Blowing out on Lake Ontario

• Posted on June 6, 2007 at 11:20 AM
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When we heard the forecast that Tuesday was going to be a big wind day Glen and I decided to get out on the sailboat. It was about time we started to learn about how to handle the boat in 20+ knots of wind.

We had been talking a big game over the fall and winter about how we were going to get out there when it was really blowing so it was time to prove our metal.

I must admit I had some nervousness in the pit of my stomach when I got down to the boat and really felt what 20+ knots of wind was like. It was blowing north-east which was good since it meant that docking wouldn't be a huge issue since it was blowing the boat off the dock versus onto it. However I really didn't feel as if we had the reefing system for the sail down pat. This was going to be a critical component of our success since we certainly weren't going to be out there with all of the sail unfurled. That would make the boat extremely unhappy and difficult to control (let alone that it would be excessively heeled over which is nerve-racking for a new sailer). One quick look at the manual and I realized that we were just going to have to figure this out once we got out there.

When it was time to push off Glen and I were not fully coordinated. The long and the short of it was the wind pushed us off quickly and as Glen was unfolding the stern rope (my fault) the boat came off the dock too much and I left him there! Better that then him taking a swim I guess.

So, here I was on the boat and my buddy was back on the dock. I had to get it set back up so that I could reverse back in and pick him up. It was good practice for docking in that kind of wind and we were able to pull it off pretty easily. Once he was back aboard we pushed off and went out to open water.

On the way out of the harbour we noticed that our boat was heeling over even though we had no sail up. This made us laugh with a bit of nervousness.

Once we got out into open water, we unfurled the main sail and were able to figure out how to reef it after a few attempts. This gave us the confidence that we needed. We stayed out for a few hours figuring out how to properly control the boat under 22.5 knot gusts. I must say that I have a lot to learn about sailing in these conditions, but this was a good confidence-builder that we now know the basics.

Once we got back to shore and had the boat docked (I must admit I was happy to have it tied up to the dock with no marks!) we went walking around the marina. We met a gentleman from Angus Yachts and were able to discuss some of the things we did right and some that we did wrong. This information will give us some new things to practice when we get back out there in similar conditions.