Wish You Were Here
A letter to friends
Zorro & Dino –
It was good to hear some of what you all have been up to. We had a really great afternoon out on the water, and yes, I’m rubbing it in; I want you all to get up here and join us. Winds were 10-20, gusting higher; while we were out the weather station at the marina (in a cove off the main lake) recorded a couple of gusts of 38. The sun was shining, but while it was hot by Heron standards (about 80 degrees), you folks from down south would have found it nice and cool.
Although the motor is still hanging off the back of the boat, we didn’t use it today. We tacked out the Narrows with the wind dead in our face. The frustrating thing about the Narrows is that, just as you get to one side and you have to tack so as not to crash into the rocks, you get a lift, so you end up tacking into a header. Oh, well.
Once we got into the main body of the lake, the wind picked up, and we were flying. Then it picked up some more, and we worked on keeping control, especially in the gusts. I’m getting better at that, and so is my crew. Even in the midst of whitecaps, we could keep the boat going steadily – probably not as fast as it could go, but feeling reasonably secure. As I gain experience, I hope to be able to extend the comfort zone – go faster as I gain confidence – not just in myself but also in my crew. Today, for the first time, I actually had a sense of Pat and Tadpole as crew supporting the boat rather than sometimes dysfunctional family dynamics. That made a huge difference.
So we sailed around until the sun began going down, and we had a great time. We also had the cell phone, and while not all of the lake has a good signal, we found spots where we could make a couple of phone calls to try to convince people they should be up here with us, and not down in the desert, by relating, in real time, what fun we were having. Those calls that didn’t get terminated by us sailing out of coverage, we ended with a most sincere “Wish you were HERE!”
So, Zorro, Dino, I repeat: Wish you were here. You’d have loads of fun. There’s plenty of water, just about the right amount of wind, no crowds, no heat, and at the end of the day, sitting in the pavilion at the marina, quiet socializing with fellow sailors as the sun goes down and the stars come out.
Zorro & Dino –
It was good to hear some of what you all have been up to. We had a really great afternoon out on the water, and yes, I’m rubbing it in; I want you all to get up here and join us. Winds were 10-20, gusting higher; while we were out the weather station at the marina (in a cove off the main lake) recorded a couple of gusts of 38. The sun was shining, but while it was hot by Heron standards (about 80 degrees), you folks from down south would have found it nice and cool.
Although the motor is still hanging off the back of the boat, we didn’t use it today. We tacked out the Narrows with the wind dead in our face. The frustrating thing about the Narrows is that, just as you get to one side and you have to tack so as not to crash into the rocks, you get a lift, so you end up tacking into a header. Oh, well.
Once we got into the main body of the lake, the wind picked up, and we were flying. Then it picked up some more, and we worked on keeping control, especially in the gusts. I’m getting better at that, and so is my crew. Even in the midst of whitecaps, we could keep the boat going steadily – probably not as fast as it could go, but feeling reasonably secure. As I gain experience, I hope to be able to extend the comfort zone – go faster as I gain confidence – not just in myself but also in my crew. Today, for the first time, I actually had a sense of Pat and Tadpole as crew supporting the boat rather than sometimes dysfunctional family dynamics. That made a huge difference.
So we sailed around until the sun began going down, and we had a great time. We also had the cell phone, and while not all of the lake has a good signal, we found spots where we could make a couple of phone calls to try to convince people they should be up here with us, and not down in the desert, by relating, in real time, what fun we were having. Those calls that didn’t get terminated by us sailing out of coverage, we ended with a most sincere “Wish you were HERE!”
So, Zorro, Dino, I repeat: Wish you were here. You’d have loads of fun. There’s plenty of water, just about the right amount of wind, no crowds, no heat, and at the end of the day, sitting in the pavilion at the marina, quiet socializing with fellow sailors as the sun goes down and the stars come out.
posted by Carol Anne | 10:50 PM
1 Comments:
Is it evil to tell people about the great sailing that they have been missing... Yes, maybe a bit. Is it fun to tell them about the great sailing that they could have been enjoying... Yes, definitely. :D
Sounds great... :D
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