A Quiet Sunday Sail

Mom had taken one look at the wind and said “You’re not getting me out there. That must be at least 25 knots there.”

Michaela  also looked at the wind and did not give it a second thought. Her mind was made up. She was staying with Mom. And just as we left the harbour I thought to myself what was I getting into, but I couldn’t go back now.

We were going to take Ciao Bella for a sail, so we could get used to her for the Rio race. What seemed like a nice enjoyfull relaxing sail turned out to be a nailbiting thrill ride.

With just Bren, Dad, me(of course) and  Brennan’s friends Jaimie Barker, Sebastian and Robyn we were a fairly inexperienced crew if you ask me. I did not know how we managed - but we did in the end.

We started our sail with a very windy beat. We were going about 9 knots and having fun. The reefed main was a good idea, and the number 3 jib was great.

 I was just there to move my weight around the other people were doing all the work. We were beating all the way until past Stilbaai which did not take long at all. Then we tacked across to the end of North Bay.

Then Dad decided to put up the spinaker  for the run! Bren took the bag out and after much dilly dallying we got it flying, and we just took off!  By this time I was scared out of my head, but was not going to tell anyone.

And not only was the bag flying but we were too. It was not long until we thought we had to gybe because we were heading for a point of land. I was dreading this moment the whole run and finally we had to face it! And then just as we were preparing, we got a push, and we could make it past the point. In all my life I have never been so happy for a wind shift.

But the problems hadn’t ended with Brennan and Jaimie flying the bag, Dad skippering and us others holding on for dear life, I saw a huge gust coming from behind us. I was standing behind Dad, and one by one they all came to stand behind him, even Brennan, to try and keep the nose out of the water. Someone told Dad afterwards that they had measured 42 knots of wind at Mantens.

And before I knew it, it had hit the boat. The nose was digging in and there was water coming over the deck. Just before something broke, Brennan let go of the sheet and we broached.

Because the spinnaker was loose, the broach was quite gentle, and Brennan and his friends soon got the boat tidied up.

After what had happened, getting back was like a walk in the park, with us all sitting on the rail talking about how great that was.

And that was our Quiet Sunday sail.

Ryan.