Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Sea Sail


Fornells Bay (bottom right hand corner of map above) the home waters of Minorca Sailing, must be one of the best locations for dinghy sailing on the planet. Two and a half miles long and about three quarters of a mile wide at its widest point, it is big enough for serious fun without being so big that you are ever out of sight of Minorca Sailing's rescue boats. And when the wind blows from the north - I think they call it the tramontana in those parts - and you can surf the waves zigzagging down the full length of the bay - well it's just dinghy sailing heaven.

But it is a bay. And sometimes even we dinghy sailors crave to sail on the open ocean - or the Mediterranean Sea in this case. Thankfully, Minorca Sailing recognize this and usually organize a group "sea sail" out of the bay once a week. I remember on one of our first visits to Minorca Sailing 30 years ago going out of the bay in 470s and encountering swells that made the other members of our fleet disappear from view in the troughs. What's the height of a 470 mast? As a newcomer to sailing I was blown away by the experience, not realizing I would never sail in such waves again for many years. And on our visit last year, we sailed out of the bay and over towards Cala Tirant and the wild headland to the northwest.

Of course, Minorca Sailing only allow their clients to go on the sea sail when conditions are suitable. Not on a day like this, for example...



I don't think I would want to sail a Laser through the narrow entrance to the bay in those waves!

On the Wednesday of the first week of our vacation in Menorca a sea sail was scheduled. Tom, our instructor, gave our Laser class a lesson on all those tricky back and forth shoulder movements that Laser sailors do in waves, but it was all to no avail. The winds were very light. There were no waves. We did enjoy a long sail in patchy light winds to just outside the bay entrance. But as soon as we poked our noses out of the bay it was time to sail back for lunch.

The winds were light for the afternoon racing too. I won the first race because of my superior wind sense and tactical ability not to mention my amazing light wind boat-handling skills... and lost the second race to some kid who was 55 pounds lighter than me which made him about 5% faster on every offwind leg. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. It could have been luck in both races, I guess.

On balance it was the least interesting and least blogworthy day of the whole vacation, but back home a day like this would have ranked as one of the most enjoyable sailing days of the year.

After lying down for an hour or two to demonstrate my amazing willpower not to do too much, Tillerwoman and I walked to Fornells where we enjoyed a langosta paella washed down with some local wine I would guess. Mmmm.

And so to bed...

17 comments:

Baydog said...

That clip is actually the Barnegat Inlet. I recognize it. But it's good that you were able to rest and then go eat some more Spanish food. I wonder what's in the fridge that I could warm up quickly.....

Tillerman said...

You got me. Those rocky cliffs are a dead giveaway for Long Beach Island.

Baydog said...

Time for new wiper blades too. Or just slow them down.

tillerman said...

Yeah, those wiper blades were annoying weren't they? But it does give me the distinction of being the first sailing blogger to post a video of wiper blades.

I guess it was raining? Or maybe there was a lot of spray in the air?

O Docker said...

Wait, aren't those the non-class-legal 'practice' wiper blades? Are you fomenting more dissension in the Laser ranks?

o o said...

This site is really beautiful, I have done everything, to find out. I had no idea you are the Creator. I will try to be more respectful in the future, in case all of that science stuff turns out to be wrong.

Is it true we all go to Rhode Island when we die, or is it only if we've been good? Does that explain all of the traffic on long holiday weekends?

What exit do I take on the Garden State Parkway to get to Purgatory?

o o said...

Oh, sorry Mr. Creator, it's me again. Just one more question.

Do you really hang out with the Newport Laser frostbite fleet?

Tillerman said...

O O, I think your delusions about Rhode Island probably stem from having seen that famous movie, "Bay of Dreams" starring Kevin Costner. That's the one where he sets up a race course in the bay in front of his house and some sailors who died years ago sail out of the mist in their Lasers and race on it. One of the main characters in the movie is Shoeless Brodie Cobb who is famous for having said, "Don’t you know who I am?" But you are probably remembering the exchange that Kevin Costner had with his dead father near the end of the movie...

"Is this heaven?"
"No, it's Rhode Island."

bonnie said...

Wait...something's different here...

AHA!

"die on your Kirby Sailboat"?

Hmm...Laser politics? skuldinghery? what's the scoop?

Tillerman said...

Well done Bonnie. I was wondering how many years it would be before anybody spotted the change, and you spotted it in 24 hours. Post coming shortly to explain.....

Watch this space.

O Docker said...

Hokey smokes, Bonnie, haven't you learned by now to let these things pass without calling attention to them?

This could lead to one of those long, boring posts about lawyers, trademark rights, patent expirations, and, worst of all, Laser class association rules.

What could possibly be worse than a post about the Laser class association? That's right - a post about three Laser class associations! Can you imagine a bunch of Laser nitpickers arguing about what to even call their silly little boat?

I'd much rather read about basil plants and pesto.

Tillerman said...

I guess I don't need to write that post now, if O Docker already knows he isn't going to like it. But it would have had actual sailing in it. And chowder.

O Docker said...

Chowder? Now, I'm interested.

Tillerman said...

Nope. You said you weren't interested in a post I haven't even written yet, so no chowder for you.

O Docker said...

We could be breaking new ground in blogging here.

Your unwritten post already has five comments. This is like hyping an unreleased movie with tantalizing trailers. I'm reminded of Jean Shepherd making the best-seller lists with a book he hadn't yet written.

With the right press agent, you may not have to write any more posts at all.

Tillerman said...

And it's working. I just had an approach from an advertising agency for a well-known yachting event and they want to place video banner ads on my blog. That never happened when I was actually writing real posts.

Anonymous said...

Very definitely that clip is the entrance to Fornells Bay! Wiper blades are on to clear the salt spray. I should know as I was filming!

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