A Windbag conversation: Joys of sailing

Well, bless my gudgeons and pintles, grab the clue on the little sail in front and back it to port. When the bow has fallen off grab the tiller and ,sheet home the main. Da Ya!

OK, some of the nouns are almost archaic, but in general it is the vocabulary to be learned by a group that is learning to utilize something that they have no control over — “wind.” They can feel it but they can’t see it. They are learning such terms such as “falloff,” “round up” and “hard-a-Iee.” These are terms that the initiates one into the art of sailing is being acquiring under the gentle hands of the members of the Sandpoint Sailing Association.

Interesting it is one sport, sail boat racing, where men and women can compete on an equal basis. What “equality”? Yes! When they finish they will have a personal knowledge of what happens when one jibes accidentally and their head learns why that stick at the bottom on the sail is called a “boom.”

I am stretching a point here in my nomenclature, but only a little. Words like “dead rise” and “dagger board” refer to design characters not terminal illnesses.

With minimal instruction I was given a monotype at the age of eight. Errors in judgment and lack of experience were painfully obvious. My playpen was the Annisquam River that emptied in to Ipswich Bay. The following year I was told that I had to race. I was part of a fleet of 12-15 monotypes known as Annisquam Fish boats. I hated it or at least going over what I had or had not done correctly as I usually came in the middle of the fleet. My father would re-sail the race at the dining room table. Why had I not done this or that? “The tide was almost slack. I would have sailed a shorter course staying on the east side of the river.”

I have watched the beginning sailors enrolled in the Sandpoint Sailing Association. I did not see any grilling on the part of the instructors as the new sailors came into the floats. I did see many smiles on the faces of those in the little 14-foot sloops. “It really is not that difficult” was the general conversation. So those with an urge to be master of their own craft, sign up for the classes.

When one is sailing, the “going” is the thing; in power boating peace is reaching ones destination and shutting the “noise maker” off. There is something almost soporific ghosting along on a light breeze and listening to the gurgling noises of the hull as it moves through the water. The again there is something extremely exciting sailing with the “rail down” on a broad reach propelled by a stiff breeze. For some of the hi-tech boats} using “a trapeze J} is a sensation that goes with coming through a set of moguls on a black diamond ski run.

So pick your breeze — it is free.

IVAN RIMAR

Sandpoint