Day Two

This is a big boat. No let me rephrase that - this is a BIG FREAKING BOAT. After sailing Nomad for a year I am completely blown away by how BIG this boat is. And in acknowledgment of Tim's previous post, I confess I am a perfectionist (no smart ass comments please). In my defense though, I didn't expect to sail it perfectly the first time, but I would very much have liked to feel like I at least had even the tiniest bit of control over what I was doing. We spent the day at an average apparent wind speed of 25 knots with gusts to 34, which wouldn't be that big of a deal on Nomad in our lake, but this boat is twice as wide and 13 feet longer than Nomad and twice as heavy. Getting it anywhere near where I want it to be is going to require a few more days, and given the wind forecast here for the next few days it may not happen during this course at all. Here's a video with me at the helm. One thing that sailors complain about all the time is that when you photograph or video big waves they "flatten" out. These waves were in the 2 ft range when we left and were over 3 feet when we returned.



And here is our ever-patient instructor Fred:



Tomorrow I hope to at least have some modicum of grace in my handling of Lady Marian. The wind is supposed to be howling again though so only time will tell.