Tillerwoman's Rules

I may have given regular readers of this blog the impression that my lovely wife, aka Tillerwoman, is not very fond of sailing. The truth of the matter is that really she does like sailing. Just on her terms.

On the first full day, Saturday, of our recent stay at the Bitter End Yacht Club on Virgin Gorda I reacquainted myself with the Classic Laser in the morning. Then in the afternoon I took my bride sailing on a Hobie Wave.

As I said, my wife really does like sailing. But she does have certain rules...

1. The air and water temperature must be around 80 degrees F, or warmer. This was not a problem in the BVI, even in December.
   
   
2. She must not have to sit anywhere near the edge of the boat.
   
   
3. She must not be required to perform any task whatsoever associated with actually sailing the boat.
   
   
4. She must have absolute confidence in the person driving the boat. I discovered on this first sail with her at BEYC this year that comments such as, "I've never gybed one of these things before... I think I'll give it a shot," or "Have you ever thought what you would do if I fell off the boat right now?" are not very helpful in creating that absolute confidence.
   

The Hobie Wave was perfect for us. About the same length as a Laser, but of course much more stable being a catamaran. Roughly the same speed and just as wet a ride. My bride was quite happy sitting on the trampoline while I handled the steering and trimming the single fully-battened sail.

We rode up and down the waves all over North Sound. Spray was flying everywhere and Tillerwoman was laughing and whooping and hollering and generally giving an impression that sailing was her most favorite thing in the whole world.

She really does like sailing. I'm sure.