Optimist Sailing

[Captain Smollett]

Well, we have not "gone far" yet, but she sure is SMALL.   

Got the Opti out for a bit today.  Wind was 10-15 from the SE and air temp was upper 60's.

This was the second time we took her out; the first was in VERY light air, though.  Today was better, and man that little boat can move.  My daughter has been claiming she is ready to sail by herself, and she is getting very close.  The wind direction and puffiness today would have been a little much for her first time.  She's got the steering down, but not as much experience with sail trimming.

We broad reached down the fairway and out into the river, then turned around and tacked back.  Each child got a turn and then I just had to take a spin on 'er myself.  I found the best way to sail her was to lie down with legs on either side of the centerboard trunk, tiller over my head while leaning against the aft air bag.

She's a fun little boat, though not really built for someone my size.  I'm sure it won't be long until the little ensigns are out exploring creeks, back marshes and even the open river.

I'll post progress updates here, and welcome in this thread any and all 'sailing dinghy' experiences, anecdotes and advice.

They have not named her yet, but one of the front runners is Eclipse.

[Frank]

sounds like a hoot. Great to be a 'kid' again 

[Jim_ME]

I've found a derelict Snark sailboat that my nieces might get some use out of, when they return to Maine on visits from Southern California. Sounds like a great boat for exploring with, as you say...

If I had an Optimist, I might consider naming her Polly Anna or Little Miss Sunshine? 

[Captain Smollett]

If I had an Optimist, I might consider naming her Polly Anna or Little Miss Sunshine? 

 

Another front name under consideration is, of course, Optimist Prime.

They have not agreed on a paint scheme, yet.  I wonder if painting one side one color and the other differently would be a compromise?   

[Jim_ME]

Maybe paint the port side red and the starboard side green to aid in navigation...? 

I was wondering if there is a Pessimist class? Probably about 40-feet and rarely leaves the dock. "Still a little too small for cruising and besides...Bad stuff can happen out there..."

[Captain Smollett]

I was wondering if there is a Pessimist class? Probably about 40-feet and rarely leaves the dock. "Still a little too small for cruising and besides...Bad stuff can happen out there..."

LOL...grog for that.  And given what I've seen (on video)  some of the young'uns can do with an OPTIMIST, it fits as that counter example.

 

[Captain Smollett]

Took the little boat again yesterday in pretty good conditions, 10-ish knots (in the puffs at least) from a good direction for the senior ensign to practice easy reaching.  I was present for "advice," but this is the first time she ever actually sailed - steering AND sheet trimming - by herself.

She did a great job, and managed to work upwind into some chop enough to get me wet.

The cool part is that today, after lunch, I was down below tending to some things and the little ones were up on the cockpit.  I heard a lot of "boat talk" ... about masts and the like.  They were comparing the boats here in the marina.

Punchline:  With great pride and a not insignificant amount of pleasure, it was firmly announced that their Opti is the SMALLEST sail boat in the marina!!

Small boats...long distances - future sailfar-ers in the making.   

[Tim]

 

[Captain Smollett]

Had another good afternoon on the water with the little boat.  My daughter had a "do" and so she and her mom were out of town...that left the boy and I.

I tacked out of the fairway on a very light north wind under overcast skies and temp in the 60's.  Once outside the marina, and with a bit of "searoom," we switched places and I let the 5 year old practice his helmsmanship.  He did good on broad, beam and close reaches, practicing something akin to 'straight-line' steering...mostly.    

He is already getting better at focusing his attention outside the boat rather than his shoe, the tiller, the hiking strap or whatever else catches his eye.

When he got tired, we switched again and just sailed around.  Back and forth, here and there, up wind and down, across this river or that, we actually covered several miles while never leaving sight of the marina.

During the afternoon, we had winds alternating between a true clock-calm and 10-12 knots, with direction running from the north, then the east and finally filling in from the south.  I did learn after a careful approach that we can clear the bridge one span over from the one that opens, so access to the 'big river' is problem free (so long as the 'wind tide' is not too far "in").

I really enjoy sailing the little Optimist even though it's not very comfortable (and after several hours, I can attest to the 'not very comfortable') for me and sure is not made for someone my size.  But man, what fun; everyone that sails should have a sailing dinghy.

We saw four other sail boats on the water - three with sails up and one Beneteau motoring.

One of the highlights for me personally?  Well, that would be the excited gesticulations and BIG smiles of the folks on a passing power boat when they realized that the boat was being sailed by a 5 year old boy.  They just seemed to think that was "cool."

[Captain Smollett]

Ok, this is too much fun.  Daughter's turn was today.  Unfortunately, we had no wind most of the three hours we were out.  

But, she did learn that you CAN make a sailboat move in the REALLY light stuff.  For a while, we probably averaged 0.75 knots, getting up to 1 or so in the 'puffs.'  Hmmm.

It was tough sailing.  We'd get the boat moving "good" (a relative term) with something akin to decent airflow over the sail and BOOM...waked by a powerboater and no more attached airflow.  Sit...wait for water to settle down, wait for boat to foot off, gentle ease 'er in to recatch the air....slooooowwly build up boat speed again and struggle to keep 'attached' and flowing.

I helped her a lot by handling the sail, with her on the helm.

We had a few interesting moments:

** Ghosting along at a stately 0.5 kt or so, but clearly making steerage way, a sail boat we had watched motor in from WAY down river toodle over to speak us...I figured he wanted just to say "hi."  Nope.

"Can I give you a tug," he shouted.

"No thanks, we're ok," I replied.  "Thanks for asking, though!"

We continued on, and moments later, the afternoon thermal set in and we were OFF....

** We were heading to a dock at a place called "The Galley Store," which has fuel docks, a restaurant (called Persimmons), a historic skipjack used for harbor tours and similar things.

A dude on an overpowered (per IQ at the helm) stinkpot motored out and RIGHT BEFORE he got to us, powered up to the stops and SLAMMED us with his wake.  We did not swamp, but we did take on a good inch of water into the boat, and since I was making the low side, I got a good case of "dinghy butt."

Would have been funny and no big deal if it had "just happened," but hey, he could have waited another ten seconds before going full throttle, and what he did was, in fact, quite dangerous.

Rhetorical question:  When will the price of gas and the economy start working to get some of these kinds of bozo's off the water?

It's called "sea manners," but it's more than just being nice...most stuff on the 'sea,' is right or wrong based on safe or unsafe way to do things.  Oh well, not to let it ruin our day ...

** Right after the waking, we were approaching the dock.  My daughter was at the helm, I was trimming the mainsheet, the wind was pushing 12, maybe 15 in the gusts and we were on a beam reach, maybe a touch broad off.

Persimmon's has an outdoor seating deck just above the face dock...so the diners can overlook the water and watch all the cool boats and stuff.  You know the type of place, right?

My 8 year old daughter, in front of all and sundry, sailed her little engineless boat right to the dock.  Okay, I helped a little by suggesting when she should put her hard over to turn up wind and she did it like a champ.  She turned, aligned parallel, lost way, and scooted right in, coming alongside without even bumping wooden boat upon wooded dock.  I reached over, amazed, to grab the cleat.

It was, in short, one of the most incredible sailboat dockings I have ever either witnessed or been a party to.  And, she had an audience!  

I told her that she won't get many of those...usually, the good ones happen without a soul around to see it.

We went to 'use the facilities' (no room for a head, or the privacy to use one, on an 8 ft open pram) and get some drinks, then returned to get under way back.  It was blustering pretty good by this point, and the chop had worked up, so we elected for me to take the helm for the ride back.  It was rough going in steep sided 1-2 footers, but we had a good lesson in why it's called "beating."

Through the bridge and toward our fairway, and we were met with the craziest, flukiest wind I've encountered since leaving "inland lake sailing."  Ostensibly from the SE at about 5 knots or so, we should have been good to get "home."  No dice.

We would sit totally becalmed, get a lift, start moving then get headed by over 90 degrees shifts.  Couple that with a more-than-perceptible current setting westerly (slightly oblique to downwind), and it was the wildest 5 attempts to get into the fairway, or even tied to the face dock, I've done in a LONG time.

Finally got on the face dock and took a break, then back on the boat and paddled up the fairway to the beach.

On the water about 1500 - 1830.  Here's what it was doing at the airport at the time:



I've said it before and I think I'll repeat it..."light air makes the sailor."  I told my daughter that just about ANYONE can figure out how to make a boat sail in 10 knots....but this stuff?  Oh man...1-3 knots, Force 1 sailing takes a light touch and a ton of patience.  She thought it was pretty cool to be moving at all (though was a bit upset by how long it would take us to 'get there,' not that we were going anywhere).  When I mentioned that if we left "now," we could be in Oriental by lunchtime tomorrow, well she didn't think that sounded very good.  

We did, however, while ghosting along and chatting, get to repeat one of our oft stated Gaelic Sea phrases "In a motor boat, you get there fast; in a sail boat, you are already there."  She saw that in practice today.  We were, indeed, right where we needed to be.

In fact - she gave up the opportunity to go to the movies to go sailing, and back on the dock, said she had no regrets of her decision.  She figured she'd rather be outside, and thanked me several times this evening for taking her sailing ... even with no wind.

And, just as importantly, I thanked her.





(edit: added wx data charts)

[Captain Smollett]

Winds were 12 knots from the South, occasional gusts up around 20 knots or so.  It was a beautiful Spring afternoon in the 70's, sunny and that crisp "Carolina Blue" sky you just don't see anywhere else.

And my 8 year old daughter took her first solo sail...

She sailed off the dock, ran off down the fairway, did a controlled jibe into the river, then practiced reaching to and fro along the marina, with tacks in between each leg.

When she got tired, I towed her back in to avoid her having to short tack up the fairway.

Video to follow later ...

 

[Frank]

.....can't wait for the video

[Tim]

Outstanding, looking forward to the video

[Captain Smollett]

Here we go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vntqT7TdZmA

[CharlieJ]

And here's Hunter out of the boat. Along with the boy

[Frank]

Great to see   
grog to ya

[Tim]

WTG Hunter 

[Jim_ME]

Great stories and video.

Future sailfar-ers in the making, indeed.

What a good start you are giving them.

[Grog to you.]

[Captain Smollett]

By George, I think she's got it.

Video later (after the weekend), but the girl spent over an hour today sailing by herself.  Tacking has become "routine," and docking under sail almost so.

She's got the basics...now for that lifetime of getting BETTER.   

[jotruk]

and heres a good cold kool aid to her great job