Just like a real boat

Yesterday I got a new friend from Italy... By chance I met Titiro Arriago. He was looking for a boat, so I asked him on a blind sailing date. Lucky me. He looked kinda cute. Turned out he also knew a littlebit about sailing from RL, so we took off; Me in the trapez for once.

Me, Titiro and the Flying Fizz in Blake

We had a wonderfull cruise around the Blake Sea. Started off in "fun" mode. Dunno why it is called that, because it is no fun at all. All you gotta do is steer; Everything else is done automatically. Titiro at the helm quickly got the hang of it, and started asking about the sails.

Bad jib trim

I explained how to trim the sails using the telltales. Titiro said: Got it and immediately switched to novice mode. Thirty seconds later he yelled: Yay, it works! I was like... Course it works. It's a boat. Let me show you something else... I can trim the jib for you... He said: "Really"? I took the sheet, and obviously I am not doing a very good job as a trimmer. See the shot above...

Perfect trim

This shot here shows much better balance. Horizon tilted a bit. It is hard to take photos while hanging in the trapez. Time to talk balance... I explained how we could both move around to actively balance the boat, - in competition mode. Didn't take long before we switched. Didn't take long before we got wet. Titiro was perhaps a little confused, but I was all laughs and smiles.

Tilføj billedtekst

After a few minutes he was up to speed on the balancing too, so here we are in perfect balance and trim probably doing around eight knots. My new friend changed mood... At first he was, - rightfully skeptic - and only an occasional wauw escaped his lips... Now he was yelling "Weeeee", whenever we surfed down a wave and reached 10 knots. I was too. 

Low winds

That's when the wind faded, and I almost dipped my butt in the blue soup... Not a big problem. I was wearing a bikini under my surfshorts. Still, it was the perfect time to introduce saildepth trimming; It is kinda like a combo of outhaul, halyard and back stay on the main; Halyard and sheeting point on the jib. It is used for powering and depowering the sails. 

Bingo

Titiro looked at me in disbelief and said: Geezzz, it is just like a real boat. Bingo. That's right. It is just that. Like a real boat, and that's why we love it. You've already noted us surfing down a wave. What you can't see right here is, that there is also currents to take into account when we race... "You race it"?

Currents can be seen by the trained eye

The current will be visible once we approach that buoy out there. Tiny dot on the horizon in the pic above. You will see us slip sideways. That is, - if there is a current here... And yes we absolutely race in this one. For that we also have a genakker on the bow spirit... Wanna see it?

Genakker UP!

I hoisted the genakker and we crossed 10 knots and stayed there; Both of us yelling weee, woohooo and what nuts... Virtual sailing to the max! Titiro, - I am pretty sure I enjoyed it just as much as you did. Probably more. Hearing you say "It is just like a real boat" really made my day. Thanx for a great time.

New fanatics start here...

PS: I forgot to tell you about the italian sailing school. Not like you need any sailing lessons. Just a fun day at Tradewinds :-)