For me the world of learning how to sail is just one big learning school which continues every day. Actually it hasn't been that long ago that I once set foot on a boat for the first time with the intention to actually steer it and put it in a random place to sleep at night.
I remember being on the road (uhhhh better said water) with a skipper because I didn't know anything and when the boat heeled over like 0.1 degree when it went from from 3 to 4 knots of wind that I literally felt like we were going to tip over. I held on tight to everything there was, and nearly screamed for us to get back straight and put the engine on because it was so scary.
This was only less than 5 years ago and already feels like this was ages ago.
Why be on a port when you can also spend the night in a sheltered part of a bay without any noise. How cute also those little lights on the top of the masts on all the boats right
Since then I have been on the water a lot with of course the boundary that myself I live in a land locked area without any water around. Minor detail when you love to sail out in the open, oopsie!
It steel feels like there are zero skills and that I still have to be super cautious every day. And actually, that isn't a bad thing at all. After all.... this is open water and the ocean is a scary place. And that is only the part of the sea itself, the weather is the next big player and also the one that you need to fear the most when you are hanging out on the water.
What we try to do is that every time that we are out and about is that we try to expand the skills in some kind of way. This time it was all about med-mooring which is a technique of mooring at a place using your anchor on the front side(bow) and lines to attach the boat on the back side (stern).
This can be with the backside of the boat either towards a dock or a quay but also with the backside towards a random part of nomansland where there are some rocks sticking out. You can use those rocks to tie the lines onto them, but it also means you have to get yourself physically to that location while you also need to keep the boat into place at the same time. Kind of a challenge if you are one the boat only with just two people there.\
But on the other hand, if it means you can wake up like this in the morning? Holy crap, that is all worth the effort right!
The ultimate waking up in the morning and taking a dip in the water and using the dinghy to get a coffee in town
But the reality is that it isn't always like these calm mornings and the perfect setting. It can also mean that you can not sail and that you are waiting for a bridge for half an hour for it to open while the wind is howling and blowing at you to the side because you are in a narrow channel.
Well then you head out to the next challenge.... keeping a boat in the same place. Because this is not like being in a car when you just are not giving gas. Water is movement, and wind is movement, and because of that...your boat is movement and it doesn't also mean that you can just tie the boat up to something at any random point.
Keeping a boat in position especially with wind is almost the most challenging thing there is.
The smallest boat around is always the one I am with, because those are the ones that are the easiest to handle
Or what about looking for the most quiet place to sleep or anchoring in all kinds of different bottoms. Luckily there are so many apps now that can help choose your option and that together with the wind makes you make decent choices (hopefully).
It is always a matter of trial and error and the cool thing is, sometimes you are cornered on your options and you have to try something for the first time. More than often only then you find out it that that was a skill of once thought through thoroughly (weird set of words together right?) that this actually not a problem and you can add it to your skill set.
I have learned a lot on the water over these periods of time. And the fun is good together with the learning process! And staring over the water is like meditation in some kind of way. Maybe that realization is also a new skill?
I have no illusion I am sail master in any kind of way now, but a land-locked rat I am making decent steps in it!
