Like Rhe, the main character in my book Sudden Death, I learned to sail at an early age, skimming around Plymouth Harbor in a Turnabout, now called a Class 10. She was small, maneuverable, and came about on a dime (hence its name). Since that time, I’ve crewed on a Columbia 50 on the Great Lakes and sailed a Shields (a 30 foot “mini-twelve meter”) off Newport Beach, CA, but I’ve always wanted to get back to sailing a one-two person boat. Kids and a career intervened, but finally this past winter I bought a used Tanzer 16 (she was a bargain) with a friend. Saturday, we took her out for a shake-down sail, and it was everything I’d hoped for. Wind and sails and the slap of waves on the hull and dancing over the lake. We still haven’t named her, but plan to take her out on the sound side of the Outer Banks next month. Maybe the name will come to us then.
So here’s to all small boat sailors and the exhilaration of being one with wind and water!
you make me want to get back out there myself. I’ve replaced the tires on the boat trailer, got the SUV oil changed and up to snuff and now there’s just the ‘how to get down there and in the water’ part. thanks, you’re an inspiration.
B