Sailing Lesson

Our Crew – Myself, Brad, Ryan, Kim, Kimberly, and Bryan in Lake City, MN

A big part of our upcoming trip will be sailing in the Adriatic Sea out of Trojir-Split, Croatia.  Kim and Ryan obtained their International Sailing Certification last Fall and took the winter to study for their written portion of the certification.  We have been ‘sailing’ with the Kim and Ryan since 2002. Sailing is in quotations because that usually meant, we did whatever they told us to do without question and I could not sail to save my life.  Because we will have the 6 of us adults and 6 children on this sailing adventure, we needed some serious training and had a gorgeous day to do so.

We started by learning how to tie knots and how to secure the boat.

Kim Showing Us How to Secure the Rope on the Cleat

 Kim and Ryan Showing Us How to Hold the Boat

Ryan Showing How to Tie a Clove Knot

Kimberly, Bryan, and Brad Getting Ready to Secure the Boat Once in Port; Myself Learning to Hold the Boat

Kim Instructing Us How to Let Out the Main Sail

We practiced Man Overboard Drills which was really important for us to do.  It was so good that we had the discussion of what to do in case this happens and that we practiced this drill a few times.  We all agreed to run this drill once in Croatia so we can help the kiddos remain calm in the water if they do go overboard and so that we all know what to do.  The person who first sees the person go overboard yells out “Man Overboard” and their only job is to be the spotter of that person in the water.  At this point, the kids will all go below deck so that we can have a lesser amount of people above deck to limit the chaos.  The rest of the adults will help the captain watch out for other boats and help direct him/her to the man overboard.  There is a hook with a long arm that the person can grab on to once we are close to them and that will help guide them to the stern of the boat to get back on.

We learned a ton and Kim and Ryan did a GREAT job of instructing us.