Keelboat Training: Day 3

Day three of our keelboat training saw us hop aboard with a new trainer, get to grips with some serious keeling, and finally start to feel a bit more confident about this whole sailing lark.

1 October 2016

We met with head trainer Jian Guo, whom we found to be very calm yet decisive in his instruction. After making a plan for the morning we hit the water and got Just A J ready for the day's sail. Without too much wind about, we tacked and gybed under motor, working between three points of a triangle in the bay. But before we knew it the clouds came over, the heat dropped off and the wind picked up quickly! The motor was off and we were working hard to manoeuvre the boat in the right way. The ever-changing wind meant that we were constantly adjusting the sails, and finally we were 'proper' sailing!

Nerves were apparent when the boat started keeling enough to let water wash over the deck and you had to hold on for dear life. However, our level-headed trainer helped us keep cool, work as a team and navigate under pressure. "Sheeting-out" the mainsail was a great fallback to give instant relief and comfort when gusts of wind came through the channel! The time flew by and it was lunch before we knew it.

By the afternoon the wind had dropped again and it became apparent that we weren't getting much done, even with the motor for support. So it was time to work on our parallel parking at the dock. Travelling with the current meant that we had to get in touch with our inner teenager, and the aqua-style handbrake turns had the jetty workers in stitches. Hey, at least we didn't crash today! Quite good fun and learnt a great deal about using the current in our favour.

With still no wind in sight, the rest of the day saw us practice picking up the mooring ball under motor, working on both our leeward and windward moorings. Before calling it a day, we packed up the boat and went back to the classroom for some knot tests - good job we crammed in a bit of last-minute study on the bus that morning! After some theory on the whiteboard around the rules of the road, it was over to the bar for a well-earned ice-cold beer before doing it all again tomorrow. Stay tuned!