GET THE FEEL OF SAILING AT HOME

For any of you who have ever longed for the cruising life afloat, but wondered if it was really the life for you, here are a few things for you to practice and consider at home preparing you for that wonderful dream sail into the sunset.

1. Occasionally set your alarm clock for 3am then while still half asleep stand on the lawn while your wife hoses you down with icy cold water screaming, “I said it was time to take in a reef”
2. For every breakfast have stewed tea and the leftovers from yesterday’s meals.
3. Whenever it is windy open all your kitchen cupboards and scatter their contents all over the floor.
4. Whenever it is not windy run your motor lawnmower in the living room for hours on end.
5. Every time you come home at night drive up and down outside your house for half an hour, arguing with your wife about where to park, if on a windy night repeat this every three hours. (in your underwear!)
6. Never! Ever! wear completely dry clothes! ! ! !
7. Every two weeks, carry two five gallon cans of diesel for three miles

BON VOYAGE! AND HAPPY SAILING!  Brian Ferguson

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I heard a story the other day involving a wooden yacht that was sailing towards the Canary Islands.  For days the wind blew steadily from the same direction, with the sun blazing down from a blue and cloudless sky.  It’s just the kind of sailing that we all dream about … perfect, unfortunately this doesn’t happen very often on the North East coast, in fact thinking about it, it doesn’t happen at all!

The yacht was going like a train; full sails, toe rail under and making excellent passage time.  After twelve days on port tack, the wind began to veer and the yacht had to come about, tacking through ninety degrees, sails flapping, winches grinding and then she was on starboard tack and picking up speed on her new course.

And then panic, she started to take water, a shout from a crew member below informed the skipper that water was pouring through the starboard hull in a dozen different places, soaking the bedding, charts and anything else that was there, finally entering the bilge’s.  It took a few moments to realise what had happened.  The yacht had been on the same tack that long that the sun had dried out the planking on the starboard side until the seams had opened.  From the moment she went about, the opened planks were immersed from her boot topping to her toe rail, and she started to fill with water.  Apparently it took several tacks and a lot of pumping plus quite a bit of caulking to make her reasonably dry again.  So the moral of this tale is, if you own a wooden boat, never sail her in the sun on one tack for too long!  Editor