My husband is combating middle age by scheduling adventures. It's been scuba, ballooning and talk of sky diving. Lucky for me I have been invited to, included in, and required for many of these events. Our most recent is sailing.
He bought sailing lessons through Seven Seas Sailing School near the grain elevators. The building is unimpressive to say the least, but the instructors are fabulous. I thought I could learn some terminology and be fine. Not so. There is a ton to learn...jibe ho, tack port, in irons...this is a bit of work. Our first lessons were informative and a bit daunting, but I have to say I was enjoying myself.
We did our first water sail last weekend. To start, the instructor cut his hand on some rigging. Then we noticed a line stuck in the propeller - one of the students (an 50 something year old man) dove into the water to cut it loose. It was trouble starting up but the winds were beautiful and I enjoyed our few hours in the sun.
Sunday we did our second sail on the water. I was feeling confident until I noticed the high winds and the expression of pure delight on our instructor's face. Our instructor is an adorable 20 something young man who sails 18 - 20 hours a weekend. The boy was born to teach and you can tell he loves it. He and Max were checking out hotties on a smaller sail boat last week, a glance that almost had us crash into another boat. But I digress...
This week I manned the main sail while Matty manipulated the jib and Max drove with the tiller. We tacked right and I swear the boat tipped to it's side and we were parallel to the water! My hair could have hit the waves, had I not been hanging on for dear life. As smiles filled everyone else's face, I screamed to let the main sail loose so we slow down and lift up. As main sail operator - I performed flawlessly and we were back in mellow territory. Why am I the only one fearful of death but capsized sailboat?
One of the skills you learn by taking lessons is to perform a man overboard drill. After seeing what needs to be done, I made Max promise me that he would never fall off the boat while sailing because I would have to leave him there. When someone falls off a sailboat, you have to keep going until you are about 20 boat lengths away and then turn around to get close enough to pick him up but not too close to have the wind push the boat into him. Keep in mind this is a 26 ft boat! I cannot believe our crew was able to do this twice! My contribution was simply watching the flotation device designated as the man overboard.
After two hours my palms were raw from gripping the lines, my face was permanently stuck in fear and my hair was wind blown. It was time to dock. The other couple with us did their best and just gently tapped the dock. All safely returned to land. Not sure how those women on TV manage to look so graceful on a sailboat. I was basically crawling around on my hands and knees - very UN ladylike.
It is definitely exhilarating to be on the water gliding through the wind, but also terrifying. We have one more lesson and then we can be tested. Once we pass, we can take out a sailboat on our own. I can't see this happening. The boys love it and Matty is already pricing used sailboats. God help me.
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