very interesting sailing story

With a catamaran on the Taiwanese ocean coast.

October sailing

This post is for all the people who are thinking of going sailing in those windy days of autumn and wonder how that feels. Today the wind forecast was for 20 knots, so a couple people who are "flexible job-wise" met at our sailing club to go out. We had two sailors on the Nacra (catamaran), me on a Radial and another one on a Laser.
I was wearing a long wetsuit, a shirt, a sweater and heavy splash gear. I did not feel cold. However, the Nord-West wind was so gusty, that it was very hard to sail. The wind went from barely drifting to knocking-me-over in a snap. I was so lucky to stay dry on all my capsizes. Since other people were at the club, ready to save me if needed, I stayed out for a couple of short back-and-forth trips close to our docks. Fortunately, the big multihull-boats from the neighbouring club were mostly gone, so I had a clear playground. In some of the puffs, I would really go fast, hiking well and blasting over the flat water. I actually felt well in control of the boat and that was fun!
Worst thing for me was actually the bike ride home. I had to wear two jackets and my sailing gloves. I should have brought thicker biking gloves, since my hands were hurting all the time. And I had to ride against the wind.
I think that the weather got actually colder after noon, since my friend took his boat out later than me and couldn't stay out because his hands are freezing. The folks on the cat didn't stay long either. Came back in after their first capsize, noting that the Nacra is hard to righten in wind this strong.
Summary: it was a worthwhile experience for me and I think I will go again before the end of season. With more steady wind that's not blowing as hard, sailing should still be fun and not so cold either.

sail trim for beginners

The following holds for Albacores and Lasers unless specifically aimed at one of the two.

Generally:

1. Fine tuning of sails is not very important for pleasure sailing and even not very important in racing unless you are at the top of the fleet. Just make sure that every line is attached, especially the halyards should be well-secured, the outhaul should hold well and that's it.
2. The most important sail control are of course the sheets and before you think about tuning, make sure that you always sheet perfectly, watch your tell-tales and play the sheet to find the point where the sail draws best. Especially in light winds where the wind is coming from many different directions at different times, it's more important to catch that wind than to tune the boat.
   Also, depowering the boat in high winds is done first of all by letting out the sheets. Only when the sail starts backwinding a lot will the pleasure sailor need other means of depowering.
3. Most people see the boom-vang (or kicker) as a means of depowering the boat upwind, but that's actually only one of its job and maybe not the most important one. It is true that vang is only needed as the wind increases, but it is entirely false that vang is only needed upwind. And here's why: as the wind increases, it pushes the middle and upper half of the sail forward, thus lifting up the boom (especially when the sheet is not close-hauled!). This twist in the sail means that the upper part is let out far more than the lower part and consequently at least one the two parts is not drawing well (either the lower part is choked or, more likely, the upper part is spilling air). Since the twist of the sail changes with every little puff and maybe also with waves, this makes the boat very hard to control. It feels like you have to correct sheeting, steering and hiking all the time. Unstable. That's where the vang comes in: you pull the boom down until the top batten in the sail is parallel to the boom again, not twisted out at the leech. In this position the sail has optimal shape, draws perfectly (as long as you sheet it correctly, of course), the boat becomes stable again and you go actually faster than using no vang! That's one of the most important lessons I have learned this year!

Pleasure sailing in not too light to medium winds (Laser and Albacore):

1. (Albacore only) Before you even hoist the mainsail: make sure both sides of the rig tension are cleated and put enough tension to stop the shrouts from flapping loosely. This is important to hold the mast in place for raising the main and for sailing!
   Once you are out sailing upwind or on a reach, you can recheck if the leeward-shroud is still flapping and then tighten the rig tension. But be aware that the windward shrout bears all the tension from the mast and the power of the sails, so it is natural that the leeward shrout is rather loose and this should be left that way! Just make sure, it is not flapping.
2. (Albacore only) If you know what a mast-ram and prebend are, check that they are loose! Racers sometimes forget to undo them and that's not good for the boat.
   
3. Albacore: Set the outhaul with a little tension on it, cleat it, and forget about it.
   Laser: Set the outhaul so that the largest draft at the boom is about one hand deep (i.e. your hand between the boom and sail). Cleat it and forget about it.
4. On the Albacore many people don't even attach the cunningham. On the Laser you always want to attach it, so that the pulley system stays in place and does not fall off. But you don't put any tension on it. (Well, you could, but too much tension is definitely worse than none at all.)
5. Make sure the boom vang is cleated on both sides, but don't put any tension on it. Having tension on the vang can be a problem when letting out the sail for reaches and runs and can also lead to capsizes, so don't use it unless you need to and make sure you release it when you go to a lower point of sail (reach or run).

As you can see this is very easy and pleasure sailing in medium wind does not need any adjustments for point-of-sail, other than than sheeting your sails.
Another trick worth mentioning: raise your centerboard halfway when approaching the dock. This makes it safer in case you sail towards too shallow waters, and it also allows any weeds to run of the board instead of getting stuck in the boardcase when you raise it at standstill.

Pleasure sailing in winds above ten knots (Laser and Albacore):

1. First of all, with more wind, boat handling becomes more important: hike well, let the sail out, steer, all independently without one messing the other up! A Bronze class is a good way to train this, as is going out with an Old Salt in higher winds.
2. Second of all, you want some boom-vang upwind and on reaches as explained above. Make sure that the top batten is more-or-less parallel to the boom. As long as the wind is really high, it is okay to leave some vang on even on a run. You don't need to adjust it all the time. Rather play your sheets!
   
3. Third, if you are going upwind and have to let a lot of sheet out, even if hiking fully, it is time to depower the boat. Here's what I do:

• First of all, check that the rig tension is set as explained above, since you need more in higher winds. This is important to keep the boat together and resist the wind. (Yes, it also changes the shape of the mast, but that's another story and it's why you don't put on too much.)
  
• I assume that you already have some vang on to remove twist in your sail. Now you can put on more and look at which effect it has on your sail: the top half of the sail should become flatter and the mast bend slightly backwards. Removing draft in the top of the sail removes heeling moment and makes hiking easier. But don't overdo it: even with so much vang on, you still can't sheet your sail in all the way (and you don't need to in order to move forward and stay on course).
• When it gets more windy, you can also put some cunningham on to remove the wrinkles that you probably have at the luff of the sail (but don't put more, since it changes the shape of the sail).
• Also, you can tighten the outhaul which makes the bottom part of the sail flatter. But remember that the bottom part of the sail is more important in high winds, since it has less leverage to pull the boat over! As long as the wind is not too strong, don't put too much outhaul on. (Note: outhaul is much more effect on the Laser than on the Albacore!)
  
• As long as you don't overdo the depowering by flattening the sail, it might even make you go a little faster, since it reduces drag. Remember that you are sailing as close against the wind as you can get and it is obviously better to present the wind with less surface on which to push you backwards.
  

Vang versus sheet upwind (Laser and Albacore):

• Especially on a Laser you will notice that pulling your sheet in tight will also bring your boom down by a lot. If you don't have any vang set, you will see that the vang gets a lot of loose in it by pulling the sheet tight. In the Albacore this effect is less pronounced in medium to high winds with no vang on. Especially on a Laser you will notice how the shape of you sail changes just by trimming the sheet between close hauled and very tight (where the pulley on the boom almost touches the pulley on the transom). You can see that this bends your mast and flattens the upper half of the sail. But now, when you want to let the sheet out in a puff, this will first let the boom go up and then out, which is not quite what you want to depower. Therefore, as one rule to set your vang on the Laser: pull the sheet all the way in and then pull the vang just to take all the loose out. As a result, the vang will hold the boom down and you can use the sheet purely to let the sail out and pull it back in. As a nice side-effect, the boom-vang will prevent the transom-pully from lifting up from the hull.

Personally, I think that one would be quite good in racing trimming just those things and not more, as long as boat-handling, tactics (esp. the start) and strategy is right. Unfortunately, however, I am also am those tempted to tinker with all those controls all the time.

sailing plans

From fall 2006 to summer 2007 I obtained a German motor boat license and a cruising certificate for yachts on sea shore. I had no idea that I would not use this certificate at all this year and go into an entirely different direction. Yacht-sailing was made easy for me, because I had previous experience on dinghies. But when I joining the St. James Town Sailing Club, my first deed was to capsize the dinghy that I planned to be tested on and then volunteering to take a beginner's class all over.
This season I spent many, many days at the sailing club. In the beginning of the year I was often not even sailing, because I was not certified yet or the wind was too strong for me to try it. With Albacores, Lasers, Catamarans and many different kinds of races and other activities, the club really never gets boring and there's lots of things that I didn't try yet at all or want to do lots more next year. In order to do as many things as possible, being reasonably prepared for each one and still leaving some time for my work and studies, I want to make a coarse plan of all the things to do.

• First of all, I want to get certification as a sailing instructor. As far as I heard, the chances of getting a job the same season of getting the certification are pretty slim, but I still want to do it for the future. I think it's a more interesting job than TA'ing Computer Science and I also want to do some of the prerequisites anyway.

• Second, I will get the motor boat license (PCOC) and the Toronto Port license, which I need for being an instructor and also for helping out running races.

• Third, I will of course do the bronze IV course that our club will offer in May. I think that people who did this course have definitely become better sailors! (Also, it's a prereq. for being an instructor.)

• Forth, I want to crew as many races of the Friday Night series as possible and be an awesome crew for our awesome helms (and have it reflected in my final standings). I might skip one race to volunteer for the race committee on a Friday Night.

• Fifth, I want to learn my about boat repair and repair more of the damages that I make (haha! of course my goal for next season is not to make any damage) and also work more on general boat maintenance and evolution of rigging. In this spirit I will probably be Boat Captain of one of J-Town's Lasers.
  One thing I already planned for this season (and might still be doing, since Lasers race longer in Fall) is to check out how our friends the Waterrats rig their lasers and write a small J-Town Laser Rigging Manual, based on the photos that I already made, the new information gained from the rats and some modifications that I am currently trying out.
  

• Sixth, I want to become better in the Laser, so that I have more control when sailing the boat (and maybe not be last in some of the races), although I don't plan to race the Laser lots. It's more of a boat for going out and exploring sailing by myself. Excellent, for example for studying wind conditions and doing drills by myself.

• Seventh, I want to work out to get a little more strength in my back and shoulders. This is not just for sailing, since I should generally improve my posture to walk around more healthily and not hurt my back sitting in front of a computer all day.

• Eighth, I want to crew some races with my friend Tim Smith and especially sail the New Helms Regatta with him, where we will probably be quite competitive (even though I insist on helming some of those races).

• Ninth, I want to do some of the local regattas, crewing for one of the Old Salt helms or switch-up pairing with another new helm sailor. Especially the RCYC or OHCC regattas would be interesting since they are out on the lake!

• Tenth, I want to help out with at least one of races/regattas run by J-Town either as race committee or for the food part.

• Eleventh, I want to help organize the Amazing Race for Albacore White Sailors. Since it was so much fun and I can't participate as a competitor, I will be there as a "player of the house". Harr!

• Twelfth, I want to do a little bit of catamaran sailing, just enough to get certified as a skipper and go out from time to time to try out this kind of boat. The cat is wonderful for sailing a bit farther away from our small harbour, since it is fast enough to go there and back in almost no time.

• Thirteenth, and so far last, I want to take part in one out-of-town event such as the Ontario Champs, Canadians or East-Coast Championships. I wouldn't even mind leasing one of the funny east-coast Albacores for sailing it! I would like to crew this event for somebody more experienced and want to train my crewing and strategic skills next season, so I am no embarrassment for whoever takes me out. :-)

Wow, this list is longer than I thought it would be. But I think, it's easy to do by using time more efficiently. This year I spent quite a bit of time, reading and thinking about sailing and I hope I get more sailing next year, by being at the club at the right time for events or for good wind and being less hesitating!
I am looking forward to sail with friends I made this season, by myself, with other experienced sailors and also with new white sailors who will join the club next year.

formal wind-down

As the sailing season draws to an end, I want to reflect on a couple of things, first of all of course so I don't forget them until next season, but also to clear up my mind and see that everything I know is more or less consistent.
First of all, I'd like to mention some of my most remarkable racing results in temporal order:

1. Last place in the J-Town Laser Regatta. I think that Laser racing is quite a bit harder than the Albacore and even though I have improved a bit during the last weeks, I would probably still be last in any given Laser race. (Also of course, because most Laser racers sail their own boats and have lots more training.)
2. Seventh place in the New Helm's Albacore Regatta, helming/crewing with Tim Smith. This result is really good, given that many participants had lots of crewing experience in races and also more helming experience than we did. Even more remarkable is Jaclyn and Patrick's fifth place, since they also started racing only this year. Excellent!
3. Second place in the Amazing Race for Albacore White Sailors, helming/crewing with Marius from Westwood. This was not too hard, since only few people in the race had racing experience and we had an advantage from knowing all the marks and rigging our boat quickly, being the first boat on the water. (Starting gun was on land, with unrigged boat.) Even more interesting was that my friend Tim Smith and his partner Thomas (also from Westwood, I think), won the first place. That's a good omen for teaming up next year! And even more interesting is that our friend Jaclyn was crewing at the Canadian Championships at the time of our little White Sail race. That's also a good omen for having excellent competition in next year's season!
4. Second-to-last place in Klinger's Around the Island Race helming/crewing for Norm Woo. This was certainly one of the most fun events of the year, not only because it took us to waters we never sailed before! Since the race course goes all around the airplane landing water on the west side of Toronto Island, we are actually pretty close to Ontario place. Also we had wonderful wind and the right clothing for the little drizzle and rain that happened half-way through the race. I admit being a little disappoint with our bad placement (given that many other boats without or with only little racing experience were sailing), but we had so much fun and adventure that it completely made up for that. With one capsize and turtle and another almost capsize that took us ten minutes of bailing, we certainly learnt a lot on that day! It is a pity that my friend Anna could not make it that day and sail with me. :-(
5. Fifth crew overall in the Albacore Fall Series, crewing for Ken Yamasaki twice and Mary Neumann once (two races on each day, so it was four overall with Ken). This is a wonderful result and certainly most of this success is just from showing up, since only few people made it to all four races and had the chance to drop two of them. (Another one who always showed up was Lynn Pashley and she won the first place for crew overall. Congrats!) In my race with Mary I learned what happens when I forget to put the centerboard back down at the downwind mark. We drifted gently into another boat and did a very fast 720 which set us back from place 2 to 7. Thanks, Mary! Seven is still an excellent result and I hope that I have learned that lesson forever. :-)
6. Finally, one result that I am most proud of is Yesterday's placement with Ken Yamasaki in the two last Fall Series' races. In the first race, our main halyard came loose, the pole-line fell of and my hiking strap came uncleeted, with me almost falling out of the boat. We had to retie the halyard during the race and tie it around the horn cleat. Our pole came off, because Ken didn't tie it with a bowline to the jib; another lesson learnt, even for an Old Salt! We had lots of fun, flying our jib on runs and reaches by hand and in spite of all this came in 10th in the first race (where the halyard slipped) and third in the second race (still flying the jib by hand). This result is so wonderful for me, because it was for the first time that I ran most of the sail controls by myself, playing the vang in puffs without needing orders and retrimming the rig tension for every leg. My ability to do this is to large part due to Mary who explains all the trimming every time we race together. Also, sailing around the island the day before helped a lot, since I ran all the controls for Norm. I used to be a bit shy doing this in races, because I didn't want to distract the skipper, but now I have the confidence of doing the job without being asked. :-)

Expecially this last result is a wonderful ending for this season and an optimistic look-out to crewing next season's Friday Nights and crewing/helming a couple of races (and maybe regattas) with my friend Tim!

I actually started this because I wanted to write about next year's plans and about things that I learned about sail trim. So please look forward to my next two posts!

Thank you, Alex Upchurch!

So we had 15 knots of WSW wind tonight, dying down to some 6 to 10 NW (rough guess), just before another storm hit. (We were lucky: the rain started just when all sails were back in the locker.)
I thought, I could use today's race training to improve some of my high-wind skills. (For real pros, 15 knots is not that high, but for me it is still quite new terrain.) So I asked to be paired up with one of our experienced crews and that's were Alec comes in!
I had such a good time in this race training! My jib was always perfectly trimmed, my boat was flat, Alec moved so swiftly through the tacks! After sailing a lot with white sailors or even non-sailors, this was so wonderful! I could give all my attention to improve my steering and to find that perfect point of sheeting for the reach. Knowing that I have a thinking and swiftly acting crew, I spent most of my time looking up into the sail and experimenting to make it look right, get my ticklers flying and the boat maybe planing. It's really wonderful how fast those little Albacores are and how easy to sail when there's a great crew taking care of things. Alec, your are such a quite guy and I have surely annoyed you by chatting all the time, often just with myself. That's why I am writing this message in your honour.
Thank you, fellow sailors at J-Town. And thank you, Alex Upchurch!

Diary of a sailor

ROB KOCI'S 2008 Race Diary
thrilling! :-D

how I rig a Laser

I made some photos today of the new racing rigg that we recently installed on the remaining two Laser sail boats.
Here is a quick summary how I rig those boats. Fine-points of rigging are in the photo-descriptions. In my first year at the club, I thought Lasers were hard to rig, but now I think it's really easy and quickly to be done!

1. close the plug and the auto-bailer
2. put the two parts of the mast together and put the sail on
3. make sure the battens are in the sail and put the mast on the boat
4. secure the mast with the tie-down (go once around so the line crosses twice over the rig)
   
5. loop the aft end of the outhaul through the boom and the clue of the sail and tie it to the boom
   
6. bring the fore-end of the outhaul through the pulleys and pull it while plucking the boom onto the mast; secure by cleating the outhaul's handle into it's place
7. set up the tie-down at the clue of the sail (as to remind me of not forgetting this, I always leave the piece of line for this tied on the boom when I derig)
   
8. set up the cunningham
9. tie the loose end of the sheet to the aft-end of the hiking strap, make an additional eight-knot just behind the main block (some people also tie the sheet to the fore-end of the hiking-strap. when you do this, make sure to leave enough loose between the eightknot and the end-of-sheet, otherwise it's awkward to pull when the sheet's all out. currently I am trying a third variant: not tying the main sheet to anything in the cockpit, but having two eight-knots with a fair distance between them, so I always have something to pull on, even when the sheet's all out.)
   
10. bring the sheet through the block on deck and through the ones at the boom don't bring it down to the transom yet, just tie a figure-of-eight at the end
    
11. now I go change into sailing clothes and on my way back bring the life-jacket, rudder and centre-board
12. run the centre-board's tension cord through the little loops created by the mast tie-down and hook or tie them together; install rudder and tiller
13. check the plug and the auto-bailer again and put the boat afloat
14. put the centre-board and the rudder down
15. being at the transom already, pull the main sheet through the block on deck and tie it back to the boom
16. hook-on the boom-vang and secure it with the tension string that's already on the boom.
    
17. check all your lines again and sail off

Remember that this is only the check-list of things to go through, it doesn't say how to do all those things. Anybody who wants to do this for the first time, should get proper instruction first.

nice article about sailing in Taiwan

Tourism: Sailing Clubs Face Rough Seas
"One would think that on an island like Taiwan, a vibrant sailing culture would emerge. So far it hasn’t, but that doesn’t keep enthusiasts from doing what they love."

fastest way to J-Town

From Harbord and Spadina to Regatta Rd, Toronto, ON

via Queens Quay and Spadina: 8.4 km
via Queens Quay to Bay (then John and Beverley): 8.3 km
via Front Street to John (and Beverley): 7.9 km
via Parliament and Dundas (and Beverley): 7.9 km
(replacing parts of that by Sherbourne, Jarvis, and/or College doesn't change the distance)

So I am wasting 400 metres to ride on the nicer road. That seems totally fair to me.

sailing acrobatics

Sail around the mark...Head first into the water...

and back in again...

Skipper William Robertson - was aus der Freiheit der Meere geworden ist

Liebes Publikum,

nun ist es schon 18 Monate, zwei Winter und eine Segelsaison her, dass ich mein "Plan" für die Segelkarriere ausgearbeitet habe. Das Ziel, einmal selbst eine Jacht zu chartern und mit ein paar Kumpels (oder Familie) gen Horizont zu segeln, habe ich nicht erreicht, aber dafür vieles andere von dem ich hier berichten will, um anschließend meine Strategie für die nächste Saison darzulegen.

Ich habe mich im Herbst 2006 in die Obhut der Wassersportschule Nautic begeben und dort über den Winter einen SBF See und einen SKS-Kurs gemacht und die beiden Scheine erworben. Teil des SKS war ein Segeltörn im Sommer an dessen Ende die praktische Prüfung stattfand. In der Segelschule finden alle Theoriekurse in Herbst und Winter statt und den Rest des Jahres wird gesegelt. Ich fand die Schule so gut, dass ich im nächsten Jahr auch noch den Funkschein und den SSS gemacht hätte, aber dann bin ich ja nach Kanada entschwunden und werde meinen guten deutschen Segelschein so bald wahrscheinlich gar nicht benutzen können. Aber dazu später.

Für den SKS muss man nachweisen, dass man so-und-so-viele Seemeilen als "Mannschaft" auf einer Yacht gesegelt ist, wobei Mannschaft kein Vollzeit-Matrose sein muss, aber auch kein Hängematten-Pendler sein sollte. Einfach mal mit anpacken, das Steuer und die Leinen mal mit in die Hand nehmen, zuschauen wie Dinge gemacht werden. Die nötige Meilenzahl erreicht man in der Regel durch den Trainigs-/Prüfungstörn sowie einen weiteren Törn ("Meilentörn"), von deren Art die Wassersportschule natürlich auch verschiedene anbot, meistens in Kroatien, weil dort das Wetter besser ist und die Boote billiger sind. Die Prüfung hingegen fand an der Ostsee statt, damit der Prüfer nicht so weit fahren muss, für einen Tag Arbeit.

Ich wollte aber nicht beide Törns bei der selben Segelschule machen und so habe ich mir einen anderen Meilentörn gesucht. Die Wahl fiel auf eine Überführung vom IJsselmeer in Holland durch den Nord-Ostsee-Kanal nach Kiel. Das war schön günstig, etwas länger als eine Woche (beide Wochenenden waren Törn) und es war auf einem größeren Schiff als einer normalen Sportyacht. Die "Stella Maris" ist ein ehemaliger Gemüsefrachter; umgebaute Boote wie die Stella sind in Holland extrem beliebt, die Häfen sind voll davon, weil man auf so einem Boot auch größere Gruppen (in Stellas Fall: 15) prima gemütlich unterbringen kann und auch schön Platz an Deck hat. Die Fahrt auf der Stella war echt gemütlich, wir haben viele interessante Orte besichtigt (insbesondere Amsterdam) und auch sonst war viel Zeit, um an Deck herum zu lungern und Photos von allem und allen zu machen. Viel, viel Spaß und Freizeit.

Anders war da der SKS-Trainingstörn. Man ist die meiste Zeit mit dem Üben von Manövern beschäftigt, außerdem will natürlich jeder so viel wie möglich üben und für den einzelnen bleibt dann natürlich nicht so viel Zeit. Ich selbst hatte das wichtigste Manöver vorher schon mal mit einem Kumpel und 'ner Jolle auf 'nem Erfuter Tümpel geübt, so dass auf See andere Matrosen Vorrang vor mir hatten. Wir haben auch an ein paar sehr interessanten Orten angelegt, insbesondere Travemünde, wo der Großsegler "Passat" seine Altersruhe verbringt. Generell waren die Matrosen auf dem Törn aber nicht so ausgeh'-freudig sondern haben lieber Abends ein Bier an Bord getrunken oder für die Prüfung gelernt. Schöne Photos gab es trotzdem.

Nach diesen beiden Törns bekam ich also meinen SKS und kann jetzt offiziell eine Yacht chartern und mit Kumpels an der Küste (12 Seemeilen-Zone) entlang segeln. Gerne hätte ich im Anschluss noch den SSS gemacht, weil man damit erstens auf er ganzen Ostsee/Nordsee/Mittelmeer und weitere schippern darf und zweitens (innerhalb der 12-Meilenzone) auch als Skipper arbeiten darf! Mit einer einfachen SSS-Qualifikation bekommt man zwar noch nicht unbedingt Geld für's Segeln, aber viele Törn-Organisatoren stellen den Skipper frei von den Charter-Kosten und er übernimmt dafür die Verantwortung für's Boot. So kann man also immerhin schonmal kostenlosen Urlaub machen!

Da es Heute schon etwas spät ist, werde ich über das Segeln in Kanada ein anderes mal schreiben.

bis dahin, Mast- und Schotbruch!
Robbie

Captian Bob Sparrow -- wie ich mir die Freiheit der Meere vorstelle

Ich habe mich mal im Internet ein bisschen darüber informiert, wie man Segeln lernen kann, und was man dann mit so einer Segelyacht alles machen kann. Ein Meer von Möglichkeiten eröffnete sich mir.

Während meines Urlaubs hatte ich schon eine ebensolche Vielfalt der Möglichkeiten bemerkt, als ich die Lebensweisen von Urlauben auf Campingplätzen studierte. Nach dieser Erfahrung erscheint mir die Aussage „ich gehe im Urlaub campen“ so nichts sagend, weil der Unterschied zwischen der Familie, die ihren Campingcar für drei Wochen eingräbt und ein großes Hauszelt daneben aufbaut, und den zwei Studentinnen, die einfach nur mit Rucksack und Zelt anreisen größer nicht sein könnte. Und dann gibt es da noch die einsamen Radfahrer mit Expeditionszelt, der jeden Abend seine Heringe 100 km weiter einsteckt als er sie morgens herausgezogen hat. (Nur zu Vermeidung von Missverständnissen: mich selbst habe ich damit nicht gemeint: wir waren zu zweit, hatten ein ganz billiges Zelt und unsere längsten Etappen waren 80 km bei ganz flacher Strecke.)

Als ich jetzt über das Segeln las, hat die Erfahrung mit Zelt und Fahrrad und allem, was ich auf der Tour sah, irgendwie meine Vorstellung beflügelt, was ich denn überhaupt erreichen will, wenn ich demnächst den ersten Bootsführerschein mache und danach sofort beginne, mich auf den nächsten vorzubereiten, um irgendwann Kapitän eines Schiffes zu sein. Naja, zunächst einmal habe ich gelernt, dass der Führer eines Freizeit-Schiffes (d.h. einer Yacht) Skipper genannt wird und nicht Kapitän.

Zu allem Überfluss habe ich am Ende meines Urlaubes auch noch den Fluch der Karibik Nr. 2 im Kino gesehen (ein eher schlechter Film, der sich nicht mit dem ersten Teil messen kann), der mir noch einmal mehr Lust auf die Weiten des Ozeans gemacht hat. (Übrigens gibt es tatsächlich Vereine von Amateurseglern, die regelmäßig den Atlantik überqueren.)

Ich glaube die wichtigsten Punkte in meiner Segelwelt sind Freiheit und Lernen. Und als Konsequenz des Lernens dann hoffentlich auch einmal Wissen und Können. Ich glaube die Freiheit lässt sich am einfachsten in einer kleinen Gruppe von Gleichgesinnten erleben, die einfach mal in Richtung lossegeln und schauen, was daraus wird. Das Wetter und die eigene Stimmung bestimmt das Ziel.

Zum Lernen hingegen scheint es mir besser zu sein, mit verschiedenen, vielfältiger zusammengestellten Crews unterwegs zu sein, insbesondere mit einem Guru-Skipper, der viel weiß und kann und auch versteht, es weiter zu geben. Mit einem erfahrenen Skipper an Bord kann man nicht nur viel abschauen, sich viel erklären lassen, sondern kann sich auch viel schwierige Reviere befahren und etwas gefährlichere Manöver vornehmen. Wenn man selbst Skipper ist, muss man da ja schon eher vorsichtig sein. (Ich gehe mal davon aus, dass ich selbst nicht so gut werde wie richtig super gute Skipper. Nur eben besser als Passagiere und Anfänger. ;-)

Ohne überhaupt schon jemals eine mittlere Yacht (also ein typisches Sportboot mit bis zu zwölf Kojen) gesegelt zu sein, schwebt mir jetzt schon vor, alle meine Törns in zwei Kategorien einzuteilen, je nachdem ob es eher Training ist oder eher Spazierensegeln. In ersterem Fall braucht es sicher mehr Organisation, die Teilnehmer finden sich eher nach Segelerfahrung und –interessen zusammen. Im zweiten Fall würde ich eher Freunde und Bekannte mitnehmen, von denen ich die prinzipielle Lebenseinstellung kenne, und dann geht der Rest eher spontan. (Sicherheits- und Komfortausrüstung sollte man natürlich gut organisieren. Auch muss jeder ein Sicherheitstraining machen, wie z.B. einmal über Bord gehen und gerettet werden usw.) Ansonsten hoffe ich natürlich, dass meine Freunde hierbei nicht nur Kreuzfahrtpassagiere sind, sondern sich auch ein wenig fürs Segeln interessieren und auch mal selbst Hand ans Steuer legen.

Bei einem Törn mit Fremden lernt man ja auch ganz neue menschliche Seiten kennen und ich stelle mir vor, dass das sehr interessant ist, persönlichkeitsfördernd auch gerade im Hinblick auf die so genannte Seemannschaft, aber vielleicht auch ein bisschen anstrengend. Insofern bilden die Spazierfahrt-Törns eine angenehm ruhige Ergänzung dazu. Ich könnte mir vorstellen von jeder Art einen Törn pro Jahr zu machen. Und dazu gegebenenfalls auch noch kleinen Kennenlern- oder Auffrischungstörns bevor man auf längere Tour mit Fremden geht.

So, nun habe ich aber genug geschrieben. Spannend wird es, wenn ich in ein paar Jahren die Realität mit diesem Plan hier vergleiche!

Vielleicht noch ein Wort zu den Segelscheinen: SBF See mache ich demnächst, schnell ohne Wimpernzucken, denn er ist absolut nötig um eine Yacht, so klein sie auch sei, zu mieten. Außerdem werde ich den SKS anvisieren, denn es ist ganz nett, mal so ein kleines formales Ziel zu haben und außerdem sind die darin geforderten Fähigkeiten sicher auch eine halbwegs brauchbare Messlatte für Dinge, die man selbst an sich prüfen und immer gut können (notfalls explizit üben) sollte. (Für’s Protokoll: ich habe einen Jollenschein und seitdem zweimal eine Jolle gemietet: Einmal wurde nach dem Schein gefragt (das war gleich am Nachbarsee zu dem, wo ich den Schein gemacht hatte); und das andere Mal, an der Côte d’Azur, fragte der Vermieter nur: „Kannst Du damit umgehen?“ was ich freundlich mit einem „Ja, ja.“ quittierte.)

Aber nun wirklich genug und ran an die Pinne oder wie das heißt.