Why am I here?- Converted Landlubber’s Confessions
On June 01, 2008
“What am I doing here?” . The waves are huge, the swell is lumpy, the breeze strong, I feel slightly frightened & completely ill, & even although I understand I should dine & drink I can not make the effort to prepare anything. The Skipper seems no more inclined to go lower down than I do & we’ve finished all the “simple” food.
Penny & David Kerr sail Pastime of Sydney with the Inshore Sailing Society, & here Penny writes of her own particular seven step formula for turning dreaded boating journeys into joyous adventures:
Have you at all asked yourself why you agreed to venture offshore as yet again, despite your promises to yourself last time that you would at no time again leave the safety of closed waters? Is it like childbirth where you forget the details in the euphoria of the outcome? This question has approach into my mind frequently when comfort is at minimum & there’s no immediate relief in sight.
After our last trip from Sydney to New Caledonia I think I might’ve positive answer to this question: I’ve finally discovered the joy of boating.
Until then, I had enjoyed the destinations, the sailing way of life, the chance to visit people from different cultures in their own environments, the simplicity of the life style. The coming & going to each country was necessary hurdle to be endured. Finally on our New Caledonia trip thing clicked.
it is likely small wonder that my conversion has been slow. David & I began our boating career on Canberra’s inland Lake Burley Griffin on Heron. Our normal speed in very weighty elderly wooden yacht was around one-half knt. Needless to say this suited me but not Ivan, so we moved up to Lightweight Sharpie, very fast three- man centre- board yacht, with narrow beam & huge amount of sail. All this adds up to “very unstable” & so it proved on our 1st outing when line squall hit the Lake & we tipped over. My vivid memory is of David & our 3rd crew member righting the yacht & climbing on board, calling as they sailed into the distance “We’ll be back for you”. They weren’t, so I was rescued by police sailing boat, still clutching my spectacles.
We did improve as crew & sailed competitively on the Lake, with me as mainsheet hand getting very great at adjusting my position in accordance to the breeze. If I stayed out too long, the yacht would tip over. David was very competitory & aggressive helmsman & for me the prerace jostling was nightmare as we passed at speed within inches of other sailboats.
Breeze forward 20 years to my introduction to Pastime . It took me numerous hours of boating to re- train my reflexes not to act whenever the breeze caught the sails or to start to panic if we were on an angle.
I now discovered that I was very prone to seasickness & would be unwell as before long as we put to sea. We had lots of adventures, such as boating for 48 hours in breezes of 40 plus kts with giant mixed up seas, when we were knocked down three times; losing our main-mast in the central of the Coral Sea; having our son swept off the sailing boat in pitch darkness, fortunately securely connected by his tether. In ‘tween times there was great boating, & I hung in there for numerous memorable trips up & down the Australian Beach & to Lord Howe Isle, the Whitsunday Islands, the Louisiade Archipelago in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands & Vanuatu.
Numerous times during the ocean voyages I would question myself that question: “Why am I here?” At last now my answer can be more than “to get to our destination”. At last I’m discovering that the pleasure of truly great boating can transport me through the times when I’m ill, cold, famished & frightened. I hope it lasts!
My Conversion Experience:
What has changed? Lots of little changes have increased my comfort & my faith. we have worked hard to learn from experience & make adjustments accordingly. Addressing the issue of seasickness took priority.
1. Start during the day:1St we make certain we’ve some time aboard previously we set off, & we put to sea in the morning so that we can adjust to the movement of the yacht previously night falls. It seems that the lack of visual cues is factor in my seasickness.
2. Keep options Open: If we’re heading along the beach, we keep our options Open on day one. Twice we’ve planned on boating overnight but pulled into port the 1st night cause the breeze & sea were starting to get up just as night fell. We establish both times that it was wise decision & we could carry on (once the tommorow, once pair of days later) lacking seasickness to contend with. After pair of days at sea my stomach adjusts so after period of boating it takes much more adverse seas to trigger my malaise.
3. Emphasis on fine regular food & drink: I try to ensure there’s plenty of plain, digestible food close at hand, including sandwiches & ready meals which can be put straight into the oven or heated on the top of the stove if the sea is flat enough. I used to forget to dine & drink but have now realised that occasionally I start feeling ill cause I’m famished. Drinking is very significant but I frequently fail to drink enough & get sleepy from dehydration. My rule of thumb is: regularly dine or drink whatever my stomach tells me it can handle.
4. Distractions pass the time: My next point of attack is to occupy my mind so that I’ll not be so conscious of the threat of feeling ill. I use an MP3 participant & waterproof individual tape- rival with pre recorded talking books to keep my mind off any incipient discomfort. This makes large difference, particularly at night. Even during the day I can’t read at sea, so when on watch alone I like to have thing to hear to.
5. Fine -& convenient – wet weather gear: we have on board some very effective bib & brace wet weather overalls. Pastime has an Open cockpit so in most seas it’s wise to wear some form of wet weather protection, but each time I struggled into the overalls I would risk getting seasick, even more so in big swell. So, the more I needed the protection, the more reluctant I was to use it. Then the time would approach when I would need to go lower down to take them off to use the toilet - not recommended on queasy stomach. Previously our last trip we downgraded & bought some very uncomplicated pull- on wet weather pants. Why hadn’t we done it previously? It transformed our lives! They were so much easier to put on, more at ease to wear, simple to pull off as well. We had at all times ended up with lots of wet clothing cause we would favour to take the risk of getting wet quite than bother with the gear. This time we travelled to & from New Caledonia , seven day trip each way, with no wet gear hanging about lower down. We stayed warm & dry, & had no seasickness.
6. Weather & Currents – Getting it right: Part of the secret of enjoyable boating is to plan the timing of the trip. we have at no time set sail in conditions that we knew would be unfavourable, but we’ve very frequently been Iet down by the weather forecasters.
I call to mind one trip from Yamba, the barred entrance to the Sean River in Northerly New South Wales. Deficient to travel South, we waited some days until there was favourable forecast & left with the forecast for 15- 20 knt breeze from the north. We were an hour out when we were hit by 30- 35 knt Southern which kept up for 12 hours. There was no way back in to Yamba by then, so we had no choice but to carry on. Twenty four hours later we reached the nearest accessible port, but we were ill, wet & cold when we arrived. We wouldn’t have selected those conditions had the forecast been accurate.
The difficulty of forecasting was even greater on this trip to New Caledonia in May ‘07, as it was month when record number of East Shore lows affected the New So
uth Wales Beach. No sooner had one passed than the next was forming. We used all the weather information we could lay our hands on, & this planning enabled us to shun the worst of the weather.
We suffered some strong breezes & big seas at one stage but cause we were ready for them & had impartial thought how long they would last, we negotiated them satisfactorily. The identical applied on our return trip. We waited patiently for the right conditions, & had rapid & generally at ease trip home. We besides study the currents. Having favourable actual puts us in positive frame of mind, as well as speeding up the trip.
7. Adjusting for two-handed boating: The final step in my conversion has been my increased faith, particularly in sail handling. Part of this is practice, part of it’s in making adjustments to our sail set- up & particularly in our reefing technique. we have added an intermediate reefing point which we used frequently during the New Caledonia trip. Besides, we now heave- to to reef our sails. What used to be physically demanding & completely hectic procedure has become calm & controlled. As result of these two changes, we’re now much less probably to be caught with too much sail. This makes giant difference to the comfort of the sailboat & to the intellectual state of the crew (that’s, me).
So, if there’s anyone out there like me, take heart. it is feasible to question yourself “Why am I here?” & get an answer “Cause I’m enjoying every minute of it!”.
& Skippers, be patient if your crew is still struggling to reach your level of boating ecstasy. May Be you can work together to make your sailing even more enjoyable.
Around the Inshore Sailing Society:
The Inshore Sailing Society of Australia was formed in 1969. The CCC has grown over the last 40 years into society of approximately 400 members, with over 95 percent being boat masters. Members mostly cruise Australian waters as well as the Pacific with some circumnavigating. More than ninety members regularly attend the monthly meetings in Sydney. “Sailaways” are held in Sydney Bay & Fragmented Harbour each month as well as an annual new year cruise to Lake Macquarie. Visitors are at all times welcome
For more information around the Inshore Sailing Society, including how to unite, go to their
by Penny Kerr, Inshore Sailing Society