I know lots of things about sailing. I know there are lots of ropes, and a few sails. I've read Voyage of the Dawn Treader and seen Muppet Treasure Island so I'm pretty much an expert. It's a good thing I am because today I went sailing.
Some adventures you have to plan for, like hiking Everest or kayaking the Amazon. Some adventures you need only say yes to. This was of the latter variety. My host dad was heading out the door to go sailing and offered me the chance to come too. I was planning on an afternoon of reading and blogging, but suddenly adventure was thrust upon me. What to do!? I almost declined, but in an instant, the wise words of my dear friend Liz came. Her adventure advice is just to say yes to things. So I did.
Host Mom dropped us off at the yacht club where I met the captain and the rest of the crew. The captain looked kind of skeptical when Host Dad asked if I could tag along. He said OK, and I assured him I could follow directions. We climbed aboard the Jolly Roger with Captain Brown-with-a-little-salt-and-pepper Beard, I mean, the sailboat with Ray, and things were clipped, unclipped, and hoisted. Things get hoisted a lot on boats. Besides hoisting, there are a lot of other words to keep track of. Starboard, port, bow, stern, jibe, spinnaker, and tack are just a few.
It was a race, so we tacked (zig-zagged using the wind) out to the line and waited for the starting gun. Everyone has a job on the boat. One man steered, one stood up at the bow and managed the jib sail, etc etc. I had two very unique and important jobs. I was the monkey and the stand-er still-er. When we were sailing against the wind, I was the monkey. This means I jumped from one side of the boat to the other, always staying on the high side to balance the weight. When we were sailing with the wind, I was the stand-er still-er against the boom so it wouldn't swing about. Very important jobs, those.
Only a couple times did I think I was going to be pitched overboard. Both times I was hauling in a sail that was being exchanged for a different kind and my foot slipped, sending me sliiiiding. That was exciting. I figured the worst that could happen is I get tossed and they throw me a life ring. No worries.
There are some things you have to be careful of if you're a girl and you're sailing with a bunch of blokes.
1. No girly laughing. They probably won't invite you back to sail with them if you're giggling about how much fun you're having.
2. No using sailory terms like "swabbing the poop deck" or "walking the plank" or "scurrrrvy" anything. You are not a sailor. You are just sailing. That doesn't count.
3. No freaking out. These poor sailors have enough to do, keeping things ship shape (haha pun pun pun) without dealing with a spastic girl who's reliving Titanic.
4. Mind the boom. I don't mean mind like let it bother you. I mean mind like watch out for the boom. The boom is the horizontal bar that the sail's connected to, and it will knock you in the head without a second thought. Don't forget to duck.
5. Don't stand on or sit on ropes. I know they're everywhere, but do your best.
I like sailing, mostly when something exciting is happening. We didn't win the race, in fact, we came in dead last because of a kerfuffle in changing sails on the last lap around the buoy. [Linguistic note: in Australian, you say buoy "boy" instead of the American "booo eeey".] The ship falls and surges like they do in any great sailing story. The breeze is nice, and the salty spray comes off the bow now and then like a little mist machine.
One of the most trying not to squeal and giggle times I had was near the very end. I failed and kind of screamed because we saw dolphins! There were at least three of them jumping and splashing around the front of the boat. They'd go under and come out the other side and pop their heads up. They were beautiful in all their rubbery grey sleekness.
Maybe I'll take up sailing… but first I have to learn to tie knots and figure out what in the world "sailing, sailing over the bounding main" means.
Little Miss Sunshine, sailor, 7th class
No comments:
Post a Comment