Taking a newbie out sailing
Sailing with me this time was Andrew and another friend Butch. I asked permission from Gil if I can leave the boat there until after the RTV, so I can get more sailing time in before the race. sure enough he said yes.
We arrived at club lake Just before 23:00. Gil and his pals were in one of the huts having a few drinks and playing cards. so after exchanging some pleasantries. we unpacked the boat and assembled it on the beach. The wind was actually pretty good for sailing and I recommended rigging up the boat as well. So we did, but I was eventually out-voted from going out on a night sail. So we just unpacked the beer and other "essential" camping paraphernalia and proceeded to party on the beach
The classic skyflakes and spicy tuna was the pulutan and we each had a couple of one liter bottles (grande) of beer for each of us.
First one to get plastered was me, as I was pretty much tired from a full day of work, packing up the boat and driving. So I went to bed at around 01:30. I first tried to sleep in the L300 but I found it a little too warm for my liking. So I transferred to the pool side hammock and slept there. I spent around 10 minutes looking for a good sleeping position on the hammock but when I found it, I was out like a light. I was awoken by the sounds of roosters crowing and some sunshine reflecting on the sky that was around 05:30.
So I got up and saw Andrew sitting inside the van, and I went there to get some water. he told me that he hadn’t had a wink of sleep all night, Butch was in the van with him and sleeping like a baby. apparently, Butch is a real loud snorer. Andrew said it was like sleeping with a hybernating bear inside a cave.
with Andrew still imobilized and butch still happily snoring and me, being the morning person that I am, I then proceeded to the beach, dragged the boat into the water and got set for a quick sail. the wind 
was really, really light and it barely got the boat moving.
but being on the water at sunrise is something I wouldn’t exchange for anything . I was just basically drifting, but it really felt great to be out there, with the cool morning air and the sun just beginning to peek over the horizon. it was Wonderful.
Soon the sun was up and I was getting hungry. so I sculled back, (still very little wind)
When I got back, Andrew still hadn’t gotten any sleep and Butch was still… well snoring. So I had breakfast of ham and cheese sandwitch, milk and juice. Butch eventually got up a few munutes later.
The wind was starting to pick up, but it still didn’t affect the water yet and was still mostly flat. Great time to get a first timer out on the water. Butch was ready to sail but Andrew wasn’t, so we just left him and hoped he can get some sleep in. So it was just Butch and myself.
I told Butch to have breakfast out on the water. since the water was still pretty calm anyways. the wind was nice and steady, but still fairly light, and Butch was able to have his breakfast. I put in brass horn cleats the weekend before and I was able to use them for the first time. So it was easy single handed sailing,
I asked Butch if he wanted to try to head for Alexandra’s rock and he being a son of tanker captain he was game. It was around 07:30.
After a few minutes at the helm, I decided to turn it over to Butch since we’re on a pretty straight reaching course for the rock anyways and with the sheet cleated all he had to do is keep a straight heading.
all way to the rock the wind was nice and steady and the water very calm. it gradually picked up when we got the middle of the lake but not by much, and we were making good speed. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it only took us an hour to get to the rock. We were supposed to round the island but we found a few fishnets marked by bouys between the rock and volcano island. so on going back we just went by the same way we came.
At this time the lake was now at its normal self. The wind was steady and slightly gusty. The chop was there as well. We encountered 2 to 3 foot swells and white 
caps were all around. Butch was still at the helm. But he was doing such a good job that i let them stay at it. I on the other hand handled the sheet. This was so far my wettest sail on Ceol Beag. The swells were pretty big and we were getting a lot of spray. at one point, I had to bring out the bailer as there was already more than two inches of water in the forward area.
Even if it was Butch’s first time on a sailboat and his first time at the helm, he did pretty well, he wasn’t at all intimidated by the chop. but then again, he told me he was out on the water between Bataan and Coregidor in his dad’s tanker when typhoon Milenyo hit, so i’m sure two foot swells were nothing.
.
We were back at club lake 1 hour after starting our journey back. even though the wind was stronger it was the waves that slowed us down.
Upon getting back to club lake, Andrew was sitting in the pavilion mulling over 
the reasons why he couldn’t gain entry into lala land. He told us that when we left he transfered from the van and into the hammock to try and get some zzzz’s. Just as he was getting comfortable, a bus load of kids came into club lake for a swim. This just wasn’t his day.
I made some beef curry the day before and we had that for lunch.
Butch was game for another sail and so was I, Andrew was still another story. So it was Butch and I again.
This time I was on the helm. I wanted to get some tacking practice and Butch wanted to snap some pics, so we headed west towards tlyc. Butch was able to get several good pictures and even some video of us sailing. (i’ll post them soon). It being a holiday, I was expecting the hobies might be out, but didn’t see any, all there was was another dinghy and a wind surfer. there we’re also a couple of toppers about to set out. It looked like as they were giving lessons as I saw them doing a capsize drill a little while before.
I was able to get some tacking practice and am fairly happy with my progress, but i’d definatey need to practice more while solo. maybe during the all saints.
After about an hour on the water we went back and we were both pretty exhausted. It didn’t stop us from getting a couple of beers in us though. after finishing a couple of beers each, we disassembled the boat and stored it in the pavillion.
