Sailing in Puerto Williams

Small wind waves chuckled against the bow. I tightened the main sheet and the boat accelerated. I zipped across the water, grinning. I sat on the edge of the boat, leaning out to see ahead. The shore drew nearer. I shoved the tiller across, loosed the main sheet a little, and ducked under the boom. I adjusted my course and tightened the main sheet; again I accelerated. For 90 minutes, I sailed back and forth, figuring out how to sail the Optimist as fast as possible.

I loved sailing the small boat. The fact that I had to hold onto the main sheet the entire time made it more fun. Having spent every summer as well as the past year and a half sailing on big boats, I understand the basics of sailing. Even so, I still have lots to learn. Sailing a small boat like this is a great opportunity to learn more about things like how high you can point, the effect of pulling in the main sail, and which points of sail feel the fastest. Sailing the small 7 foot boat was much different from sailing Sila or our previous boat, Galatea. For example, on Galatea, you had to push the tiller pretty far to make her turn, but on the Opti, a small nudge of the tiller results in a big turn. In general, the Opti is more responsive because if you do the same amount of work pulling in the main, the little boat turns, tips, and accelerates faster than similar effort on Sila. The fact that it is more responsive makes it more fun for me because you can feel the effect of everything you do.

When I got back from the sailing school, I found out that Mama and Daddy were even more excited than I was about the fact that we had the chance to sail in a small boat. My parents have been looking for this kind of opportunity since we were in Spain, or earlier. Rabbit and Mama met the instructor, Mauro, from the sailing school on the dock. He then invited us to come take a class. Tomorrow we are going again, and I can barely wait. - Porter