Back on Elise and back to sailing. It's hard to describe how nice that felt. Just like the clean exhaustion that comes from a strong running effort, or the satisfaction of having climbed up a steep hill. In this case, it's even more special in a way, because Elise is in the picture and because it is something that I share with a lot of people that I deeply care about. It was as if I was welcome back into this community.
The sailing itself was extremely pleasant. Nice steady light winds, enough to fly a spinnaker on a pretty right reach. The wind died just before getting to the harbor, which is of course the time when your engine decides not to start (note to self: I may sell this engine and buy one that we can refuel from a gas tank, not directly into the engine) so we arrived late enough to miss the last bus to Richmond BART. The temperature was perfect.
...and it doesn't get much more romantic than sailing into the sunset.
I am very rusty, and this is as frustrating as with the other sports. It will be fun soon as I will make my way back to normal pretty quickly I expect. Here are some expression of my "alien" status.
a) I was tired at the end of the day. Usually, guests indicate that they are tired at the end of the day, I wonder how that happened since they sat around on deck for most of the time. I will now remember what it feels like, a sensation I probably had long forgotten.
Sailing is tiring: wind and sun are not very friendly and prolonged exposure will definitely fatigue you. Even if you are not moving, your body keeps adjusting to a constantly moving environment. These "behind the scene" moves take up a lot of energy. Playing around with sails does require some effort, something else you will be spending your energy on. In my case, I am still in the process of recovering after brachytherapy and fixing tissue is a pretty taxing activity.
This was primarily expressed in a shorter attention span, slower reflexes (for instance, reacting to a wind shift under spinnaker a little late for comfort) and a general tendency not to run around like I used to.
The good news is that this kind of fatigue is not at all like the treatment-induced one. It feels healthy. This will disappear over time, it's just a matter of regaining endurance. Nothing like a race to maintain high levels of adrenaline to get you through the day :)
b) I didn't have a heavy lunch (some project scheduling issues which I will not talk about here) and a banana and a brioche doesn't provide all the energy and protein required for a day of sailing. With a very empty stomach and low energy levels comes a general feeling of seasickness ;-) Not at all very pronounced but it was clearly linked to my empty stomach as even when there was no movement at all on the boat (eg conditions that I have often sailed in and never had a problem with) or when I was back on land, I was not feeling too good. After an improvised dinner, all was back to normal. Definitely not a common behavior for me.
I didn't care. All these things are such a small price to pay for the pleasure of spending the day on Elise, with Nathan and sailing in one of the most beautiful bays in the world on a fine day...
ps: you see the line right behind me on the pic? That's one of the two aft lifelines which will be replaced. It's just to help make sure that your six-pack doesn't go overboard after a crash tack.
You see the rail that runs perpendicular to the size of the boat? That's the traveler. It is one of the controls for your mainsail. You can close or open the sail, you can twist it. You can use it to power up or depower the sail, or even to help adjust for light (more curly sail) or heavy (flatter) winds.
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