One of my goals from the very start is to be able to sail in and out of my slip without the need of the motor. This is pretty tough because my slip is located at the back of a very long narrow channel with many twists and turns to get here. The wind is usually dead on your nose as you come along, requiring many tacks and turns into the wind. It is also complicated by the fact that the play beach and learners dinghy dock is along the way so the channel is usually congested with paddles boarders learning to stand up and paddle, and young kids learning to sail. My neighbor Rob is a veteran sailor and he does it successfully most of the time, but I have not tried it. The other day he and I were out together and with his coaching and backup “just in case” I tried it and was being successful until the last 50 feet until as we came around the last corner and there was another big boat motoring up the channel just in front of my slip and I had to bear off to miss him, spilling my wind and lost my momentum with no room to gain again without hitting the neighbors, all of whom were out watching! I fired up the motor to finish on in. ARGH.

Today I tried again. I was out sailing solo, the winds were pretty light, and since it was a weekday I figured the channel would be pretty quiet of other traffic. After about 10 tacks dead into the wind, I made it up the channel (and cutting the rocky inside corner of the channel very close to avoid needing to make one more!) came around the corner, all clear, made the last turns into my fairway and tucked right into my slip gentle as you please. There are no brakes on a sailboat so I had to time it to spill my wind at just the right moment to be able to coast to a stop at just the right distance into the slip. (This boat weighs over 3 tons so it will coast for a long way after you power down!). I made it! yahoo! Of course there was no one around to watch and applaud, which was best I think because if anyone was watching it would have jinxed me and I would have botched it!.

I know one good run does not a sailor make, but I will keep at it in all kinds of other conditions, being careful to judge when to try and when not to . (it is a time honored sailing tradition to know when not try, and just drop the anchor sitting in a safe place and wait until conditions are safe and proper for orienteering a harbor. That is a big part of proper seamanship that I am learning.

Of course, sailing out of the slip is a whole nother thing I have not tried. In some ways it can be easier than coming in, but there a whole set of problems associated with backing out a boat under sail. You can only raise the sails with the bow to the wind, not at your back! It is very common to arrange a set of lines from the boat to the dock and rig it so you can use the lines to pull yourself out and back, drop the lines raise the sails and off you go. Standby for news!

PS got the foot pump installed in the galley and it works great!