I sailed! Sort of. I had an awful lot of instruction, but I got to drive the boat! And I didn't crash!
It was not a day without adventure though. First, we nearly lost a hatch cover that had not been properly secured when we got underway. Then, as we were coming about one time, the line caught on the jib halyard clutch and loosened it enough that the jib fell about two feet. Here is the offending clutch, hiding behind the green line:
The navy line which runs through the clutch is the jib halyard, and it's what was released when the clutch was loosened by the jib sheet, the line which attaches to the loose bottom corner of the jib that you let out or trim in order to control the direction of the sail. The halyard is what hoists the sail to the top of the mast, so we could still sail, but the jib tended to luff in the wind. There was too much wind to hoist it back up though, so we just had to deal.
Our third misadventure involved the loss of the gas tank out of our dinghy. Nobody is quite sure how that happened, except to speculate that it was windy and maybe we caught a big wave. In any case, off it went. We circled back to get it, but couldn't get close enough to catch it with the boat hook, because our wake pushed it away from us. So into the water T went to retrieve it. And retrieve it he did, but he ruined his cell phone in the process. Turns out, they're not waterproof. That was a bit of a downer.
Eventually we made it to Anegada, and Capt. J decided to anchor rather than see if we could find an available mooring ball. R and I spent half an hour digging around in the foreward hold looking for this mysterious snubbing line that the Capt. said should be there. Nothing. So eventually he came up himself and fashioned a snubbing line out of a bit of loose line that was lying about.
We all headed to shore, but we left T on the patio at the Anegada Reef Hotel (internet access!) to set about repairing or replacing the lost electronics. The rest of us cabbed it to Cow Wreck Beach for a swim. (Yes, as you might have guessed, a ship full of cows wrecked offshore, and cow bones washed up on the beach for years afterwards.)
R, J, and Capt. J
A wrecked cow
At the appointed time, our cab returned and fetched us back to the Anegada Reef, where we rounded up T and headed back out to the boat. Quick showers of sorts, dressing for dinner, enjoying the sunset and a cocktail, then back to the island for the hotel's nightly lobster grill.
I've mentioned before and will come to discuss again the high winds that night. It was colder at dinner than anyone was ready for! My lobster pasta was quite delicious, although incredibly rich. I think I only ate about half of it, and shared the rest with T and J.
It's pretty impressive that everyone survived the perilous steps from the dinghy back onto the boat. T and I headed to bed fairly early that night, but not before being slightly amused at R and Capt. J's post-meal intoxication. I'll let you decide which one of them passed out at the table.
Imagine climbing into and out of this little boat in 28 knot winds. After several drinks. Not pretty.
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