Unpredictable Winds

I’m not going to lie, this week’s practice scared me a little bit. When we got there, the weather was looking not the best, but more importantly, the wind was northeast. This meant that in Cadboro Bay, the wind was coming from over the land. When wind comes from over the land, which I just learnt, meant that it is very unpredictable since it hits houses, structures, and more. So, in our briefing to start the day, we were told there was chances of random wind blows and wind loss. However, we rigged our boats anyways and headed to the water.

Right off the bat, the boat was hard to handle. My skipper and I struggled to figure out which way the wind was coming from, and how our sails were hitting it. After a bit, we were about to get out to the course and start practice. Although, every time we went windward (which means upwind), we would close haul our sails and be going faster than I’ve ever gone before, since the wind was very intense. With the unpredictable winds, our boat was super tippy. This meant we were essentially hanging out the side of the boat just to keep balanced and not capsized. I also realized during this practice that I am so scared of capsizing (tipping over the boat and falling into the water). One group actually did capsize due to the weird wind patterns and random blows, which did make me much more scared to be honest. It is something I need to learn to be less afraid of, for it happens in sailing and that’s okay! It would be a learning experience. Luckily, we never capsized during this practice, even though we had a couple scares.

Another new thing this week, besides learning how to sail in unpredictable winds and doing some drills with this, was learning how to race. I honestly had no idea what racing looked like in sailing, but it was so interesting to see. So here’s a run down of how racing in sailing works:

• Every boat does figure 8’s around the start line
• A count down occurs starting from 3 minutes from the committee boat
• No boat can cross the start line before the timer, if they do they have to turn around and go back

There is so much more, but there are some of the ground level rules! Our course was set up around one mark, which I have included a picture so you can see. Even with the super unpredictable wind, my skipper and I won the first race! It was neck in neck, but somehow we caught slightly more wind and won! Even though majority of this practice I was scared of capsizing, the race was very fun and made me remember that it’s really all for fun and games.

Overall, this practice was filled with a lot of learning and remembering to enjoy the sport rather than fear it! I allowed me to take time to feel the stress in my body, but also learn how to regulate it properly. Although I do hope the next couple practices don’t involve as much wind and scary moments, it was a good experience to learn more about sailing in certain weather types. Take a look at the course image I made down below for a better idea of what the course set up would be!