SPLASHED: In Early May! First Time Ever
Yacht owners from around here write posts with titles like that. No self-respecting New England Laser sailor would. Surely?
Charles Doane explained the problem facing the poor yacht owner in a post with that title on his Wave Train blog.
Every spring I've launched a cruising sailboat in New England, I always swear I'll be afloat as early as possible in May. But something always happens--endless varnishing projects (back when I had boats with brightwork), or some awful unforeseen time-consuming repair (most commonly), or simple mission creep (stuff taking much longer than expected)--and usually I'm lucky if the damn boat is in by mid-June.
But Laser sailors don't have to deal with all that boat maintenance shit. That's one reason we are Laser sailors, isn't it?
In any case, Laser sailors sail all year round in New England, don't they? Another reason we are Laser sailors.
Right?
Wrong!
Regular readers of this blog might have noticed that I haven't written anything about real Laser sailing for a few months. That's because I haven't done any real Laser sailing for a few months. But on Monday afternoon I took the Laser over to Bristol for a blast around on a wonderfully warm day in a wonderfully brisk southerly breeze that stirred up some wonderfully frigid waves and spray that splashed over my wonderfully surprised face and body.
Splashed! In early May! First time ever! Is this a record? (For lateness of my first sail of the year - not earliness.)
Well, actually no.
For reasons that entirely escape me now, I did go Laser sailing locally a couple of times in January. I even blogged about it at (the ironically titled) First Day of Spring.
And then for reasons that also escape me now, I didn't sail at all in February, March or April.
That's probably a record.
PS. It would have been a great day for an RS Aero demo.
6 comments:
Yes. I think so.
I've never understood this madness, either.
What's the point of all this launching and unlaunching?
Why don't people just leave their boats in the water like I do. It's so much easier to use a boat whenever you want that way - any day of the year.
O Docker you are a genius. Living in California as you do, I bet you sailed 365 days last year or close to it. And in such a perfect climate I bet your boat never needs any maintenance. You are living the dream, my friend.
Thanks Doc.
But am I strange because some years I sail in the winter?
Or because this year I didn't… much?
"Laser sailors don't have to deal with all that boat maintenance shit"
This is true, but I did spend over two hours this week fixing my Laser trolley. Boat maintenance is bad enough, but trolley maintenance?
Still, it's nice that my kids are still young enough to see my hands covered in band-aids and be both impressed and sympathetic, rather than realising that the band-aids are merely evidence that I can't fix a thing without cutting chunks of flesh off myself.
Your maintenance skills sound a bit like mine Damian. Usually whenever I try to fix something I damage myself or the thing or both. I did have to spend a while last week fixing the wiring on my Laser trailer. Didn't break much except to drain the battery on my car and have to jump start it. (Note to self for future trailer maintenance - don't leave the headlights on for several hours while tinkering with the trailer.)
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