SAILING AT SUNSET

DSC's Chris Norris last month took an evening sail on the lake with his son

STORY & PHOTOS BY CHRIS NORRIS

OOver the spring and summer, my son, Cade, and I sailed Full Tilt II, getting familiar with the boat and how it handled in normal, mild to slightly stronger winds. We went as much as we could, but it is hard to coordinate and get a college student to just drop what he is doing to go sailing for a few hours with his father.

Over the course of the summer, the heat became too I had been promising Cade that the fall would have better sailing weather and, even though I felt guilty about it for the destruction it would cause in other parts of the country, I was looking forward to the strong winds we would be getting as a hurricane came inland. I told my son that I thought everything was going to be perfect and he would have a great time. Luckily, he was able to break away and had the boat much, and we started going out in the late afternoon; and then, staying well after dark when it was cooler.

We caught some beautiful sunsets on the lake and have watched brilliant reds fade slowly to black some days.

On others, just a big orange ball disappears in a cloudless sky to be replaced by countless stars on moonless nights. All while out on a small boat with no other distractions around and completely present in the experience. For me, being able to disconnect from anything but the present is what I am looking for when I go out.

For that, the evenings have always worked better than the busier daytime. already hooked up and just about rigged when I got there. We did take extra precautions, based on the winds we were expecting; 10 to 20 miles per hour with gusts to 30. We wore life jackets the entire time and had throw-able PFDs in the cockpit, and we had actually practiced man-overboard drills earlier in the summer. We also made sure the cockpit hatches were locked, and we sailed with the companionway completely closed. We pulled out of the dock about 30 minutes before sunset, planning on sailing for several hours. The wind

was not too strong, so once we got to the main lake, we raised the main to get a feel for the boat under the stronger winds. With the mainsail alone, the boat was controllable without too much worry. We would ease the sheet if the gusts started pushing us over too far for our liking, which ended up being about 15 to 20 degrees for us.

She responded to the rudder well enough, and even when the gusts hit, the boat would just lay down more; it would not round up into the wind under the main only. We sailed under main alone for about 20 minutes, and we decided we were ready to raise the jib. The winds had grown stronger, and we had trouble getting the jib raised all the way. I could not figure out why at first, and I thought it was because the winds were so strong. I had to go forward to investigate, and it turns out that the jib halyard had wrapped halfway around the mast and had become wedged under one of the mast cleats. I had to lower the jib slightly to release the tension, but the jib raised completely after that.

We only have the big genoa, but that night we wished we had a smaller jib up. The change in the boat handling was immediate once the big sail was up. As soon as the jib filled and was set, the boat heeled over much farther and was hard to keep from rounding up. If we did not immediately ease the mainsheet when we had a big gust, the boat would round up hard, no matter what we did with the rudder. Luckily, there was still some light to allow us to see the gusts coming, but after dark and once the moon set, we could not see the gusts coming.

We kept our hands on the mainsheet at all times to be ready to ease it when a gust came. We were heeled over at about 20 degrees for the majority of the time, unless a gust hit us, which in some cases pushed us over to over 40 degrees several times before we could ease the mainsheet. Except for when tacking, we just set the jib and left it alone.

I tried once to ease the jib when a gust came, but I was never quick enough before the boat heeled so much I could only hold on and let the boat round up and stand back up. I was not sure how the C22 would handle the stronger winds, but the boat was certainly not troubled by the wind, as long as we paid close

attention. We sailed back and forth for about 45 minutes before we relaxed and started to really enjoy the sailing. We were worried about how hard the tacking would be, but we found that it was actually easier to tack in the stronger winds. We learned to sheet the main in as we tacked and ease it to the other side to keep the boom from flying across so hard. This was the only time since we have been sailing that we needed to use the winch to get the jib pulled in. We learned that if we were very quick with the jib sheets, we could get the jib set almost perfect and minimize the winching. The only time I was worried was Cade manned the tiller as Full Tilt II when a very strong heeled over in a brisk gust gust hit, and I realized the mainsheet was not in my hand. It immediately fell to the low side of the boat, and I could not reach it. The boat heeled over as far as we have ever seen it, and both of us just hung on for dear life. The boat stayed there for what seemed like 15 seconds, as everything was in slow motion. In actuality, it probably was more like three or four seconds, and with us doing nothing but thinking maybe sailing tonight was not such a good idea, Full Tilt II rounded up quickly into the strong wind and stood back up. I looked over at my son, and he had a huge smile on his face. No cell phones around, no music, no distractions, we were just completely present in this moment, and nothing else mattered. Once we got settled back in and underway, I decided I would get us two small strobe lights to mount on our life jackets. If one of us had fallen overboard, it would have been much easier to see the person in the dark. We sailed until about 9 p.m., more confident in our abilities and a better understanding of how the boat reacts and sails in stronger winds. I had been waiting and hoping for an experience like that on the boat with my son. Cade has enjoyed the sailing up to now, but he enjoys it more when things are exciting. I think that night it was as exciting as it could have been, and I think he is hooked now. I wondered to myself how many more sailing days we would have that could match that one. I am not sure, but we will be trying to find out. It was an experience and a night that I will remember forever.

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