One with the Wind & Water

I had a comment from Jarrett in my email this morning - see his sailing weblog here - about my recent post on the Laser...and why I loved the sense that the Laser gives you of being one with the wind and water. Thank you Jarrett for taking the time to remind us that "You can sail a small keelboat and be plenty close to the water." He continues, "...I have South Coast 23, Alberg-designed. It heels in a nice breeze, and when it's not heeling you can put your hand over and dip it in the water. And you can anchor, go below and get out of the sun, and actually use the head."

On the heels of that I have a confession to make. After I wrote that post I went back out to sail some more and was shocked to see that the boat (I'd pulled her up on the beach) had blown over and was drifting on her side. Luckily I was able to recover her without much trouble but the (unsecured) centerboard had floated about 15 yards offshore. I confidently climbed aboard the Laser and pointed the bow in the direction of the centerboard, reached to grab it and somehow let it slip through my fingers - shortly I found myself in the middle of the Tred Avon in a gusty 10 knots with no real ability to make way upwind...which was, unfortunately, the direction I needed to go to get back to shore. To put it bluntly I was very challenged for quite some time...and as I considered my recent post, found myself a bit too much "one with the wind & water" ;-)