Terrific account. Sounds like a perfectly standard sailing day in the Rocky Mountains! Especially the bit about planing on bare poles. Done that, too.
Agree with Sailaway that
dinghy experience belongs in every sailor's quiver. When your only ballast is in movable bottoms, you learn a thing or two about sail trim and riding the hairy edge. That's the chief reason we started with our
dinghy -- to refresh rusty boating skills without much lost if we really screw up. I've long maintained you can't understand the limits of a machine until you have (nearly) exceeded them. I fear for any motorcyclist who hasn't unhooked his rear tire. Because some day he will, and THEN what will he do? Also, we wanted to see if my girlfriend could deal with the heel.
She loves it. So now, a bigger boat with lead keel. *rubs hands*
Glad everyone survived. Isn't that lake water bloody cold about now? I dipped a finger in our local pond yesterday ... brrrr. No more Buccaneering this year.