Feeling a little guilty

[Brian N.]

So today was my first day of the season - almost. The forecast was for clear skies and east winds 5-10 knots, which sound ideal. However I was a little suspect, for two reasons: Wind from the east is not the norm here, and often boisterous. Secondly, the forecast for Fathers day was the same and the winds were really kicking. When I left my driveway I estimated the winds 12-15, but while not ideal, I could still sail. At the ramp setting up The wind felt a bit stronger, but I figured I've sailed before like this, so I'll finish setting up and give it a go.

Back story: The last couple of years I've had the good fortune to often have crew (one or two) and they really helped me setup/breakdown and while sailing they were moveable ballast. I had a couple of wonderful sails with 12-15 knots steady. Today I had no crew.

Back to the narrative: As I was backing down the ramp to launch a fisherman came up to me and said it was "a bit rough for me, but you might enjoy it in a sailboat". Now I had it in my mind "How rough?". As I made my way out to the first marker the river was windy but not choppy. Then as the river opened up into Long Island Sound I could see the chop was close and near 2 feet, with some breaking. I probably got 1/2 mile out, and decided this was not for me today and turned around, back to the ramp. At the ramp I could feel the gusts were certainly higher, and said to myself "good call".

So why the backstory? - Had I been with crew we probably would have reefed and had a bumpy sail. Also by the time I got back to my driveway (only a mile or so from the water) the wind was down to abut 10-12 knots). So was it a "good call"? I'm really uncertain. Anyway, I'm a little bummed that I did not get to sail.

Typical summer sail west s/w wind around 8 knots

[tjspiel]

The safe call is always the good call. You might be more disciplined than me but often on my first sail there's at least one thing I didn't set up right. If nothing else I'm a little rusty so I'd personally really rather have my first sail be in moderate if not calm conditions.

Good call.

[DBthal]

Posted by tjspiel  - Jun 19, 2023, 11:15 PM

The safe call is always the good call.

2X

[Quantico Frank]

Brian, to my way of thinking you made exactly the right call. I've had to do the same a number of times, and the way I look at it, if the conditions are rough now, there may not be exactly a 50-50 chance that they'll get rougher rather than smoother, but the chances of that are certainly not zero. Great call-- live to sail another day.

[Brian N.]

Thanks Frank for the words of wisdom. I walked along the beach today, again blowing like crazy, and lots of whitecaps.

[Quantico Frank]

You might be more disciplined than me but often on my first sail there's at least one thing I didn't set up right.

Glad I'm not the only one, Tom! This year it was forgetting to attach the jib to the bow. 

[Brian N.]

This first setup took about an hour before I launched. I ran the lines in my driveway before leaving and carefully inspected them, but when I started to raise the mast at the ramp naturally there were a few tangles and wraps. I also forgot my bilge pump and more importantly life jackets. Lucky I left one in the cabin from last year. I did replace the thin topping-lift line when I got home, as I noticed it was frayed. I also took the opportunity to wash and rinse the mainsheet which I left in the cabin all winter. 

What my very short excursion Monday did reveal was how the channel leading out of the river had really changed from last year. The sand bars shifted quite a bit, markers were moved, and the mooring field was moved further out into the river. Interesting too was that the moorings were barely half occupied. Guess a late start for the power boats as well.

Anyway - the rest of this week looks like a no-go as rain and storms move in. Hopefully next week we'll get into the regular summer weather pattern (West, SW wind, 5- 10 knots, late afternoon sea breeze, calm by early evening)