For the first time ever I went sailing. 'I'm on a boat motha fucka don't you ever forget!' It was great. I picked up the phone, called Josh and told him I wanted to go sailing. 'you know it's gonna rain.' I was just happy I got him to do something he swore to me he'd never do, take me sailing. I've been in many different kind of boats in my life. One of my favorite outdoor activities is canoeing, but I'd never been on a sail boat before. He picked me up a Bathurst and Dupont where I was waiting under a restaurant porch because of the intense rain. We drove down to his yatch club at cherry beach where I took this time to sit and watch him put the boat together. Between the sails and the string at first I didn't really know what was going on and so I went inside... to suit up. Wetsuit up that is. And yes, while sailing you get wet, because when it's raining and your in a sail boat you get really wet. I thought that because I was in a boat I couldn't get wet, the whole point of having a boat as transportation was so that you didn't have to swim, or actually be in the water...this was not true.
Side Note:When it's your first time and you ask what kind of shoes to wear and get the reply ' well you could wear shoes, or no shoes.' you get wet and cold. ( your feet do get wet, very wet.)
The extreme (or leisure depending on location and weather conditions) sport is a great way to build some serious crazy arm muscles, or so I found. I was shocked to be put in charge of the jib sail and the rope that came with it. I thought I would just get to sit on the boat and bob along in the water, but no. The jib is the smaller triangular shaped sail on a sailing boat. My arms got a bit tiered after pulling the jib rope as tight as I could, until i was told i had the option of putting it in a clutch which is kind of a god sent for the lazy people. The clutch allows you to 'ride the waves' while the rope is still pulled pretty taught and help in between two little plastic pieces. They are kinda like teeth that hold your rope where you want them to.
If pulling a rope with all your might isn't enough of a work out for you there is also the Gybing. I thought this was both the best and worse part of the whole sailing experience. Gybing is done when you want to turn the sail boat around. Not only does the sail boat turn around, but so do the sailors, while keeping hold of their rope the crew (in our case the two of us) had to do the 'gybing action' about two or three times. Gybing was the closest we got to capsizing which is why i really didn't enjoy it. The sudden weight and direction shift in the boat wasn't the smoothest. I will admit that I did fall in the boat more then less while gybing,but I also kind of fun as well. The sudden unexpected switch from one side of the boat to the other is kinda fun...and requires a lot of balance.
Sooooo pretty much Sailing is a lot of fun no matter what the weather is really like. The worse the weather conditions are ( rain, snow, hail, cold) the more to brag about. I suggest every body go to your local lake, beach, sea or ocean and look back to shore from the new perspective.
Side Note:When it's your first time and you ask what kind of shoes to wear and get the reply ' well you could wear shoes, or no shoes.' you get wet and cold. ( your feet do get wet, very wet.)
The extreme (or leisure depending on location and weather conditions) sport is a great way to build some serious crazy arm muscles, or so I found. I was shocked to be put in charge of the jib sail and the rope that came with it. I thought I would just get to sit on the boat and bob along in the water, but no. The jib is the smaller triangular shaped sail on a sailing boat. My arms got a bit tiered after pulling the jib rope as tight as I could, until i was told i had the option of putting it in a clutch which is kind of a god sent for the lazy people. The clutch allows you to 'ride the waves' while the rope is still pulled pretty taught and help in between two little plastic pieces. They are kinda like teeth that hold your rope where you want them to.
If pulling a rope with all your might isn't enough of a work out for you there is also the Gybing. I thought this was both the best and worse part of the whole sailing experience. Gybing is done when you want to turn the sail boat around. Not only does the sail boat turn around, but so do the sailors, while keeping hold of their rope the crew (in our case the two of us) had to do the 'gybing action' about two or three times. Gybing was the closest we got to capsizing which is why i really didn't enjoy it. The sudden weight and direction shift in the boat wasn't the smoothest. I will admit that I did fall in the boat more then less while gybing,but I also kind of fun as well. The sudden unexpected switch from one side of the boat to the other is kinda fun...and requires a lot of balance.
Sooooo pretty much Sailing is a lot of fun no matter what the weather is really like. The worse the weather conditions are ( rain, snow, hail, cold) the more to brag about. I suggest every body go to your local lake, beach, sea or ocean and look back to shore from the new perspective.
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