The Wind, The Sea and My Little Boat

"Sailing Towards Deception Pass" Watercolor

My experience sailing is quite limited at this point in my life. (I’ve mostly been power boating) So limited in fact that the one time I went “sailing” on the Lady Washington (a square rigger) there was so little wind that we merely floated down the Columbia River for a while until we finally powered back to port.

I suppose I was about 13 or 14 the only other time I’ve been “sailing” where my aunt and uncle dropped me off into Puget Sound on an inflatable sailboat and told me to learn how to sail. After determining that my rudder was the better part of useless and I was pure rubbish at tacking I decided to stick my sail (such as it was) into the wind and see how fast I could go. I had a swell time cruising with the wind out into the middle of the Sound for about the first half hour until I started to consider how I was supposed to get back to where my Aunt and Uncle were anchored. As I recall the return “voyage” was a tad harder and I ended up swimming while dragging my sailboat part of the way (meanwhile the sail was still up and catching lots of wind going the wrong direction). After pondering whether or not the current and wind would truly wash me out to sea I was able to make it back (with a little help from a rope that my uncle tossed out to me to drag me the final leg of the trip). Overall it was great fun!