Swimming Lessons

Saturday's sailing plans were dropped fairly early on as there was no wind and it was raining. I checked with someone who lives closer to the sailing club than I do and we agreed to meet up on Sunday morning instead.
I got there in good time so that I could get my new mast fitted and all the confusing little bits of string in place before we hit the water. The guy I was sailing with had very kindly decided to bring his tape measure and sailing experience with him to help me get the boat set up for the new mast and my weight. I hadn't really been through this process before so it was interesting to learn a bit about what should be adjusted in which direction under certain circumstances.

When we finally went out the sail there wasn't really very much wind and we had a few gentle legs up and down a short course to check that my boat speed and pointing ability was where it should be. Thankfully it seemed that everything was fine.

not me

Then the wind hit us pretty hard and there were fairly quickly reasonable waves and it was hard work to stay upright. Upwind was manageable but on my second downwind leg I capsized, the wind and the waves meant that I had to pull the boat back up and let it capsize again straight away before being able to right it and get back in. That was something of a struggle as the mast got stuck in the bottom again,. but I took my time and thankfully avoided breaking another mast. About 30 seconds later (and much to my colleagues amusement) I did the same thing again. This time I remembered that you have to hold onto the centerboard as the boat re capsizes and pop up on the right side to pull it up again.

and now more clearly not me!

By the end of that, I was pretty tired and headed for the harbour to wash the sand and grit out of the mast and put the whole thing back together yet again. I was pretty tired and glad to be back on dry land again after that, but it was a fun trip and flying back the harbour over the waves was an absolute blast.