Re: [Paddlewise] not the best sailing lesson...

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 8:35 AM, Kirk Olsen <kork4_at_cluemail.com> wrote:

>
> We rounded Peaches point and saw a small sailboat headed toward us.  Jim
> tried to get their attention as there are shoals in the area.  I blew my
> whistle and got their attention, but they didn't react to our arm
> motions waving them outside.  They may have though we were worried about
> them hitting us.  About 40 meters later they hit a rock, then turned
> toward shore(!)  They soon ran up against another shoal.  With the 3
> foot swell the boat would rise up and slide further onto the shoal.
>

Interesting story. Sounds to me like the woman (instructor?) was trying to
get into a cove she knew but was entering one that seemed similar. I've seen
large boats get lost in this manner. It's amazingly easy to convince
yourself that all the data are "close enough" And, like so many complicated
sports, learning the race rules (which is what a surprising number of
sailboat racers do.... and nothing else) does not cover everything in
racing. Only, perhaps, the things they are interested in.

Reminds me of a story. My wife and I were anchored in a protected cove in
the Baja Peninsula just north of La Paz. We had been to a beach party the
previous week at which one of the attendees bragged about his prowess in
sailing. Apparently he had won a lot of races, impressed a lot of people,
etc. That evening he - along with his boat - cruised in to our cove and
stopped about 50 feet away clearly preparing to anchor. It was close, but
not dangerously close so we just watched as his mate came up on deck,
gathered the anchor, chain, and rope all in one huge clump and turned and
dropped the mess over the bow. "We're anchored!" With that the skipper shut
off the engine and poured a drink.

We fired our engine up and move to a part of the cove where it would be less
likely that we'd be hit by him if there was any wind that night. Anchors
need to be set and anchor chain and rode needs to led not just dropped in a
clump. Apparently this was a facit of sailing that the renowned skipper had
not learned about. I'm sure he did before long though.

One might think that a glance at a GPS - which for a mere $500 or so would
have shown the "instructor" that she was in the wrong place - would be cheap
insurance.


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
www.nwkayaking.net
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