After taking the Bay Area Sailing School‘s ASA 101 Basic Keelboat Sailing course, each student gets 1 free “mentoring” session with a captain, and 1 free charter. I decided to wait until I was certified to take boats out bareboat, before taking advantage of my mentoring session. And it worked out good because I did not get a lot of practice taking boats out of a slip and docking while under motor.
Captain Vernon is the old-timer who accompanied us on the mentoring session. The session lasts about 4 hours, from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM, and its main purpose is for the sailing school to give the students sufficient training and practice for them to take boats out safely without supervision. This means mainly getting sailors comfortable and proficient in docking while under motor, and also taking us out to the bay to show us the safest way to get in and out, and where to sail and where not to sail.
There were four of us out: me and a lady who was also certified in ASA 103/104, and a couple who had just finished their ASA 101 course.
The docking drill was for each of us to take the helm, back the boat out of the slip, turn out to the main traffic lane, make a u-turn, then put the boat back into the slip under motor. This is the most daunting part of sailing for me – once we’re out on the water I am fairly confident in my skills, but it is the docking and maneuvering in tight quarters with the motor that makes me the most nervous. Especially since you can damage the charter boat or even worse, another boat owned by somebody else!
The drill was a great start to building my confidence. Two times of docking with the instructor guiding me, and then once with no guidance. I managed to get the boat into the slip without any mishaps all 3 times, so I am starting to get more comfortable with the whole motoring thing.
After all four of us finished the docking exercise, one of us took us out of the marina, out past the Kemah Boardwalk, and into Galveston Bay. I was surprised to find out that the area just in front of Kemah Boardwalk is known as Galveston Bay, because for me Galveston Bay is nearer to the actual city of Galveston. Once in the bay and clear of the channel, we all got practice in doing man overboard (MOB) drills while under motor. The technique is fairly simple – if the MOB falls on the port side of the boat, first note the compass heading, then turn quickly to port for a few seconds, and make a circle turning to starboard. You straighten up when the boat is heading at the previous heading minus 180 degrees. Simple!
Captain Vernon decided that it was best for us to sail with a Jib only. This was not really due to the wind or sea conditions, but more because of the amount of time required to raise and stow the sail on the Beneteau 32 that we were sailing on (The course was only 4 hours, and by this time we only have about 1.5 hours left).
I had never sailed with only a Jib, so this would be a new experience for me. In the end it was not a huge deal – you sail just as you would as if the mainsail was hoisted. The boat even heels mildly when on an upwind course. So it was new to me, but not much more to learn, really. And when the wind picked up, I was surprised to see just how fast the boat would go with only the headsail up. Captain Vernon did say that if the mainsail were in play we would go 50% faster, but I was still impressed at that one sail’s power.
After we all had 10 minutes or so each at the helm under sail, we turned back towards the marina as the mentoring session was almost over. After another student took us in, I was to get us back into the slip. First time in? FAIL 🙁 I started to turn in too late, and I would have rammed the bow into a piling if I hadn’t quickly slammed the engine into reverse gear at full throttle at the last minute. Captain took over the helm to recover, backed us up back to a safe point, and let me have another go at it. This time I made it in the slip just fine, and after the crew secured all of the docklines and we plugged back in to shorepower, the session was over and we parted ways.
In the end the mentoring session was just what I needed. A lot of the time I was just hanging out on the boat, as much of the instruction I already had as part of the ASA 103/104 Combo course. But I definitely learned a great deal about how to safely guide a large sailboat into a slip, and the practice has made me much more confident about taking the boat out on my own.
I have now reached the point where the instruction needs to stop for awhile, and I need to just start getting out on the water on my own and get that sailing experience in! Now just to find a worthy crew….