Our First Time Out on the Water... Finally

A long story but….

Well, where should I start on the challenges of getting the Whip out on the water? On Saturday, August 14 -- perhaps the best sailing day we’ve had in Southern Maryland in more than a month, I thought my kids and I would get out on the water early. By about noon, after dropping the mast twice and going to the West Marine store twice to get little items, we finally were about to give up, or at least I was. My son and daughter were real troopers throughout this, however.

Once we were sure we knew how the boat rigging worked, we finally started out toward the Navy Recreation Center in Solomons, MD, about 8 miles from our house. After going back home for our paddle, we arrived at the rec center and after getting a little turned around, we were finally directed to the boat launch. Everything was going fine. We drove down to the launch, I checked out how the process worked, so we backed the boat back toward the road entrance to step the mast. We put it up once, then realized the jib was attached on the wrong side of the mast. When we tried the second time, it just went up -- no strain at all. It was so quick that my daughter said “Is that it?” I knew we were ready then -- until I brought the boom and mainsail from the van and realized that the piece that connects the boom to the mast had fallen off the boat, who knows where. This was literally the last straw. Mind you, if I had been thinking clearly and not so tired and anxious to get out on the water, I might have suggested that we sail with just the jib, but I was just too ticked to figure that out.

So, I figured my son and I could go on Sunday since my daughter and wife would be at my daughter’s acting class. Of course, Sunday rained like crazy, so much so that I just knew I had been some kind of axe murderer in a past life to deserve such bad luck. And this was after I jury-rigged something that I thought might work to connect boom to mast. So, I cleaned the house pretty much top to bottom. I did however, suggest to my son that I might try to get away this Thursday to sail with him after going to a golf tournament for the college I work for. The forecast looked great, but then I thought: what if the weather doesn’t hold for Thursday, and after then, my son is gone for the weekend. Without his muscle combined with mine, the mast ain’t goin up.

The solution? The weather seemed really good on Monday morning, so I played hooky. The three of us took out the boat out to the Navy rec center, and got ourselves out on the Patuxent River, near the Thomas Johnson Bridge. One challenge we had to overcome is that the wind was coming straight at us as we left the boat launch and headed toward the channel markers. This made for a very slow time as we paddled away from the slips, but once we got past the markers, we got ourselves sailing. I had originally planned to use only the mainsail, but since the wind was so light, we unfurled the jib. Again, we weren’t streaming anywhere too quickly but a couple of times the sails filled nicely, and we heeled and got up a little speed. We tacked around a bit, and saw a heron swoop down on the water. Of course, we also got up a little speed as we sailed back to the boat launch. I wished we had gone a bit faster just for fun, but since it was my daughter’s first time on the water in a small boat, we probably went at just the right speed.

We learned quite a bit this first time out. First, the boat launch has two ramps, the one on the left for launching, the one on the right for recovery. Ooops! Fortunately, nobody was out to get mad at us. We also need a second paddle. It’s a perfectly decent way to get away from the slips, but quite awkward to have to do three strokes on one side, then hand the paddle to someone else for three strokes on their side. I purchased a second paddle today. Also, when we stepped the mast and I started to attached the main halyard to the head of the sail, the shackle was missing a part. Fortunately, that’s one of the parts the previous owner had left in the forward storage area. Lesson? get a few more odds and ends like that and make sure I carry them with us.

My wife has not exactly been real supportive of this sailing thing, so I told both my kids when we got back home at around 12:30 “If you had a good time, tell your Mother: if not, don’t tell her anything.” My wife told me that both kids volunteered that they had a great time. I did too.


F. J.

Congratulations! Somebody told me that the first time out is always the hardest; it will get easier every time you go sailing. I picked a bad spot on my first trip out, so it wasn't much fun; I had to keep tacking to get away from the ramp, right across the main lane of traffic for all the motorboats and jetskis (none of which knew that sailboats have the right of way). Also, the mast had dirt or something in the sail slot at about 18" below the top of the mast (of course), so I spent about an hour trying to dislodge it and get the sail all the way up...

Hang in there!

Dave

ark,

Wow. I can say that you are completely dedicated. I'm glad your kids had a great time. Even though I'm just getting going, I can't wait to teach my 3.5 yr. old when he is older to sail. I have been around recreational boats my whole life, but sailing is by far the most fulfilling.

See you on the water (prob. only if we get lost from Chicago or Wisconsin).

dub

PS. Thanks for posting about your first time out. I'm now going to check everything 3x before I head out the first time.