i be sailing

14 August 2006

went on the water again yesterday, same place.

Checked the pag-asa weather report that morning, and there was a gale warning out on the visayas and southern luzon. so I said to myself, this should be interesting.

Sailing partner this time was Andrew. We got there a little after 12pm and the wind over the water was… nothing like it was last week, very windy, white caps everywhere and fairly choppy also, with a mild rain shower.

Out at the area of TLYC there was something like 8 hobies on the water, racing I think.

so we assembled the boat and brought it near the water and rigged it up. then we had lunch (curry again). then we were ready to go. Andrew was at the helm when we shoved off, but he immediately got tangled up in the lines (my fault, for leaving them all over the place) and forgot to mind the tiller while he was untangling himself and we were blown back to shore and ran aground. When I heard felt dagger board scraping the bottom, i immediately jumped off, with my weight off the boat, the balanced was screwed and sure enough with the tangled sheet and strong winds, we capsized or better yet, andrew capsized . our first! woohoo! atleast the we found out andrew’s pfd worked

Most people I knew would’ve given up with fear at this point, but since both of us were known for having more guts than sense, we immediately righted the boat and bailed out the water and made sure the lines were out of the way. and gave it another go.

this time I was at the helm and kalbo was sheet guy. since both of us were very novice sailors, we were pretty much just messing about the whole time and eager to try out different points of sail. with the wind conditions plus the chop, it was pretty hairy most of the time, and we tried to be conservative with the trim, trying to minimize heel as much as possible after our first capsize experience. in summary, being out there in those conditions for me was a mixture of excitement and fear. mostly fear.

at the start, every time we switched tacks was like venturing into the unknown, but we eventually got the hang of it. but we both still need to work on the weight shifting thing. We were out on the water for around 30 to 45 minutes, when we felt the urge to go back, it was a straight run back to club lake, we knew something was up when the traveller line popped out during the run, good thing andrew had a good handle on the sheet. I then told andrew to hand me the sheet and pull out the dagger board. while he was doing that I felt the line tension was increasing. The wind was picking up! andrew was able to pull out the board just in time, then next thing I knew we hit land and I forgot to uncleat the rudder downhaul argh! so that scraped the bottom . so we unrigged, while we were doing that, the wind kept picking up, enough to get the coconut trees swaying, and we were very lucky that we didn’t get caught out on the water in that. After a very tense sail it felt great to be back on land.

we rested for a little more than an hour and had some left over curry. the wind started to die down little after 4pm and the sun was starting peek out of the clouds as well. of course we had to have another go.

the second time out was the exact opposite from the first one, it was a fairly relaxed sail, we didn’t even have to shift around as much. and we were able to experiment on different points of sail, and on one jibe I was able to find out how hard my boom was (ouch), good thing I was wearing a cap. other than that, it was pretty uneventful.

andrew had a hard time pulling out the daggerboard this time and it ran around again, I had to stand in the boat to pull it out. I think I might have to sand down all of the paint off it, so it fits better, as it had a great fit before we painted it. that or make the hole or the trunk bigger.

all in all it was a great day. our first time out was pretty much a baptism of fire, comparable to that of your first time on a roller coaster. but the second time out did more than make up for it.

next time, I think I need to go out with someone with more sailing experience than i do, any volunteers?

5 August 2006

A boat building buddy, Bob was nice enough to convice his first mate Lea to make a polytarp sail for me. and we were able to get it fitted on the boat around the first week of august.

My usual boating partner (Andrew) was out of commision due a very late night of DJ work. so I managed to find another willing victim to come along, long time friend Mon-mon.

I picked up Mon at festival mall at 8:30. the sun was shining, slightly cloudy, with a little breeze. the trip on the expressway was uneventful and fairly fast moving. and the sun was still out, after turning into Calamba on the way to Batangas, traffic was practically at a standstill. this went on until about a kilometer before star tollway.

Star toll was it’s usuall traffic free self but the breeze was starting to die, but the sun was still shining. 5 minutes after entering the town of talisay and rounding off on of those road cuves, it suddenlly went dark. all I can say was oh F%@#! then it started to rain… really hard. aleast there was breeze… well, more lake gale force winds.

So we got to club lake and it was still raining. Gil was there with a few friends and was mildly surprised to see us. So we waited around for the rain to stop and we waited, then we decided to have lunch. lunch was curried garbanzo beans with pork and 4 bananas. After lunch the rain slowed to a trickle and we were able to bring the boat to the water and started to rig it up with the new sail. this is when i found out I forgot to bring the battens. What me worry? rig on.

by the time we were done with the rigging, the rain had stopped, but there was no wind. the water was glassy as f%&^. so we sculled out, hoping conditions would improve. In a way it did, a very very light breeze blew in was able to move us at a leach’s pace. so we lit a couple of cigarettes and streered with the smoke.

I noticed wind line starting in the middle of the lake and went for it, sure enough we picked up speed. nothing exciting, our weight was still distributed port and starboard and we were barely heeling, but fast enough to get mon excited. it was his first time out. Mon wanted to go to volcano island, who am i to say no, though I knew we can’t possibly make it in these conditions, so we went for it. then my phone rang. so I handed the sheet to mon got my phone from the glove compartment  It was Arvin, asking where I was, told him I was on the water and told him all we had was drifting conditions. He wasn’t surprised I could still use my phone. He said he might be able to pass by on his way to Batangas. I thought we had enough wind to keep on sailing and be able to get back in time for Arvin’s arrival. When we did decide to turn back, the wind died again.

So we broke out the paddle and I told mon to start paddling while I sculled with the rudder. Still no wind, and sure enough Arvin called. we were still way too far from the club lake. He would’ve taken our only picture for the day, but I doubt if he had a 1000 mm telephoto lens to be able to snap us that far out. so bye Arvin, til next time.

On the way back I was kinda hoping it would rain so the wind would start to pick up. and then it did. rain that is, but there was still no wind. What a f@*$%g freak of nature! one of the few times in my life actually that I think i’ve seen it rain during typhoon season and there was no wind at all. The water was dead calm. and we were wet.

so paddle on we went. sure enough when we were almost at club lake, the rain stopped. I was able to crack the daggerboard handle trying to pull it out of its trunk. easy fix 

so finally back on land, we had some merienda and a couple of cigarettes and recounted our encounters with dead fish out in the lake. it was around 4pm then it started to get dark again, so we packed up the gear and the boat. And sure enough it rained and the winds were back, something like signal number 1.5. good thing we didn’t get caught out in the water in that.

then we took a shower and went home.