Quote:
Originally Posted by christmasisland
Peter ... the guy we borrowed the boat from is a racer. He went underway with us the first time to show us around. He was WAY to bossy for my wife and now she doesn't want to have anything to do with racing.
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Whereas my wife can't get enough of racing. (And yeah, we've crewed on a J36 where the captain could get moderately testy.) Here's the deal on a sailboat: Unless it's just a "dinner cruise": Failure to heed the captain could result in damage, injury or even death. (I exempt "dinner cruises" from that because, well, things are usually pretty light and laid-back on such.) In racing: Failure to heed the captain can result in losing, damage (
very easily!), injury or even death.
Captains can be bossy because captains
need to be bossy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by christmasisland
I absolutely agree that the experience would be wonderful but it won't be happening with her crewing a race boat!  |
So go on your own.
Not having been there, I'll go out on a limb and suggest you
may have a problem. A sailboat is unlike a powerboat. Somebody has to be in command (should be true on a powerboat, too, but...), and the others
must heed that person or Very Bad Things can happen--very easily and very quickly. In fact: I was just reading a thread, here or on another sailing site, where the wives, in each case, were not heeding their husbands' warnings about the boom. In each case there was finally an incident where husband eventually became verbally forceful with said wife (as in "Sit the %#$! down
NOW!"), just moments before the boom came across. Had the captain in each case not finally put his foot down, I am confident each of those women would be either dead or permanently crippled now.
Just for the record: This isn't a man/woman thing. This is a captain/crew (or passenger) thing.
Oh yeah, heeling...
Generally speaking (this depends on the boat): Anything over about 20 degrees, ineffeciency starts climbing. Again,
generally speaking: When the rail's in the water, she's "on her ear," as we say, and not sailing efficiently. However: If you're just out messing around, it is fun to sail with the rail in the water, sometimes, IMO
(Tho I'm finding as I increasingly come to appreciate proper trim, I don't find it quite as satisfying as I used to.)
Jim