Rented a 35' sailboat today

[JulesMaximus]

A friend of my son's Mom heard me talking about renting a 26' sailboat a couple months ago and asked if I would take her and her son out for his birthday so I agreed. She invited a couple of his friends and naturally the parents also wanted to come along so we ended up with 11 people (5 children and 6 adults) so a 26' boat would not do.

Anyway, she ended up booking a 35' Catalina and naturally I was the captain seeing as how I'm the only one who knew how to sail. There was one other Dad on the boat so I enlisted him to help me handle the sails. It was a little rough at first getting the basics down but he was a quick learner and soon we were tacking with little fuss.

We sailed right out of downtown San Diego and spent the entire afternoon sailing around the bay. Wind was blowing a constant 10 knots with 15 knot gusts, temps were in the low 80s and it was sunny. Absolutely beautiful sailing weather.

And we only lost one 8 year old overboard.

The birthday boy was making his way long the starboard rail and tripped, grabbed the lifeline and it broke sending him right over the rail. My first mate was in the water within seconds and I quickly furled the jib and turned the boat around to pick them up. The boy was wearing a PFD and we had him recovered within minutes so everything was okay. It will make for a great story to tell years from now and we were all laughing about it minutes after everyone was back onboard.

 

[zerocool84]

Did you tow it with your bike?

 

[FoBoT]

good job on the pfd :thumbsup:

 

[BUTCH1]

Glad to hear everyone's OK, sounds like fun. what does "furled the jib " do, cause a boat to stop?.

 

[Sentrosi2121]

Fitting because yesterday was National Talk Like a Pirate Day. Learning to sail is one of those things I'd love to learn how to do someday.

 

[El Guaraguao]

BOATS N HOES!

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: BUTCH1
Glad to hear everyone's OK, sounds like fun. what does "furled the jib " do, cause a boat to stop?.

Allows me to turn the boat around while we try to pick up our passengers without flogging the jib to death and keeps it from filling with wind and moving us too quickly. The guy who was helping me handle the sails jumped overboard to assist the 8 year old so I had to be able to handle the sheets and steer the boat quickly.

Here's a nice pic taken after the incident and after we passed under the Coronado Bridge.

Text

 

[RichieZ]

how does one learn to sail?

 

[Exterous]

I imagine that was quite a fun day!

 

[Blieb]

Awesome! Hysterical that the overboard was the birthday boy.

 

[Billb2]

Originally posted by: RichieZ
how does one learn to sail?

Take lessons.

Learning to sail is like learning to play chess. You can learn how in 15 minutes, but it takes the rest of your life to get good at it.

Been sailing for 40 years now.

 

[skyking]

most excellent!

 

[Sea Moose]

I have been sailing for 19 years, im 24 years old


(yes, i started when i was 5)

 

[imported_yetti]

seems appropriate

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Good story Jules, glad the kid was alright :thumbsup:

 

[rbV5]

Sounds like they had some rotten lines onboard? My brother lived on his 30' Catalina when he lived in San Diego, awesome place to live without having to be rich. Cool story...love the sailing

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: rbV5
Sounds like they had some rotten lines onboard? My brother lived on his 30' Catalina when he lived in San Diego, awesome place to live without having to be rich. Cool story...love the sailing

The lines weren't rotten, the swage eye clip that held the lifeline to the stanchion was probably worn or rusty and just popped when he put his weight on it. The guy at the boat rental place actually said that they weren't designed to hold the weight of a person which was bullshit...especially an 8 year old.

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: rbV5
Sounds like they had some rotten lines onboard? My brother lived on his 30' Catalina when he lived in San Diego, awesome place to live without having to be rich. Cool story...love the sailing

The lines weren't rotten, the swage eye clip that held the lifeline to the stanchion was probably worn or rusty and just popped when he put his weight on it. The guy at the boat rental place actually said that they weren't designed to hold the weight of a person which was bullshit...especially an 8 year old.

Really, are they there just to hang Christmas lights on?:disgust:
I miss sailing and stories like this might move me in the proper direction.
One of the couples we met here in the UK are workaholics, but I enticed him with a week boat rental and a trip through the San Juan Islands. It might be enough to get them to visit us.

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: skyking

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: rbV5
Sounds like they had some rotten lines onboard? My brother lived on his 30' Catalina when he lived in San Diego, awesome place to live without having to be rich. Cool story...love the sailing

The lines weren't rotten, the swage eye clip that held the lifeline to the stanchion was probably worn or rusty and just popped when he put his weight on it. The guy at the boat rental place actually said that they weren't designed to hold the weight of a person which was bullshit...especially an 8 year old.

Really, are they there just to hang Christmas lights on?:disgust:
I miss sailing and stories like this might move me in the proper direction.
One of the couples we met here in the UK are workaholics, but I enticed him with a week boat rental and a trip through the San Juan Islands. It might be enough to get them to visit us.

Not designed to hold the weight of a person? Yikes Alls well that ends well I guess.

The San Juans are awesome, a week up there would be sweet :thumbsup: I haven't been there in quite a while, but spent some time up there in the Summer when I was younger. Love that part of the Northwest.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: Sentrosi2121
Fitting because yesterday was National Talk Like a Pirate Day. Learning to sail is one of those things I'd love to learn how to do someday.

IMO, getting the basics of sailing down is simple. Learning to sail in shitty weather is a fucking art form that few have the balls and skill to do properly.

 

[dabuddha]

Bangboat?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: rbV5

Originally posted by: skyking

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: rbV5
Sounds like they had some rotten lines onboard? My brother lived on his 30' Catalina when he lived in San Diego, awesome place to live without having to be rich. Cool story...love the sailing

The lines weren't rotten, the swage eye clip that held the lifeline to the stanchion was probably worn or rusty and just popped when he put his weight on it. The guy at the boat rental place actually said that they weren't designed to hold the weight of a person which was bullshit...especially an 8 year old.

Really, are they there just to hang Christmas lights on?:disgust:
I miss sailing and stories like this might move me in the proper direction.
One of the couples we met here in the UK are workaholics, but I enticed him with a week boat rental and a trip through the San Juan Islands. It might be enough to get them to visit us.

Not designed to hold the weight of a person? Yikes Alls well that ends well I guess.

The San Juans are awesome, a week up there would be sweet :thumbsup: I haven't been there in quite a while, but spent some time up there in the Summer when I was younger. Love that part of the Northwest.

They are designed to hold the weight of a person. The guy who told us that was full of crap and was just trying to deflect responsibility for a worn piece of hardware on their boat.

If you fell and grabbed a lifeline you might bend or break a stanchion but they should prevent you from going overboard. That's what they're there for. And an 8 year old? It sure as fuck should hold the weight of an 8 year old child.

 

[skyking]

yeah my rolling eyes were directed at the guy at the boat rental place. WTF would you put a line on like that if not to support or assist, LOL.