My neighbor, M, generously gave me use of his sailing dinghy, a Vanguard 15. It’s a 15 foot, fast planing hull with jib and large main. He and I have sailed a few times and after getting used to her ways, I’ve taken friends out when M is not around. Last week I took the triplets and their mom on a light wind day up to the head of Willoughby Bay. With one triplet between N and I, and the other two on the leeward side of the boat, we tacked upwind for an hour or so swapping sides in a delicate choreography every time we came about.
The waters are laced with coral heads, reefs, patches of sand and weeds. N stood watch on the dagger board ready to raise it quickly if we got into shallow waters but we managed to maneuver through all the varied colored waters with ease. We even came up with a saying to guide us; ‘Blue is True, Green is Keen but if it’s Brown or Black, it’s Time to Tack!’
We ended up reaching ‘Mushroom Beach’, a remote spot we’ve hiked to while fossil hunting. We took turns holding the boat off the beach while we swam in the gently rolling surf. On the downwind run home, we pulled up the dagger board and skirted over the shallow parts we had to avoid on the upwind leg. The kids hung over the sides peering into the shallows trying to spot rays, gar fish, conchs and other sea creatures. We surprised what we guessed was a rather large basking sea turtle as there was a huge thrash and splash ten feet off the bow. A nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon in November!
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