Discovering sailing on an International 505 ("FreeBee") as a complete novice has been a beautiful journey so far. Roger Lovett determined I was ready to try and assist with the spinnaker last Sunday. This was only my second time out on his boat "Freebee" and I was anxious to learn. Roger has not been sailing for a few years. Surviving a heart-attack last December gave him a second chance to re-engage with some of the joys he had let slip away in the 'busy-ness' of the daily grind. When Roger would talk about sailing and racing, his eyes would light up! I just knew he needed to bring his sailboat back out to the water.
The first time we went sailing, I stood around helplessly as I watched Roger meticulously assemble the rigs for the sailboat. He would give me small tasks, but for the most part, he was busy trying to re-orient himself with his 505 sailboat. Raising the mast, we worked to untangle the many lines. One of them, being stuck between the block and the wheel of the pulley, forced Roger to have to lower the mast to correct the line on the wheel. I mention this difficulty because the same thing happened to us on our second outing. We shook the ropes, whipped them, tugged them and messed around with them so long before we again had to lower the mast to remove the rope from the pulley jam. We would have been much better off deciding to do this a lot earlier. To prevent this from happening again, painters tape applied just below the pulley and it's rope will allow us to hoist the mast and pull the rope through the pulley without the chance of it getting stuck (and the tape will just tear away.)
There was a pretty good wind last Sunday. Roger was a little concerned about putting out the spinnaker for the first time, but we did, and very clumsily at best. We both knew that shouting would occur. Roger was hoisting the sail and telling me "Hook up" and I was telling him "What do I do?" He replies "Grap that rope!" I am looking at about 4 different ropes and totally have no clue about which rope he is referring to, however I somehow got the rope onto the end of the spinnaker pole and the sail went up.
Roger realized that his buddy Mike, who was his crew before, took care of all the spinnaker ropes and managed the sail. Roger didn't know all of Mike's practices and tricks - this added a level of difficulty, but we were both determined to practice. Bringing the sail down went even worse than the clumsy hoist we just had. As Roger shouted commands to me, which I was trying to desperately interpret into actions, the sail fell into the water and we promptly ran over it with the boat. Roger announced with a sigh "We're going to beach this boat to bring in that sail". After we managed to get the huge sail back into the boat (now heavy because it is wet) Roger decided that there was too much wind to practice with the spinnaker. We rode across the bay back and forth for a bit. I love being up on the trapeze. Roger likes to ask me if I can see the centerboard when I am fully extended. It is very cool to see, actually; the white flash moving swiftly under water.
One of the things that amazes me is that he can look at the water and tell me exactly when I need to get ready to get 'up' because a gust is coming. Experience, I guess - he knows what he is looking at; soft water, hard water, glassy or choppy, it all means something with the wind and how he will drive.
We were moving around the bay and I heard Roger say quietly "Flying Dutchman". I wondered what that meant. Was there a boat without a driver? Was that some sort of boat jargon for a person overboard?
Then I saw another 505 approaching. The driver announces, "Flying Dutchman!" "We are yadda yadda yadda..." he is now speaking a language I do not understand. (I believe he was giving details of what his plans were for the day/route/ routine/ course etc.) Roger calls back to them "Are you John?" He says "Yes" and invites us to follow. Roger waves and I asked him if we are going to follow. "That guy is a pro - and much too fast for us right now, and as much as I would love to chase, we are here to just get oriented to the boat." Roger looked a little bummed as we watched the Flying Dutchman 'flying' away over the water.
Throughout the rest of the day we enjoyed great sailing. I am finding out there is a whole new language to learn. To Reach, Flatten, Bear up, Bear Off; these words I hear Roger use and I need to manifest tasks from them. Those ribbons on the sail? Yes, they are 'tell tails' clever! I am finding they are really important to watch. In Mission Bay it seems as if the wind is always 'swirling' and the fun time on the trapeze has often been short-lived for me. I was out on the line once this Sunday and the wind died so suddenly that I didn't move fast enough to get both legs into the boat when it dropped and one of my legs completely slipped over the side of the boat and I was doing the splits up to my hip in the water. Roger calmly announced the term for that situation (had I gone completely into the water) is called being 'tea-bagged'. Of course stories of previous 'tea-bagging' episodes ensued.
I wanted very much to hoist the spinnaker successfully before our day on the water was over and I urged Roger to find a way for us to try again. Roger sailed to a quieter spot on the bay exploring for a place to practice. He kept saying "I think its too windy, Pat". But he knew I wanted to try again, so he finally found a path to follow to bring up that big sail. As we headed straight for a dock of parked boats, his plan was to turn around completely and pull that sail. I am amazed at how close Roger can get to a target and stop and turn (while I do my part with the Jib). This time I was a tad more familiar with what rope did what, and also how much muscle it takes to get the spinnaker pole in place and when that pole should go up.(Timing is everything!) We successfully raised the spinnaker for the second time that day - and were trying to take it down when we began to ride over the sail again....UGH. Roger then pulled the sail back up (now heavy and wet) (Third time up!) let it blow a bit and then we went into the down sequence--this time actually managing to get most of it put away. Roger let us do the same route one more time and back to the dock we went. We turned and launched the spinnaker, even a bit more smoothly for the fourth time. As we let the wind fill the sail, Roger looked at it and said, Darn (well maybe it was another word) "I have the sail on backward! I am not supposed to be able to read the letters and numbers on that sail." He explained that the sail, if it were installed in the other direction, would be much easier to 'pull in' as the sail would be lying on the rope and not on the water as it was lowered into the boat. Nevertheless, we did get it back into the boat and I can say we had an epic learning day.
I am finding out that sailors are very patient people. When packing up/putting the boat away at the end of the day, one cannot be in a rush. There is an order to the system of taking down/doffing the sails and lowering the mast and un-teathering everything. I stand around feeling unhelpful mostly, but I am given small tasks as I try to watch and learn what is going on. When Roger removes the mast, it is my job to guide it down. Sunday as he was preparing to do this, I stood at the back of the boat with my arms in the air, ready. I was thinking to myself, "why do I need to put my arms in the air, I should just wait until the mast is handed down"...but it was a good thing I had my arms and hands ready because Roger lost his footing and dropped the mast right into my hands and I caught it! It smashed my hands a little, but it fell right where it was supposed to. Roger was okay. We were both very tired but felt great about the day's practice sail.
