Sailing... A clever mix of both the simple and technical giving way to enjoyable experience and memories made with the wind and water at your side.
One of my first sailing experiences… Sailing a sunfish that I had made repairs to so that it would float. And then being ticketed by Marine patroll because it was not properly registered. This day was such an odd day of success and failure. I spent most of the weekend learning how to mix up filler and how to grind and get down to where it would bond to the hull. I then spend a lot of time sanding and prepping the hull so that it was water tight and would float. After some newly learned skills and a lot of hard work we put theboat to the test and it worked! So excited! I immedetaly set sail out on the lake. Grabbed the life jacket and pulled up the sail! I was having a blast sailing and learning how to make the Sunfish do what I wanted. Then suddenly there was a siren and a marine patrol boat at my side. He escorted me over to the side of the lake where he then promplty told me that in NH any boat over 11′ needs to be registered and gave me a ticket for $75. What a crazy end to a fun day. Im very careful with my registration and paperwork since this experience!
My first sailboat that I purchased. That I fully went and found and trailered home was a Siren 17. This little pocket cruiser was where I learned so many lessons about trailering, launching, stepping a mast, how to properly moor it, anchor scope, Sail trim, single handing, broken bits and pieces and how to overcome challenges that you never saw coming. I sailed this boat in the lakes of NH for many years before selling it when we sold our first house. I fiberglassed the bottom and transom for major repairs and painted it s hunter green. This is the only picture I can find of this super fun boat. I named her Iphigenia.
One of the most enduring experiences from my early days sailing was on a Herreshoff Dough Dish 12 1/2. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was an incredible opportunity and a very special experience. I was mostly passenger in this experience, but it still established with me that sailing was something that I was going to do. We sailed that day up and down the Edgartown Harbor in the Vineyard among huge yachts and dodging barges and ferries. Sailing to the city docks and the skill of our skipper at the time felt so natural but looking back was outstanding. He made it seem like such an easy undertaking, calm collected and without a care. We sailed up to the dock and later back off and and even “popped the chute” right in the middle of high traffic area and blasted off right through the mooring field. I strive to have this level of calm confidence when I sail.