Of course, there is a lot to learn when one wishes to sail. It’s not as simple as the movies and pictures make it out to be. I’ll try to recount the steps I’ve taken to get to where I am as accurately as I can. I didn’t have a blog when I started out.

Make one mistake and you’ll be learning how to swim. Seriously, it’s not overly difficult once the basics are grasped. So, it is time to learn the basics. I joined the support group for my sailboat type. http://chryslersailors.com/discussion/ and read the entire forum for postings related to handling and wind.

Next, I looked at https://asa.com/ and got one of their basic beginner books and read through it.

At this point, I’m a hands-on guy, so I went to Sugar Creek Lake here in Moberly and launched the sailboat. I used only the main because I had to repair the Jib. Plus, one sail is easier to play with than two when first starting out.

So on this day, I spent four hours on the lake, getting a feel for how the sail and wind interact. I had two accidental jibes, and the boom smacked Melanie upside the head. Now, I had a reason to pay more attention. Lest I forget, the boom smacked me upside the head as well. We learned to watch the wind very carefully while sailing downwind.

After the accidental jibes, we had smooth sailing and got to enjoy the time on the lake.