Fall is upon us and so is the windy season here on Whidbey Island. This being our first fall here in the island we are going by what people have told us. This past weekend at the marina it's been beautiful and sunny and busy. Other boaters were down at their boats, some going for their last sail of the season and others stowing and getting their boats ready for winter.
We are in the Pacific Northwest after all, spiders that size are not uncommon.
So while everyone else around us is packing up for the season we are shaking our heads a bit thinking, "what season?" There aren't any seasons here. It's consistently chilly, and constantly rainy, maybe a slight fluctuation in temperature from summer to fall and winter but nothing like what I would call a season change. Back in Nova Scotia (home) winter is winter, summer is summer, spring is spring and fall is fall, no doubt about it. So in our mind (and remember our minds are the the minds of people who haven't sailed really at all) we plan on sailing all through fall and winter too, of course not even knowing if this is practical I guess we will see if we actually can.
So we carry on fixing up the boat, above picture is of me cleaning out the engine room.
At first it was all good. They loved the boat... While it was tied to the dock.
Mr. Finnegan found the bell.
Goofing around in the Bimini
Rides in the dock cart.
The weather was gorgeous and hot and the water smooth and clear, we thought it would be a good day to go out sailing with everyone and it was nice while we were motoring out of the marina and out into the straight beyond. We could feel a bit of breeze so we shut down the engine and hoisted the jib, it puffed and then luffed and we really didn't have any wind, just at a stand still bobbing in the harbour. So we looked around and could see about five other sailboats sailing just a bit farther out, we could see the line where the wind started blowing, the water went from crystal smooth to slightly choppy, so we furled up the jib and headed that way.
Once we hit the rough water we could feel the wind and what looked like a bit of chop from a fifty feet back now seemed much larger and white capped little waves. We hoisted the mainsail this time, which immediately filled with air and we took off like a scalded gander.
A few things were learned very quickly...
1. The kids do not like the motion of the ocean. The rocking, the bobbing, the back and forth and up and down. Once we hit the choppy water we were bashing around pretty good. Immediately we were met with shrieks and screams of terror from down below where the boys were huddled in the starboard cabin on a pile of coats crying.
2. Twenty knot winds are rough.
3. Trimarans are fast.
And
4. We really have no clue what we're doing.
I don't know what I was expecting conditions to be out there, I guess I was going from my previous references of riding the ferry to Victoria, I see sailboats all the time and the seas are never sloppy and when we drove the boat up two weeks ago those seas were calm as glass and a day very similar to this one. I can see now how weather and wind is fickle and forecasts should be regarded closely. I'm not saying we were in any kind of really rough seas and certainly no danger, it was actually a perfect sailing day, I just wasn't mentally prepared for this much wind and wave.
We had no heading or destination, we were just looking for wind to fill our sails and we found it. Our trimaran certainly lives up to the hype that trimarans are fast, fast boats. We were booking it, skipping along at 8-10 knots with only one sail up in the heavy wind, that's amazing to me. Especially when you consider we have no clue what we are doing. Three of us fumbling around on deck, trying to trace lines back to their origin, trying figure out what does what how to use the inhibitors, and the winches and jam cleats. If Sweets had eyes I can imagine her rolling them and saying, "just point me off the wind guys and I'll take over." Which she pretty much did.
Once we got back beyond the edge of the island, the land mass slowed the wind considerably and everything seemed to be going better, we were still under sail, getting a brisk 5 knots, smooth ride in, the kids started to unclench and move about the deck again, until we were coming up to the entrance to the marina, things got stressful again.
We figured it was time to drop the sail so we packed the kids back into the cockpit with Mark at the helm and my Dad and I went, untied the halyard, lifted up the jam cleat and... Nothing. The sail should have just started to drop but it didn't. We pulled and jerked and jiggled things a bit but the jam cleat really was jammed and wasn't going to let that sail go. Looking around us, four other boats were heading in under power, the channel getting narrower and us getting pushed closer and closer to the marina and this sail wasn't coming down. Panic! Okay no, Dad was here so somewhat calmer minds prevailed. We told Mark to come about, we tacked into the wind, which had picked up closer to shore now, me ducking as the giant boom swings violently over my head to the starboard side. Now all sheets are loose, we are heading back out in to the straight and the choppy water and heavy wind has followed us in and we are being tossed around again.
Trying to ignore the kids yowling again, Dad and I try to figure out what was going on with this cleat. If it had just been myself there I'm sure I would have ended up just cutting the halyard and then that would have been a $400 fix so thankfully Dad figured out that we needed to winch up the sail tighter to release the tension on the cleat which enabled up to push up a lever and slide the line smoothly through. Whew!
The sail came rumbling down and we got the engine up again and headed into the marina. End of story... Um not quite.
Docking is very difficult in this boat, because it is tiller steered and has a hard, enclosed cockpit which limits your visibility and the engine throttle and gear shift are two identical, unmarked levers attached at the same point so it's difficult to remember which one is which and you also have to bend down to shift them and thus can't drive and watch where you are going. Unfortunately today we had the strong wind pushing us in towards the dock so we came in fast and Mark couldn't remember which lever did what and which way was reverse, we managed to slide in to the dock but kept going and overshot. Dad jumped off the boat and put his shoulder into the bow to try and push us off from sliding right into the expensive yacht parked parallel to us. Thankfully catastrophe was averted and we got her lashed down in her slip.
We need to learn by doing and, Lord willing not destroy other peoples property at the same time. Every time we are out in her we see things that need fixing or replacing, like a window put in the top of the Bimini roof so we can see the set of our sails while we are sailing and the engine controls moved up to a place where we can shift and see out the window at the same time, one of the forestays needs to be moved so we have room to move the jib from one side to another without getting caught, etc... But mostly we just need experience with sailing and with sailing this particular boat, learning her rigging and how she handles.
Tired and wind blown we went to Dairy Queen for supper and ice cream, home for hair cuts, baths and bed. The weary sailors returned safe and sound, thanking The Lord for his care.
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