As part of the Bay Area Sailing School‘s ASA 101 Basic Keelboat Sailing course, I had the right to one free 4-hour charter on a 27-foot keelboat. And since I obtained my Bareboat Chartering certification, I was able to take the boat out by myself, as long as I could find an able-bodied crew.

Drew, Alex and Varence all decided that they were down to accompany me on my first bareboat charter. None of them considered themselves to be “competent crew”, but Drew had at least been on a sailing cruise before.

We were assigned a Beneteau 390, which is a 39-foot sloop-rigged keelboat with auxiliary power (diesel engine). That size of boat is fitted out with two bedrooms (“staterooms”), toilet, oven & stove, and refrigerator. We would not be needing any of those amenities, though, on our short trip.

After Glen from the Bay Area Sailing Association gave me all of the forms to fill out and explained where everything was on the boat, he left me with my crew and told us to make sure to get back by 1:00 PM. We spent a few minutes more sitting on the boat in the marina, so that I could explain our sail plan and how the sailing excursion would go. The plan was a typical one for such a short trip out of Kemah – take the boat out under power out of the marina to Clear Lake, motor out past the Kemah Boardwalk, and head out into Galveston Bay until we clear the channel (we take 2 channels to get out to Galveston Bay from the marina in Kemah). After that raise the sails, and start sailing until about 12:00 PM, when we would drop sails and bring the boat back to the Marina.

Since it was a calm day with no wind at the dock, casting off was simple and we were under way in no time. The ride out to Galveston Bay was cool, as it gave us a chance to talk about some basics of sailing, and how to navigate in a channel. Once we made it out to the final channel marker, we turned out and raised mainsail first, then the headsail, and we were off!

Well, we were not really off to a speedy start because the wind was pretty weak. But after 10 minutes or so, we were able to head up to an upwind course, and since around that same time the wind started to pick up, we managed to get a little speed and wind in the sails, and we were sailing on our close-hauled course! Alex was at the helm to start us off, and he had a steady hand which was great. We picked up speed slowly but steadily, the boat was keeled well over, and we made it to about 6 knots by the time we needed to change course via a tack maneuver. Not bad for light winds.

After a short explanation of the mechanics of tacking and the verbal commands and responses, and with Drew and I handling the jib sheets, we handled the tacking with not too much pain. After the tack, Drew took over as helmsman, and he took us first on a beam-reached course, then a more broad reached downwind course. After a jibe, we turned back upwind so Drew could have a hand at helming the upwind course. Since the wind picked up, Drew was able to get us up to almost 7 knots. With the boat nicely keeled over again, this was a good clip to sail on and we all enjoyed feeling the wind on our faces.

After 10 more minutes of that, it was time to start heading back. Varence took over at the helm to get us closer to the shore. The crew pointed out the direction of the first channel marker and we approached the channel entrance, dropped sails, fired up the motor, then I took over helm duties to maneuver into the channel. By this time the wind had picked up and the sea was much more choppy, and so we rocked and rolled a bit as we motored our way back to the marina. Just before we got into the final stretch, a procession of about 25 speedboats began to intersect our path, and it was a bit hairy to find out way though that. But we managed okay, and before long we were heading back into our boat slip in the marina. I was a bit anxious as I don’t have the best track record for docking, but it went very smoothly and all in all we looked like pros as the boat slid gently into its slip and we tied the boat in.

I think this first trip out was a success – I had a good time, no major mishaps, and I’m getting more experience maneuvering the boat in the tight quarters of the marina. I discovered that skippering is a fun experience also, because you have the opportunity to really enjoy the sailing, while giving the crew members lots of time to learn how to helm and manage the lines. I think I can begin to enjoy these types of outings.

The biggest thing I need to work on for the next times out, is managing the dropping of the mainsail when it’s not a in-mast roller-furling type of mainsail. It was a very sloppy and ridiculous looking affair this time out, and it also looked sloppy with the sail cover on back in the boat slip. So I definitely would like some more practice getting that mainsail sorted out properly, because I strive to leave the sailboat in the best condition as possible when the charter is over.

Skipper Joel out.

Click here to see additional pictures from the excursion. (Contact Joel for the password)