Sailing

This week I have been sailing!

James sails with a crew regularly during the summer months and I know that he really enjoys it. They are a competition team, meaning that they compete in races (though don’t ask me what type of race or how it all works).

I am interested in sailing and learning how to be in a boat and use all of the sails and whatnot to my advantage, however, if I went along to have a go I’d probably just get in the way and there aren’t that many boats that will just take you out to have a go. However, James spotted that a local Meetup group (Adventure Wellington) had a sailing session coming up. It’s a sort of give-it-a-go type thing and you pay $30 and get to go out a Keeler (a keel boat) for a few hours. 
 
We both signed up and went along. James looking the part, and me in his spare gear. Seriously stylish!

I won’t lie, I was a bit apprehensive about doing it. I’ve pretty much never been on a boat other than a ferry. Plus I have a hard enough time keeping upright on dry land, let alone on a moving vessel. So, we went along and it was actually really great fun! 
 
After an initial few minutes of trying to remember all of the safety information and a whistle-stop tour of what all the bits on the boat are, we set off into Wellington Harbour. We had the engine on for the first stint and then we coasted out slowly into the slightly choppy water, but after a couple of metres we put the sails up and we were gone with the wind!

I got to steer the boat for a short while (which, once you get used to, becomes fairly normal) and had a mini freak out when the wind and waves took us a bit harder than I had anticipated. We went up on one side, resulting in my arse being slightly dipped in the sea, at which point I think I might have screamed! The lovely person next to me (also called Rebecca) asked if I was okay and to be honest at that moment in time I wasn’t completely certain that I was! But once i got used to the feeling of being slightly thrown about and the notion of the boat tipping in the wind, I did start to have a lot of fun!

I got to hold a rope that controlled the main sail (though what that rope did to control it or what it was called I couldn’t tell you) and I got to set loose a rope that did something to the smaller sail at the front…and that was about the extent of my hands-on sailing experience! 

We were bobbing around in the harbour for just over an hour in total I think, and I thoroughly enjoyed (nearly) every second of it! I will be going again. I think if I go a few more times and then still enjoy it, I might think about doing a ‘Learn to sail’ course and then think about actually doing things properly…though that will be in the distant future