our regular sailing friends out for a dinner cruise at 3PM. It was my wife and I, our son and daughter, our friends and thier 12 year old son. We have gone with them many times before. Beautiful weather, beat upwind in 15 knots to an island anchorage on the lee side. Cooked out, drank a few bottles of wine, the wind went flat and watched a red sunset. Stayed on the hook playing cards in the cockpit (the kids played Uno below) until 10PM. When my friend went to pull up the anchor (the lake is a rocky bottom), it was stuck. Both of us pulled, but no go. So, I put my friend's 12 year old boy on the stick, started the engine slow, and told him to hold her steady. We over ran the anchor, she came up and all was well. I spent a few minutes giving a "swedish flake" tutorial to my friend, stowed the anchor and took the stick. Well, I know the lake, so looking across in the dark, I could see the island that blocks the shore lights from view from our home port, and confident we were on course, headed for home. We were a mile off and in the 45 minutes that we putted across the lake in the dark, we had a night cap, a cigar, and the girls and the kids fell asleep below. When we got to our port, it wasn't ours. How can this happen, where are we? I had no idea. I recognized nothing, infact, I was no longer sure we were on the same lake. After discussing the shortcommings of too much wine at the helm, I thought it may have merit to remove the compas cover. We were headed north, not south and now we are 2-3 miles in the opposit direction. Apparently, while my friend's son was at the helm, he had the stick over a few degrees when we were over running the anchor and brought us 180 about. I had not noticed this while I was on the bow working the anchor. After coming about and cranking up the engine speed, we were waking up the family at 1AM back at port. My friend spared me telling this embarrassing story to our wives, so I tell it here to those who would understand. The lesson ... easy on the wine and check your compass after dark, even if you know where you are.
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- Jan 22, 2008
- 519
arriving after dark
I have a similar story of arriving after dark, and having made a few twists and turns to get at the spot we wanted to be, settled down for the night only to have the sun rise in the NORTH the next morning! Somehow the compass in my head had forgotten that addional 90 degree turn we took, and for the most part of that day I was turned around and really had to think about the directions I was contemplating. Its one of those experiences when you know you should trust your compass, but you secretly think it is lying to you. Your brain is so convinced, that the sun appears to set in the south at night. The nice thing about it is that it makes for a long day because at midday, you think the sun is high in the east and it feels like it is only 10 am.
I have a similar story of arriving after dark, and having made a few twists and turns to get at the spot we wanted to be, settled down for the night only to have the sun rise in the NORTH the next morning! Somehow the compass in my head had forgotten that addional 90 degree turn we took, and for the most part of that day I was turned around and really had to think about the directions I was contemplating. Its one of those experiences when you know you should trust your compass, but you secretly think it is lying to you. Your brain is so convinced, that the sun appears to set in the south at night. The nice thing about it is that it makes for a long day because at midday, you think the sun is high in the east and it feels like it is only 10 am.
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