Sailing.

The sailing season, along with summer, is slowing trickling away and morphing into fall. Much to my dismay. 

But fall is off to a nice start. A few last sailing sessions. A new house. Another teaching certificate, finally. Fresh apples. New reading glasses. Maybe even some pumpkin patching and hay rides? That would make my day.

It's late. Plus, it's only Tuesday and I'm already exhausted enough for Friday. So, I'll give you some of my favorite photos from our last sailing outing on Out of the Blue.

She's a good boat. Twenty four feet long and she sails fast. John, Tyler and TC had a blast getting her going in the wind.

Pay attention to the angle of the boat versus the horizon. That's how you can tell how fast we're going. 

It's also worth mentioning that I've really been enjoying my new lens (16-35mm L f/2.8). It's making photography more fun than I ever thought possible.

Enjoy the tour of our final sail for the year!

^^ she's a good boat. ^^

^^ always keep your head underneath the boom. ^^

^^ TC rocking some fine 80's aviators. ^^

^^ TC at the helm. god help us all. ^^

^^ captain John. ^^

^^ visiting the lasers. ^^

^^ sitting ballast. the most fun way to ride. ^^

^^ tacking and ducking under the boom. ^^

^^ flying the spinnaker downwind. ^^

^^ the crew. ^^

^^ coiling a line properly is an art form. ^^

^^ wishing he had his own sailboat. ^^

^^ Tyler's turn driving. ^^

^^ land ho! ^^

^^ "let's try not to hit ground again, guys." ^^

^^ so many lines. so little time. ^^

^^ lovin' life. ^^

Sail Away.

The mission this weekend was to do something fun. I had big plans to check out the hot air balloon festival but the winds were so heavy that it wasn't in the cards.

Do you know what heavy winds are good for? Sailing.





TC and all of his friends are sailors. I grew up going to soccer camp, they grew up going to sailing school. John and Andrew both have big sail boats that the boys race regularly. We're lucky enough to live right on the coast so our local marina is packed full of boats that race several times a week in the summers.





The final race of the season was on Saturday. Since the balloon festival was out of the question, TC and I packed up and headed out to the big red boat named Courage. She's 33 feet long and, thankfully, has a bathroom. This is always a good thing when you're a girl and heading out to sail the seven seas for the day.





Just because the boys are skillful sailors doesn't mean that I have any clue what is going on. Sure, I know the basics. Courage has two sails - the main and the jib. She even has an extra fancy one called the spinnaker that is flown in certain situations. Other things I know include: ropes are called lines and sheets, the front is called the foredeck, the little strings on the sails are called tell-tails, and that I should always stay the hell out of the way because I don't know what I'm doing.





I've sailed in this particular race twice before. The first time it was so rough that we all spent the day barfing over the side. The second time it was so calm that we actually sailed backwards for a while. This time no one barfed but we did spend the entire time hanging on for dear life while the waves soaked us.





The boys have done this a million times so if there isn't a broken mast in the middle of a lightening storm, they don't panic. A little high wind is what they consider fun - definitely not enough to warrant squealing and screaming like I do.





I take my cues from John. I can squeal and scream all day, but if John is calm and relaxed than I know we are actually not in any danger of tipping over. Which, is called capsizing, by the way. Even though we cruised at a solid 45 degree angle for the trip, John remained calm. I, on the other hand, held on the to railings for dear life because I was convinced we were going to tip over at any moment.





Here's how this works. The majority of the crew is in the back manning the steering wheel and all the lines that control the sails. They are relatively dry, safe and on level ground back there. The rest of us sit on the side of the boat with our legs hanging over the side. Our legs go under the bottom railing, which is called a life line, and when the boat leans enough we put our head and bodies under the second one to help even out the weight. When you're in this position the boat is leaning way to the side and you're sitting on the high side, which means if you let go you will roll down and right into the water. My advice is to not look down.





Now here's the fun part - turning. When the boat turns it's called tacking or jibing, depending on the direction you turn. Tacking and jibing is pretty fierce in high winds. The boom is a big metal pole that holds the main sail. It comes violently swinging across the boat and if you don't duck under it than you can kiss your head goodbye. Also, you have to very quickly dive across the boat and get yourself to the other side. If not, have fun swimming. Remember, the boat is not level. It's very slanted so it's like quickly climbing a ladder.





On one of the tacks, I didn't move fast enough and TC had to grab me by the jacket and pull me across. On another Franco didn't move fast enough and, as he phrased it, took a 2.5 second dip in the water. Meanwhile, the boat is not exactly a smooth surface. There are bumps and bolts and other thingys that ensure your knees, hips and shins will be peppered with bruises for the next week.





Now, this is all only in really high wind. In normal wind, this is all more relaxed. However, the exhilaration of high wind is what makes it so much fun. Flying across the water with the boat leaning and waves crashing and squealing in slight panic is what makes it an adventure.





Not to mention that in all of this you're trying to not spill your beer. Let's be honest, it's the only way to sail. And probably what keeps John so calm. Remember, I take my panic cues from him. If John is calm, than I should be to. If John is tense, than we are going to die. It's a pretty simple equation.





It should be mentioned that John didn't get tense at all in the race. Neither did Andrew, who was steering. TC wasn't the least bit concerned and actually thought it was quite hilarious to calm my fears with comments like, "Yup, we're about to go over" or "Hang on, we might die."





He's helpful like that.

Once the race was over we dropped our sails and motored out a bit to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. With drinks in our hands, we recapped the day and talked about how awesome it was and how the wind wasn't really that bad and how we might have actually won the race. Wouldn't that be something?





And you know what, we took home the win. The proof is in the red flag.

My Husband, The Sailor.

Remember this crew of sailors? It's TC and his buddies. In the middle is John, he's the captain of their sailboat, Out of the Blue. OOTB is a J24, which means she's a twenty four foot boat that is designed to race. She's got a cabin and you could sleep there, but you probably wouldn't want to for more that a night. She's designed for racing, not vacationing.

J24s are a popular boat. You can probably find one in just about any marina. At our marina there are a handful of them. In fact, there are enough similar boats that they race twice a week all summer and sometimes even travel to Maine and Nova Scotia to race. In Canada, especially on the coast, sailing is really big. 

This week, the OOTB crew has a once in a lifetime chance - racing in the World Championship!

The Worlds are at a different location every year and this year the race is in Rochester, New York on Lake Ontario. I know, weird to be on a lake and not the ocean, but remember that Lake Ontario is like an ocean since it has big waves, tides and huge wind.

There are 15 countries represented and over 130 boats. The European boats were shipped over and the Japanese team unwrapped a brand new boat this weekend right there in New York. 

Not to be outdone, OOTB drove their thirty year old boat down and even managed to blow out a tire on the way. Everything is an adventure with these guys.

While some of the fancier, sponsored teams are living the high life in hotels, TC and the crew have set up what they are lovingly calling Camp Canada, which features a party/cooking tent, an old Canadian flag and another ten tents where all the Canadian boat crews are sleeping right at the marina.

Apparently they've become quite popular and the other boat crews like to come by and hang out. TC says it's because everyone around the world knows that Canadians are the most friendly and fun to hang out with. To this, I rolled my eyes.

So, they spent the weekend getting the boats ready to race. Each boat has to be weighed and measured so everything is even and fair. They measure and weigh everything they can get their hands on - ropes, anchors, pulleys, sails, life jackets...everything...including the crew. Sometimes a heavy boat is good. When there is a lot of wind you want a heavy boat for ballast. When the wind is light, you want a light boat so it doesn't drag. In these kind of races there are weight and size minimums and maximums on everything.

(source)

In this type of race the boats are not racing from point A to point B. Instead, a typical J24 race has two or three races per day. Each race is a course with big buoys that you have to go around. Sometimes the course is a triangle shape and sometimes it is a sausage. There are all kinds of rules and penalties but if you hit another boat or hit a buoy then you have to make your boat do a 360, which is a pain in the ass and time consuming.

Yesterday, the boys had a practice race to get used to the lake and make sure everything was working properly. It must have been, because they won! They were even awarded a big bottle of rum to bring back to Camp Canada.

(source)

The first day of official racing was today. Can you imagine being out there on the starting line with a hundred other boats? It's crazy! I don't know how they all don't tip over and crash into each other. It defies the laws of physics. 

I searched and searched for a photo of OOTB racing today, but to no avail. I also couldn't find the results. I'm not a very good sail widow.

In the mean time, thank you CJ and the World Championship FB page for letting me steal your photos.

Getting Ready To Sail.

After a long winter, sailing season is officially here! Rumor has it that the docks went back in the water last week, which means that the boats will soon follow.

This weekend Captain John and the rest of the Out of the Blue (OOTB) crew will be heading to Nova Scotia for the first race of the year.

Before they can head out, TC and the rest of the boys had a lot of prep to do this weekend. Sitting outside for the winter is hard on a boat and there was lots of cleaning and scrubbing to be done. 

The boat was full of water so once it was emptied they boys could start on the real work.

Like pressure washing off a winter's worth of grime and nastiness.

And inspecting all the places that needed a little bit of sanding and TLC.

Of course, it was a beautiful day outside so working with a frosty beverage in hand seemed appropriate. No, not appropriate. Necessary.

 

Meanwhile, I stood around and didn't lift a finger. I've appointed myself the official OOTB photographer and beer-fetcher.

It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

As the self appointed photographer, I felt it was my duty to get an official OOTB crew photo. After five solid minutes of politely asking them to line up for group photo, I at least had them all standing on one side of the boat.

TC! Turn around!

Holy crap, lining these boys up is like herding cats.

It's a good thing they're so cute.

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Workout: nothing. again. i did at least get my gym clothes on today. i just didn't make it to the gym. we'll try again tomorrow...