Learning how to use a "sailor's palm" to repair a sail
So there I was, floating in the middle of a lake, on the west coast of China. As I looked around, I could see my two crew mates, Patrik and Stefan, floating around also. The boat that we were just in, was now full of water and was on its side. How the hell did I get here? Well here is the story:
Back when we were living in Mexico, I started to get real interested in sailing. Alecia and I went on a few boat trips on the Pacific and Atlantic sides of Mexico. Every time we went, I fell more in love with sailing. When we moved back to Idaho I read a lot of books about sailing. Some were instructional, others were stories of the sea. I followed international races on the web and even had a sailing simulator running on our computer. I had everything an aspiring sailor could want except for a boat!
At one point I was pretty close to buying a used boat from a friend, but my better half (Alecia) convinced me it was not a good idea at the time.
Before we came to Shanghai I read a few tourist guide books. In the back of one book there was a list of sporting clubs in Shanghai. One of them was a sailing club. It’s name was “Shanghai Yacht and Boat Club.” The name alone sounded rather pretentious. I imagined a bunch of old rich duffers who sat around in club jackets and captains hats. After I checked out the web site, I was convinced otherwise. The club let anybody in, you did not have to have a boat, and it only cost $350 USD a year for a family membership. Wow! I could not wait to arrive in China and check it out.
A couple weeks after arriving in China, Alecia and I went out to the “Open Day” on the lake. This is a once a month event that allows non club members to come out and see what the club is all about. Even before arriving at the club I knew I was going to join. We found the people to be friendly and laid back. They even had a sausage shack that served delicious hot dogs and swiss sausages. We also met our good friends Patrik and Claudia that day.
After joining the club at the end of October, I was unable to go back out because I was either on a business trip, the weather was bad, or I was on vacation. I really wanted to go but I did not have the appropriate attire for cold weather sailing.
When we went home in January to travel to Mexico, I picked up some good foul weather gear at Idaho Mountain Touring. When we got back to China I picked up a cheap wet suit at the local sporting goods store. I think I bought the last XL in stock.
At the time, the club did not have a formal training process. One Sunday morning I went down to the club meeting point to see if anybody was heading out to the lake. I met Rick and Neil. Both are from England. I told them I had lots of knowledge but no actual experience. Luckily, Neil had a spot for me to crew on his boat for a race that day. I was so excited. For about three hours I got to pull jib sheets and race around the course.
The next weekend I headed to the meeting spot again. Once again, Neil had a spot for me on his boat. I sat up front and worked the jib sheets once again. The whole time I had a 10 inch grin on my face. I really didn’t care that it was pretty damn cold out. After the race was over I got to take the helm and steer the boat back to our little harbor.
The next weekend we had a open day for the boat show that was going on in Shanghai. I volunteered to help out on the shore, coordinating the visitors that showed up for a ride. I met a lot more of the club members and even got to go out for a quick spin on Colin’s Dragon 5.8.
Back in Shanghai I told our friend Patrik about all of the exciting stuff going on at the lake. He decided he was going to join up too. One of Patrik’s co-workers is actually the “commodore” of the club. He said we should come out the next weekend and take one of the boats out by ourselves.
We showed up that weekend and were greeted by dark skies and blustery winds. The yellow flag was up and not many people were going out. Patrik and I rigged the boat up and put it in the water. After a final check of everything I jumped into the back, grabbed the tiller and pointed us toward the exit of our harbor. Luckily the wind was too our backs at that point. Otherwise I would probably have not made it out of the harbor. Once we got out of the protected area, the wind really started to blow. I had the let the wind bleed over the main sail just to keep us under control. We managed to make some turns and keep the boat going forward. Then it started to rain. We headed back toward the entrance of the harbor, and managed to accidentally hit one of the metal gates. (I will have to send a picture so you can see what I am talking about. It is hard to explain). We turned the boat around and tried it again. The second time was successful and we managed to make it to the dock. Both Patrik and I were relieved to have made it back in one piece.
The next weekend we went out and it was a “red flag” day. The wind was really blowing and nobody got to go out. The only people that did go out were from our neighboring Chinese club and they all went into the lake and had to be towed back. Patrik and I left early so we could go home and play on the sailing simulators.
The following weekend Alecia wanted to come out with us. I said it was fine and that she was likely to find a ride with somebody. I felt that it would not be a good idea if she rode with me because of the whole “husband tries to teach wife a new skill, and wife gets pissed at husband because she does not like him telling her what to do” thing. I was also still learning my helmsman skills and thought she might have a more enjoyable trip with somebody else. As Patrik and I were rigging the boat, one of the club members, Rick, wanted to go out with us to make sure our skills were up to snuff. Once again the wind was blowing hard. This time the wind was blowing right down the exit, and so we had to make series of very tight tacks to get out onto the lake. Luckily Rick is a very good helmsman and did not have much trouble getting out.
When we got out on the lake, the wind picked up speed and made things more difficult. Too add to the complexity the boards on the bottom of the boat were very slick. Every time we had to switch sides I was sliding all over the place. Rick told me, “ You look like a hooker on a mission!” You have to love the British humor.
By the time we got back in the wind was blowing harder and so we decided to head home. Unfortunately Alecia never got to go out on a boat that day. Needless to say I got “the stare” from Alecia the rest of the afternoon. 
The next weekend we had classes again. I went out with a Chinese guy named Tin Tin and an Italian lady named Anna. We went around the lake practicing our new skills. I kept looking to see if Alecia was out on the water. After and hour and a half I did not see her at all. I was worried if she didn’t get to go out that afternoon, that my sailing career might be over. In another 20 minutes she showed up on the rescue boat. Tin Tin got off the boat and Alecia hopped on board. It turns out the first boat Alecia went out on had a small “leakage” problem. The second boat had some other issue. I think she started to believe that sailing was not her sport.
After about 40 minutes of Anna at the helm I asked Alecia if she wanted to give a try. Being such a good sport about things, she took the helm and had no problem controlling the boat. We finished off the afternoon with some tasty hot dogs and beers.
The next week Alecia went back to Boise. Patrik and I went out to the lake on Saturday for some more classes. We were going to practice the “man overboard” drill. This consists of throwing a life jacket overboard then turning around the boat to pick it up again. It sounds easy, but on a small sailboat there is no motor so you have to work with the wind to get back to your target. That day Patrik and I went out with a German guy named Stefan. Once we got out on the lake Stefan made five good pickups for the man overboard. Patrik took the helm and did another five. I grabbed the helm and made one pickup. On the way to the second pickup I turned the boat a bit hard, and all of our weight shifted to the side. The boat started to heel bad, and at that point I knew we were going over.
Normally a capsize in a dinghy is no big deal if your boat is watertight and your mast is not stuck in the mud. You just have to get on the keel and turn the boat back over.
Patrik and Stefan went for the keel and I went for the mast because the tip was stuck in the mud. After a lot of effort the boat came up. We were all excited that we managed to get it up on the first try. Now all we had to do was bail the water and get it moving again. I was still in the water when I heard “Oh Crap (or the German version)” coming from Patrik and Stefan. At that point the boat went over again. Three more times we got the boat back up and every time it would tip over again. Stefan hopped into a waiting 470 boat and left Patrik and I to deal with the boat. The Chinese club rescue boat came over to “help” us out. Unfortunately they were not too educated in how to get a boat up. They also never to turned off the motor when we were swimming nearby. I had to yell at them quite a bit so they would not kill us with the motor or the boat.
By now I started to hear a “gurgling” sound coming from the front of the boat. I also noticed that the bow was starting to go under. Aparantly our boat was not watertight. There was no hope for Patrik and I to get it up again. We decided to tie our boat up to the rescue boat and get a tow back to the harbor. The rescue boat went the wrong direction with the rope. When the boat came up the mast was broken in half. This was caused by having the mast stuck in the mud and the rescue boat going the wrong way.
So that is my story.
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