Jonesieblog

This season I’m crewing for John Hookway in his RS400 dinghy. This is what we might look like on a good day:

I only started sailing last year, so I have a lot to learn! I’ll try to share some of the thing I pick up along the way.

The first thing that has become painfully apparent to me is that you need to be fit - in particular to have good core strength, as you spend a lot of time hiking:

Photo by dinghyman

So far, it seems that my main tasks are:

• Acting as ballast - moving around to keep the boat level in the water.
• Tacking and jibing
• Keeping the jib trimmed correctly
• Hoisting and dropping the spinnaker, and flying it when it’s up
• Adjusting the outhaul - tight for upwind travel and slack for reaches.
• Keeping an eye open for stuff that the helm might have missed.

I’m not particularly good at any of these yet, but at least I’ve got some things to work on!  John is a patient teacher, and we will be winning by the time the Summer Series gets going

Stumble it!

I was out this afternoon with the rest of the team that are going to be running the school sailing club this year.  It was great to be back in a boat, and to discover that I do remember how to tack and jibe.  It was apparent, however,  that I had been away from the sport for a few months - I forgot to take a hat, forgot my gloves and worst of all forgot to go for a pee before putting my wetsuit on!

Stumble it!

Don’t try to go sailing in a force 6.  If you must, simply ensure that the ropes attached to the sails (sailors refer to these ropes as “sheets”) are not held in place (”cleated”) when you pick up the trolley upon which the boat is resting and turn it so that the wind is blowing across the side of the boat.

Obvious really - in hindsight

Stumble it!

• Sat drinking weissbier by the litre at the Tollwood festival in Munich
• Went to see exhibitions of Gilbert and George, Warhol and Picasso
• Snowboarded on the Hintertux glacier in Austria
• Wandered around the Forbidden Corner in Yorkshire
• Fitted a loft ladder in the house
• Sailed a Laser in the Firth of Forth
• Learned to surf at Belhaven Bay
• Wrote songs on my 12 string guitar
• Cycled around East Lothian
• Discovered how hard skimboarding is
• Read Chronicles Vol 1 by Bob Dylan, Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami, the last Harry Potter and the first Gervase Phinn book.
• Poured pints at the ELYC bar
• Watched all 23 episodes of Heroes in 10 days
• Correctly predicted every Big Brother eviction
• Relaxed

Stumble it!

Last Friday I took a sailing dinghy out for the first time.  It was a pretty hairy experience, involving 4 capsizes.

Today I was out in a Laser, and I sailed single-handed around Craigleith (a wee island in the Firth of Forth).  I loved it - and we saw puffins and a couple of seal pups on our journey.  I should say that I was guided all the way around and back by Jane Robertson - thanks Jane!

As Jane said, we live in an amazing part of the world.

Stumble it!