My window looked out across the entrance to Southammpton water, which is to the left of this photo. The channel was particularly busy on Friday evening because boats were making their way over to the Isle of Wight for the start of Cowes week on Saturday, for which a 1000 boats had entered. It was a lovely sunny evening and I later enjoyed sitting on the beach for a couple of hours just watching all the different types of boat pass me by.
I've spent about 5 hours each day out sailing a Laser Pico. We had anywhere between a force 1 to a 5, gusting to an occasional 6.
I was worried that my previous sailing experience would mean little in the world of dinghy sailing and this course has reassured me that I can actually sail a dinghy, and in fact, I can keep it upright too. I capsized once on Saturday whilst gybing round a buoy in a gust but on Sunday managed to stay upright in some pretty windy conditions.
The other 4 on the course consisted of a guy who did his level 1 in Greece 3 weeks ago but had never been out sailing before that, another guy who has been around boats before and did his level 1 in June, and two young women, (twins actually), who completed their level 1 last year, and have crewed on other boats since then.
The first guy had not experienced much wind before and struggled to stay upright on tacks and gybes in anything more than a force 2-3. He persevered until the 5 gusting 6, then retired to the beach.
The other guy was better, but capsized alot too. None of them were ready to hike out with bums over the edge and feet under the centre strap so in moments of need, the weight just wasn't out there.
I nearly fell over backwards into the water once when I thought my feet were under the strap and started to hike out, only to find that my feet met no resistance. I only just managed to let out the main and get my bum inboard again.
Don't get me wrong, I need lots and lots of practice before I am sailing without losing control of something, and instead, sailing efficiently. The tiller slipped out of my hands on a couple of occasions, and on a few tacks I didn't get round fast enough and had to figure out how to get the boat around onto the tack I wanted whilst moving backwards, sussed that out now.
For Sunday I bought a pair of gloves to prevent more chafing of the outside of my poor little finger on the left hand where I'd hung onto the main sheet whilst hiking out.
I loved having to anticipate and react quickly to the fluky wind. I loved the spray sent back into my face from the bow at speed. I loved being on the water and I loved being at the helm and being in the position of making decisions about my course and heading. I'm still buzzing now and look forward to getting out there again.
Oh, and I got to go rock climbing on Saturday night too, as the free evening activity. A first for me. The centre had 9 or 10 climbing walls of varying degrees of difficulty so we had fun for an hour or so, though only 2 of us had any energy left after the days sailing.
There is so much more that I could write about the weekend but I must stop somewhere and now.
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