The Neophyte Cruiser

(written January 26, 2014)

I am still a bit anxious when the breeze “freshens” as our sailing instructor Michael liked to say. So for those of you who consider 20 knots on the nose just the start of a breeze, you live in a different universe from me.

There is no typical “day in the life”. Today, it is 6:30am and I am sitting in my pj’s on our deck lounger working on the computer (for those of you who don’t know me, that means I am enjoying myself). The rest of the day will be a mix of tourism – exploring a local market – and boat work. I will finally get to re-mark the anchor chain. We are at a marina in Salvador, Brazil and despite having been here 24 hours, I have yet to go off-compound. Why would you when you have 6 restaurants, Nespresso coffee and real showers at your disposal? I guess it is the NY’er in me; why would you leave your 5 block radius when the bagel store, 25 dry cleaners and 3 supermarkets are in your neighborhood?

Contrast that with a little more than 2 days ago. I came on deck for my 2a.m. watch to find Jason trying to steer through a series of squalls while maintaining optimum boat speed and progress to our destination. As we approached a squall, the breeze built:

“22 at 90 degrees starboard”, I yelled.

Jason eased the Genoa.

“26”.

Jason put a reef in the Genoa.

“29”, I said a bit louder. Panic began to set in for me. What if the breeze increases? Two Fish sailed along but I was not happy. Jason was in heaven as he trimmed and eased. Technically it was my watch but Jason stayed on deck. If he had left me alone, I would have put the sail away and motored along, losing a full knot of speed along the way.

Finally, “15”, “12”, 110 degrees. We sailed through the rain.

“Are the portlights closed? #!@#!”. I went inside to close them and dry the shelves.

The wind lightened as we went through the squall and then returned to its 10 to 15 knot range on the other side.

Jason trimmed the Genoa. The seas were lumpy. The wind lightened some more. We furled in the Genoa. The wind built. We unfurled the Genoa. Trim. Ease. Trim. Ease. Repeat 10 times.  Did I mention that Jason used to race J-24’s?. The next day, Jason remarked: “You did great out there.”

“What?”, I said.

“You really were able to pitch in and get us through the storm”, he replied.

That’s not how it felt. I felt like I was too uncertain of what to do. Actually, I consider it a triumph that I can sometimes sit on a night watch for 30 minutes without Jason checking in with me. By the way, would someone please cut the Genoa a bit higher so I can see under it?