Sailing, Sailing / Over the ocean blue...

Greetings again! It's been a while, and entirely my fault.

However, I've got a couple of neat posts. This one is devoted to the random call I received late this morning from my friend Ryan, inviting me to go sailing with him and Chris. Well, heck, I'm always up for sailing! And luckily, he'd caught me after my shower. So I bundled up (remembering how absolutely frigid it was the last time I agreed to do this (I was holed up in the cabin for the last 90 minutes of the trip because I couldn't take the freezing winds), and they picked me up.

It was only after they'd picked me up that Ryan admitted to being hungover. YAY. I wondered aloud why he was going on an unstable vessel that rocked back and forth, and he said it was a good cure for a hangover. Fine... well, towards the end he said he wasn't feeling very good, and I was very afraid of him horking over the side of the boat, but he ended up being fine and said he felt much better after we finally got back to the marina.

Check out the photos! It never occurred to me to ask one of the guys to take my picture doing something on the boat... Next time. :) I'm actually getting better, though - Ryan had me help hoist the main sail (I moved a rope clip and untangled a line), and also untangle the jib(e?). Basically, I asked if they needed any help, and just did what he told me. I also got to steer for some of the trip, which is fun, now that I am getting the hang of it - the last time I went out, I thought that the rudder was more sensitive than it really is, and I was barely moving the keel (is that the right word? Obviously, I didn't grow up doing this!) at all.

Here is Chris when we were first getting ready to unfurl (?) the main sail:


Here is a great view of the Olympic mountain range beyond the sail....oh yes, and my face ;) :

Here is Ryan, steering. I think this is when we were first leaving the marina, so he was using the outboard:

OK, here is the landscape of the Olympics:

And, finally, the Yachtette. I love reading the sometimes ridiculous names people decide are fit for their boats. It reminds me of the Futurama episode where you see Calculon's yacht "Calculon's Pride" sailing in a pool on a gigantic yacht called "Calculon's Talent":