I can't believe it.

[BubbleheadMd]

A couple days after laughing my a-- off at Smack's "LFS" thread, I raced home from work hoping to slip out for a 3-4 hour sail. Why not? It was a surprising 62F degrees, winds at 15kts, gusting to 25kts, partly cloudy.

The first thing to go wrong was that one of my "crew" had orchestra rehersal that stretched into the afternoon, pretty much crapping up the whole idea.

The second thing to blow up in my face was my own pre-sail checklist. On the advice of fellow sailors, I made up a checklist and I hadn't actually compared it against the boat yet. Since I probably wasn't going to make it out, I decided to run down the list and see what wasn't ready to sail. I decided that if the boat met the checklist, that I would singlehand and come back after sunset.

The disappointing thing is that I was not prepared. The anchor wasn't attached to the rode, or staged. The main needed to be reefed (which I hadn't ever tried yet), I also did not like the way the halyard shackle was working so I replaced it. no drinking water on board, the jib wasn't staged and a few other little things. So I spent the rest of the afternoon practicing reefing, & getting the boat completely ready to sail so that all I have to do is step on, and cast off.

I can't believe that I scared myself out of sailing and wasted a warm, sunny day.

[bljones]

You can see it as scaring yourself out of sailing and wasting a day, or you could look at it as getting stuff done that needed to get done so that you didn't lose any more days in the season. The reefing practice was a smart idea.
If you had simply left the boat and gone home, THAT would have been wasting the day.

[sailortjk1]

I agree with evrything BLJ said.
If you have never reefed before, out sailing in a blow is not the right time to learn your boats systems. Smart to practise before you need it.

[Bene505]

IMHO, getting ready to sail is part of sailing. And it's a big part of what makes sailing fun instead of stressful.

This reminds me of looking outside on a nice day while I was inside studying engineering. You have to tell yourself it will make for some great times in the future.

You'll have a great time, the next nice day.

Regards,
Brad

[smackdaddy]

bubble, any time on the boat is a good time. The whole point of "non-laggardly" sailing is learning, preparing and practicing. And a lot of that is actually done at the dock - doing just what you did.

Skeered? I don't think so. Just smart.

[arf145]

You totally did the right thing--used the day in the best possible way. Going out singlehanded in 15-25 winds without being familiar with the boat's reefing would be a bad decision, I think. And a sunny, 60-deg day at the end of February when the water temps are quite cold is a different deal than 2 months from now anyway.

[marianclaire]

Not wasted at all. Remember the six Ps. Proper prier preparation prevents piss-poor performance. Dan S/V Marian Claire

[chef2sail]

I live by the bay and was at our club. 62 degrees must have been in a protected sun area. It never got above 52 all day. Water is a tepid 38..

[BubbleheadMd]

You know, I was surprised too but I checked 3 weather sources and they all said 62/63. I figured the 20kt wind reduced the feeling to 45F. At any rate, it would have been a great day to try out some of the higher wind skills I've been learning about, but tougher conditions mean more preparation so...

At least I've got the reefing thing down. I'm really curious to sail with the reef in, to observe the boat's behavior.

Hey, you know the forecast for Saturday is 50F and sunny right?

[sailingdog]

I don't see it as wasting a day of sailing... but as spending the day prepping yourself and the boat.

One thing to think about, considering the water temps, if you had gone out singlehanded... and capsized or gotten knocked down... things could have turned very badly.