My family was in town last weekend, as my cousin Alex was singing in the local Houston Opera. My aunt had asked me in advance if I would be interested in taking the family all out on my boat Saturday afternoon. My aunt and uncle used to have a small Hunter a few years ago and were excited to get the chance to do a little sailing. I have to be honest, I was worrying about taking them out without Freddie all day Friday during the Opera, and all Saturday morning as I picked my cousins up and we all had lunch together.
We waited for my uncle to arrive, who would be my co-captain for the day. Me and Uncle Arty had a brief meeting on weather (it was looking like rain), and decided that we had a window of good weather, and we should take it. We went over the basics of the boat, and what our different roles would be, and with the help of our neighbors, Tina and Ray, we were backing the boat out of the slip. As soon as I had jumped aboard I took over driving and steered us out of the Marina. My first time! All by myself!
At the mouth of the bay we had some choppy waves, where everyone had a blast riding the front of the boat.
My Uncle Art was sooo happy driving the boat that he opted to take us all the way back into the slip. With friends waiting to help us into the slip, and plenty of people aboard to throw lines, we had no problems coming in at all.
This weekend really helped me get over my fear of sailing without Freddie, and helped me feel like I knew my boat more than I thought. I remembered that you don't always need to do everything the best, fastest, most efficient way. In the end, it's just supposed to be fun. Sometimes it's ok if your boat does a few 360s while you are taking the sails down. :) They still come down, and no one really notices anything went wrong.
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