Learning to sail
Everybody in Sydney sails. Well, to us it seems the case. Every time we meet a new ‘local’, they’ve just come back from, or are just off to, their boat for a spot of R&R. And what better way could there be to pass the time, when the sun’s shining brightly in a blue sky and the sea’s sparkling. So, it was really only a matter of time before we had a go ourselves...
We’d experienced a day on the water last April, on a free ‘Try Sailing’ day at the Royal Prince Albert Yacht Club on Pittwater, and so a few weeks ago we signed up for a ‘Sailing for Beginners’ course at the same place – unfortunately not free this time.
Saturday dawned sunny and hot, so we couldn’t have been luckier. Venturing out onto grey waters in the rain doesn’t appeal quite as much! We arrived at 1.30pm and met our fellow learners – a motley bunch, but then that’s no doubt what they thought of us too! We were split into two groups and Clive and I went off with Laura, our instructor, who was about 20 but who assured us she had been sailing for 10 years! There were 2 other ladies in our group and we stood around the yacht while Laura proceeded to baffle us with nautical terminology, all the while saying she wouldn’t give us too many new things to remember!
We then had to rig the boat, under her watchful eye. We shackled the jib halyard to the head of the jib and hoisted it, and then attached the main sail to the boom and slotted it into the mast ready for raising in open water. Yes, I was confused too! Why is the jib not called ‘the smaller sail’ and why are the main ropes called ‘sheets’ and not just ‘longer ropes’? Anyway, we eventually got the small yacht rigged and sailed gently out into Pittwater, past some much larger and very expensive vessels!
Once clear of any other boats, Laura told us how to hoist the main sail and we picked up speed. She took charge of the tiller and talked us through what we were doing. After tacking across the harbour with us watching and doing the necessary rope work with each 'tack', she passed the tiller to each of us to have a go.
The first lady took a while to get the hang of it, but then cracked it. The second lady was a natural. Then it was Clive’s turn – he too picked it up quickly and we didn’t crash into Scotland Island as it loomed closer to the bow! Then it was my turn and apart from forgetting to duck low enough on the first turn and having my cap knocked off by the boom (at least it wasn’t my head!), I was fine. We were all starting to feel like old hands, controlling the ropes, keeping an eye on nearby traffic, adjusting the jib, having a turn on the tiller and beginning to relax when we had to head for home.
This was a more challenging time as the wind had changed direction – Laura seemed a little nervous as she shouted instructions at us and we tacked (or were we gybing?) up the narrow channel, missing million dollar hulls by inches. Thankfully, we arrived back safely, main sail still up. Our fellow beginners had lowered their main sail to be on the safe side, but then had to paddle their yacht back home, so I think we had the easier, if more tense, option!
We thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon on the water. We've got two more sessions over the next few weekends but I’m not quite sure we’ll be ready to tackle the Sydney to Hobart yacht race this year - maybe 2010?
We’d experienced a day on the water last April, on a free ‘Try Sailing’ day at the Royal Prince Albert Yacht Club on Pittwater, and so a few weeks ago we signed up for a ‘Sailing for Beginners’ course at the same place – unfortunately not free this time.
Saturday dawned sunny and hot, so we couldn’t have been luckier. Venturing out onto grey waters in the rain doesn’t appeal quite as much! We arrived at 1.30pm and met our fellow learners – a motley bunch, but then that’s no doubt what they thought of us too! We were split into two groups and Clive and I went off with Laura, our instructor, who was about 20 but who assured us she had been sailing for 10 years! There were 2 other ladies in our group and we stood around the yacht while Laura proceeded to baffle us with nautical terminology, all the while saying she wouldn’t give us too many new things to remember!
We then had to rig the boat, under her watchful eye. We shackled the jib halyard to the head of the jib and hoisted it, and then attached the main sail to the boom and slotted it into the mast ready for raising in open water. Yes, I was confused too! Why is the jib not called ‘the smaller sail’ and why are the main ropes called ‘sheets’ and not just ‘longer ropes’? Anyway, we eventually got the small yacht rigged and sailed gently out into Pittwater, past some much larger and very expensive vessels!
Once clear of any other boats, Laura told us how to hoist the main sail and we picked up speed. She took charge of the tiller and talked us through what we were doing. After tacking across the harbour with us watching and doing the necessary rope work with each 'tack', she passed the tiller to each of us to have a go.
The first lady took a while to get the hang of it, but then cracked it. The second lady was a natural. Then it was Clive’s turn – he too picked it up quickly and we didn’t crash into Scotland Island as it loomed closer to the bow! Then it was my turn and apart from forgetting to duck low enough on the first turn and having my cap knocked off by the boom (at least it wasn’t my head!), I was fine. We were all starting to feel like old hands, controlling the ropes, keeping an eye on nearby traffic, adjusting the jib, having a turn on the tiller and beginning to relax when we had to head for home.
This was a more challenging time as the wind had changed direction – Laura seemed a little nervous as she shouted instructions at us and we tacked (or were we gybing?) up the narrow channel, missing million dollar hulls by inches. Thankfully, we arrived back safely, main sail still up. Our fellow beginners had lowered their main sail to be on the safe side, but then had to paddle their yacht back home, so I think we had the easier, if more tense, option!
We thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon on the water. We've got two more sessions over the next few weekends but I’m not quite sure we’ll be ready to tackle the Sydney to Hobart yacht race this year - maybe 2010?
posted by Hawkins Family @ 9:27 am
<< Home