Holy Fahrenheit

Dear Fellow Boating Bloggers,

I need your help.

We've had some discussions before about how hard it is to write an interesting post about a pleasant day's sailing. I think Edward from EVK4 Boatname Superblog and Adam from Messing About with Pigs on Sailboats agreed with me. If nothing bad happened during the sail what is there to say?

Last night I wrote a draft post about my first sail in Rhode Island this year. Here it is. Pretty boring, I think you will agree...

Wed Apr 9

January in Cabarete, February in Australia, March in Florida. What a winter! It was special to be able to escape from the wintry north-eastern US to sail in these venues, and I probably did more warm water Laser sailing this year than I've ever done in the winter before.

But now it's time to "enjoy" the sunny days but cool, cool water of Rhode Island in April. My first sail in home waters was Wednesday of last week. I launched out of Colt State park in Bristol and practiced on my own for a while.

Reaction #1. Holy Fahrenheit Batman, this water is cold. Did I really sail in March and April around here in other years? And those hard-core frostbiters in Newport sail all winter.

Reaction #2. Hmmm. After the big ocean swells of Cabarate and Terrigal, and the comparatively flat water of Clearwater Bay, I'd forgotten what Narragansett Bay chop was like. All these speed bumps up wind.

Reaction #3. Where is everybody? I didn't seriously expect to see any other dinghy sailors out on a weekday afternoon but one reason I like to come here for solo practice is that there usually is plenty of other boat traffic around. Recreational fishermen and other boaters. Working fishing boats. It used to give me some sense of comfort that if I got into trouble somebody would probably spot me and provide assistance. But not this day. The only other boat I saw on the bay all afternoon was a commercial fishing boat heading up towards Warren just before the end of my session. And I don't suppose he would have even seen an upturned Laser and a head in the water if it was more than a quarter of a mile away from him.

But I didn't get into trouble. Not this day. Just cruising up and down the bay in the sunshine, stretching out the endurance a little, working out some of the kinks in my technique, enjoying the solitude of a sunny afternoon on the bay.

So please help me with suggestions. How can I sex up a story like this to make it more interesting?

I did try exaggerating how cold the water was to make it sound more exciting. I tried a bit of my usual self-deprecation by talking about what a wimp I am to be complaining about the cold when the frostbiters around here sail all winter. I even tried to introduce a hint of danger with that evocative (but imaginary) image of my little head bobbing in the water as my upturned Laser drifted away from me.

But none of it works does it?

So what to do?

A technical discussion about some esoteric aspect of Lasering technique such as where exactly to put your feet during a tack to avoid getting the sheet in a tangle?

A note about the names of all the other boats I saw? Didn't see any.

A picture of a pig on a boat? Done that already this week.

So help me please. If I don't work out how I'm going to make posts about practice sails more interesting I might have to resort to writing about what I had for dinner or a review about the smell of my clew strap.

Suggestions pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!