I took her out for my first solo and nearly over did it. The wife had a wedding to go too but wanted to go out on the full moon Saturday night so I took the boat out for the day by myself and picked her up that evening for a moonlight sail on the St. Johns. I headed out about 8:00 AM and managed to get the boat in the water by 10:00 or so. The heat and humidity were worse than I had anticipated with temps over 90. I headed out feeling tired and dehydrated but as soon as I got the sails up I started re hydrating (gatorade, water and lot's of it) and felt the energy come back. I sailed for about a hour and a half staying in the shade continuing to drink liquids. The winds were 10 knots and quite comfortable so I felt like I was out of the woods. I sailed across to the east side of the river and started to head back across to check out the Greencove Springs public docks when I started to feel ill. At this point I was 30 minutes by motor away from the ramp and I started to feel so bad I probably could not have made it so I tacked back over to the east side of the river. At one point I started to get dizzy and wondered if I would even make it too the anchorage but I think the sugar from a Dr. Pepper finally kicked in and by the time I got there I was feeling better. I anchored and spent the rest of the day in the cabin/shade listening to the Irish crush the Wolverines. I felt better except for the headache which would not go away. The bear almost got me! I pushed to hard getting the boat ready without taking in any fluids while I was doing it. I let my excitement over rule my experience. Having worked in the construction industry outside all my life I know better. Next time I'll get something out of the cooler before I start setting up the boat so I can stay ahead of the game.
I went back for the wife at 7:00 PM and she brought something for the headache and some food and in an hour or so I was feeling 100% again. We anchored right back where I spent most of the day. I tied off to the stern so we were facing the moon with the cool evening breeze in our face. We had a great time and eventually headed back in about 1:00 AM. It was still a little to warm to convince her to stay the night. She rode back on the bow as the crab pot lookout and we made it back in and home without incident. I noticed quite a few couples doing the same thing as I broke everything down.
I have some pictures and a few short movies I'll be posting later.
And last but not least the boat is officially christened now.................and that's all I'm saying about that
Thanks for sharing ! And,uh, not sharing,ah, everything, too.
Actually the reminder to keep hydrated while getting the boat underway is a good one - that's one I tend to overlook when heading out by myself in the hot summer - then I get on board, raise the sails, lower the keel, and wonder why I feel so wiped out from doing "just that" without considering everything that went before.
