Why Singlehanders Sail alone
This is an example of what can happen to a singlehander when she lets someone else on her boat:
My mother came to visit. She's 80 years old. I took her sailing around Angel Island yesterday and we docked at Sam's and ate lunch (steak sandwich for me, fish and chips for her). On the way home the wind kicked up, as it is wont to do in the afternoon, and it was 18 knots on the Olympic Circle. She noted that the biggest waves were SW and we were sailing across them. Wouldn't we go faster, she asked, if we went directly downwind instead? Since we were east of the Berkeley reef this would take us toward that water crashing along the rocks. I explained this to her and she suggested we do it "Just for awhile. Let's surf." So we did (briefly) and she asked how fast we were going (8.1 knots). This satisfied her, my heart stopped racing and we veered before hitting the Berkeley sea wall. My mother, the wild crew. She bounced around the cockpit a little but I didn't think to tether her to the boat.
Reply With Quote
