Its the kind of lesson that should be learned the first time, and sometimes isnt. This sailboat crew wasnt the best. In their first season racing, they were consistent at the finish line - last. In their second season, they captured a couple of second and fourth place finishes. That season an inexperienced sailor joined the race crew. Still the crew did pretty well. Many things can go wrong on a sailboat, and on a smaller boat, bad things can happen quicker than you can say, man overboard. Nobody fell overboard, but getting wet is preferable to getting boomed. After a race and sailing toward home, quite suddenly the wind shifted and the mainsail* switched sides on its own. When that happens, its fast danger. Its called jibing** and is usually done under control. In either case - emergency or controlled - the captain shouts jibe ho!! which means - everybody duck quickly. The new guy didnt duck. The aluminum tube at the bottom of the sail boomed the new guy hard on his head, knocking him end over teakettle. Other than an egg lump decorating his forehead and a raging headache, he was ok enough, poor fellow. Hell not forget to duck again. Me? It took twice, or thrice maybe, getting boomed, to figure out its best to duck. Lets Pray: Dear God, some lessons You teach us hurt; some are hard, and some are hard to learn; some are all three. Help us not be hardheaded about learning. Help us learn the first time. Amen. Heres a Thought: Why must some lessons be learned over and over? Definitions: *Mainsail: A mainsail is a sail located behind the main mast of a sailing vessel. See illustration at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainsail **Jibing: 1.swing across boat: to make a fore-and-aft-sail swing across from one side of the boat to the other when sailing with the wind behind, or to swing across in this way. bing/search?q=jibing+definition&qs=AS&form=QBRE&pq=jibing+definition&sc=3-17&sp=1&sk=
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 10:36:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015