Sailing the bay

Summer weather in November? This week the weather has been perfect! Maybe at times a little too warm, but so beautiful and clear!! I had Friday off, so we headed down to Shelter Island in San Diego to get a little sailing in.

My Dad's usually the "captain" when we sail, but he's in a sailing race for 3 weeks going down to Mazatlan, Mexico- so it was just Bryan, Mom, and I. One of the perks of being a fireman, he was able to trade his shifts to get almost a month off work to go on the race ... I'm so jealous! Sometimes it's as if my parents are taking an early retirement, but I guess that's the way to truly live. Before he left, my Dad kept calling me to go over his packing list for the tropics, and I made sure to give him my favorite mosquito repellent (I hate deet, and swear by the natural lemon-eucalyptus lotion!) Last we heard from him, he was just off Cabo San Lucas around the tip of Baja...

Anyway, yesterday was the first time we'd ever been out sailing without my Dad, so we had to be extra-responsible with the boat. First, we had to get it out of the dock- a little tricky, with some close calls, but we got it out sans collision. The winds were pretty strong, so we decided to take the boat out around San Diego Bay instead of out to the open ocean. After organizing the rigging and hoisting the sails, Mom and Bryan were at the wenches pulling in the jib, while I took the helm. I love to listen to music while sailing, so we put on a little Ziggy Marley and Peter Tosh to groove to as we took off. As I said before, the winds were strong, so I had to be pretty careful in my steering- my mom tends to freak out if we heel (tip) the boat over too much (really, any heeling over 15 degrees.) We got going at about 6 knots, which is pretty good for a 30 foot sailboat and began a beautiful sail. Too bad we weren't racing, we were catching nice wind! After a few hours, we headed back to the docks feeling good about sailing by ourselves, and having a nice, peaceful time. Bryan took over the helm to steer the boat into the slip (I'm not so confident in close proximity to other boats) and mom and I secured the ropes to the dock.

I think I could live on a boat at some point in life, I really enjoy being out there on the water. Almost nothing beats a week sailing around the Channel Islands living, snorkeling, and diving off the boat... but I'll have to wait till next summer for that again. For now, I'll just enjoy sailing around San Diego until I save up some vacation time.