Sunday, August 19, 2007

Confused seas


I met my match with the wind and waves tonight. I took my boat out after work. A stiff breeze was blowing and there was a lot of wave action in the Harbor. Everything was fine while I was sailing in the Harbor. I had the jib and the mainsail up. I was moving right along. And it was a great feeling to finally have some good wind and be able to fly.

I was heading towards a mooring in a creek near the mouth of the Harbor. There are jetties ahead of me and a major obstruction on one side. After turning at the lower range in the Harbor, I began heading into the large creek. This is an area where the seas are very confused. There are shoals and big waves are normally there. Because the wind was blowing directly from where I wanted to go,I had to do a lot of tacking. A few times, I pointed too hard into the wind and came about when I didn't want to. It was now dark and there were big rollers coming in. The boat was heeling over so that I could almost reach out and touch the water.

For a few minutes, I realized that this situation could easily get out of control. I realized that it wouldn't take much to get into real trouble at night and in close quarters with obstacles on either side. Finally, after a lot of tacking, I made it into the creek. The waves were rocking everything in the creek and the wind was blowing hard here also. It was very hard to get the sails down and put away. Thankfully, I got anchored and was able to finally sit down and let the adrenaline in my body dissipate.

I learned a valuable lesson. Once again, I was reminded that there are things beyond my control. I beat on myself hard for not being more skilled and not doing things right. Then, I realized that I can only do the best that I can. I made a lot of mistakes but they didn't lead me to disaster. I will get better as I learn more. In the meantime, I need to be cautious about throwing myself into dangerous situations. I know that once again my HP was looking over me.

4 comments:

  1. Glad you're OK. I feel so "small" when I'm in a large body of water. I think that's why I love the ocean so much. It makes me feel "right sized".

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  2. I too - am glad you are ok. Great writing and perspective from the experience.

    take care and hope today is terrific for you.

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  3. I am so glad you are ok too. That would be scarey, I love your attitude about the out come. Right on Syd

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