I NEED STORIES TO READ SO I'LL START, Will you share too?
Posted: Wed May 11, 2016 8:34 am
Good story Scott.
My first sailing experience came when I was 17. A friend of mine belonged to the Junior Yacht Club and asked me if I would like to go out on a sailboat. He didn't have to ask twice. When the day came, I was too excited to eat breakfast. That was a mistake. We drove to the Yacht Club and my friend introduced me to Capt. Dave Blood...no kidding, that was his name.
It turned out that we were about to take part in a race and I was to be crew along with another teen and Capt. Blood. My friend was crewing on another boat.
So Capt. Blood tells me that my friend told him I was an experienced hand...this was not so and I told him that I had never been on a sailboat or crewed in a race. Well he said it was too late to replace me, so he gave me a crash course on jib handling and off we went.
We sailed around getting positioned for the start and all was going well. Lake Michigan had 3 foot swells and a nice breeze. Finally the race started and in short order Mal de Mer struck me full force. Blood told me that every time we were tacking, I would have to jump to the new lee side so as not to soil his boat with vomit.
I didn't see land for the rest of the race...only the water on the lee side of the boat. Hauling the jib sheet and winching for trim as I was heaving my empty guts over the side. Needless to say, we didn't win the race and by the time we were motoring into the harbor, I was laying on the cockpit floor, totally exhausted.
My friend had to wait for a half hour to get his ride home, as my legs were too rubbery to work the clutch on my dad's Rambler. I was not invited again, but that one time planted a seed. I finally took a sailing class at the Yacht Club in 2009 and will get back out on Lake Michigan this summer, piloting my Chrysler C22, Wabi Sabi.
