Sailing on Lake Weir

The first time I took the kids sailing was about 3 years ago. It was a horrible experience for many reasons.  

Firstly I was so stressed with trying to control the boat with no experience that my frustration probably ruined the trip for everyone else. 

Secondly I had no motor, only paddles.  Even though this boat is only 17 feet it is pretty wide, heavy, and stable making it difficult to paddle full of people and gear.  There was a real possibility of us getting stuck out in the middle of a lake.  

Aaliah was also only 2 at the time and did not really take well to heeling and splashing around in waves.

Even Austin, who was 11 at the time, did not like heeling over and was probably absorbing a lot of the negative vibes being thrown around.

Most of the horrible experience was because of me and my enthusiasm to let the kids share in this experience that I was so exited about.  I had taken the boat out myself a few times before but I should have waited until I had more experience.  Both the kids and myself suffered because of this with lost time and experiences on the water that could have been positive and enriching.  

So. Lets fast forward to 2014. A new outlook on life. A new positive, amazing person to share life with. Same great boat. Same great kids.  Amber and I had the boat out many times this year and had a blast every time we went.  I was really pushing to bring the kids out to experience this joy but we both did not get our hopes up that the kids would enjoy it. We reserved ourselves to go out, take it slow, only use the main sail not the jib also, possibly just use the motor, and be prepared to head back to dock at any moment.  So we decided to hike up our skirts and go to Lake Weir. 

First thing that morning we went to walmart to buy flip flops for Aaliah who mysteriously came over the night before without shoes.  Oh boy.  But we had to provision the cooler anyway so no big deal.

Then  after tearing the house apart we realized that Aaliah did not have a bathing suit because she wore it back home after her last visit.  So we stopped by Bealls on the way to the lake to buy a suit. One step closer to sailing.

Luckily Austin, who did not have a suit either, was big enough to wear one that is a size too small for me.

So we finally get to the lake and its when we are pulled into a staging spot that I realize in my haste to make sure everything else was in order I forgot to grab gas for the motor.  There was maybe an 1/8 of a tank, which is definitely not enough if we had to motor across the lake,  I asked several people around the ramps for gas but to no avail.  So again we hiked up our skirts and decided to push off. We have sails after all right?  

When I put Aaliah in the boat she started to freak a little at the gentle side to side motion.  I told her it was ok and got in the boat myself rocking it side to side,  I also pointed to other boats around the ramps.  They were all rocking too and everyone was safe and happy. Its just what boat do. Much to my surprise and relief she accepted this and started playing with stuff and asking questions, completely at ease.

Austin was an excellent crew member.  I had him doing everything from hitching the trailer to the truck, cleating off lines, helping put up the mast and boom, holding the bow and stern lines before pushing off.  Once underway he and Amber were all over the boat raising and lowering sails, trimming the jib, working the main sheet, and all the docking procedures.  I pretty much just worked the tiller and drank beer. :)  

We had pretty good wind for the first couple of miles in our journey to Eatons Beach Restaurant.  We enjoyed 4-6 mph cruising as Aaliah "helped" by paddling.  It was within a half mile or so from the restaurants dock that the wind died.  And I mean died. The surface of the lake was like glass.  So with no other option we fired up the 2 horse Honda and motored into the dock.  What little bit of gas we had was pretty much gone at this point.  I called my folks who luckily for us only live 25 minutes away and bribed them with drinks for gas.  My Sister Carey and her husband Jonah took the bait.

We enjoyed our time at Eaton's Beach's beach swimming and playing in the sand.  We had drinks, good food, and an all around good time.  We were joined by my sister and her hubby about 7 and got a full 5 gallon can of gas, which I found funny because the capacity of the motor is only a 1/4 of a gallon.

It was around this time I realized how close it was to dark. At the time I knew nothing about sailing at night and what was legally required as far as lights go and if we would be able to even see the boat ramp. We settled our debts and rushed to the boat.  We motored for the first 1/4 mile or so when we noticed the wind had picked back up. "What the hell," we said. We killed the motor and hoisted the main.  It was very shortly after this that it went from twilight to full fledged dark.  

I had brought a couple flashlights (at least I was prepared for one thing) so we gave one to Aaliah who is not a fan of the dark and I had the other.  It turned out to be one of the coolest parts of the trip.  We were sailing under a beautiful canopy of stars with nothing but the sound of lapping waves, tinking lines on the mast, and flapping sails.  It was truly magical.  Austin was laying down on the bow of "Blue" watching the stars and Aaliah had her head in Amber's lap thoroughly exhausted from an eventful day.  We made it to the boat ramp after 10 but none of us cared. We decided then and there that we had to do some more night sailing in the future.

We all had an awesome day and Aaliah, who I was most worried about not liking sailing, thanked me multiple times the next day for taking her on "her" boat.  I couldn't have been more pleased to do so.