I became a better sailor today…. by “failing”
My cousin has a Hobie 14 catamaran that we have sailed on a small Missouri lake (Lake Tapawingo) for the past two years… probably 20+ times total.
We also sailed a Hobie 14 on Potrero Bay, in the Pacific Ocean of the shores of Costa Rica. Here is a brief clip of that sail…
We have always sailed in conditions that were “comfortable” for us… about 10 knots of wind, both on the lake and ocean… and we have become very good at sailing this small/ quick boat.
We have never gotten into trouble, had any mishaps, and were feeling pretty confident about our skill level.
After our last time sailing in the ocean, we both agreed that we would like to test ourselves by sailing in some more extreme (windy) conditions.
Those conditions presented themselves yesterday (20+ mph winds) so we took to Lake Tapawingo to test our skills.
On our first trip across the lake… maybe 2-3 minutes into the sail we got tested.
The wind picked up and immediately capsized the Hobie. While we had read, and knew how to right the vessel, we had never been forced to do it.
As we gathered ourselves (and gear that was floating everywhere) the Hobie “turtled” on us … went completely upside down… mast pointing down into the water, bottom of the boat up.
After about 30 minutes of work (and with the help of two other boaters, one of which had experience sailing a Hobie) we were able to get the boat righted and started off.
Learning from our first mistake, we adjusted our weight on the boat to help prevent another capsizing and began sailing again…. and had several minutes of good sailing, putting to use our new knowledge of managing the boat in higher wind.
Then we got tested again…. another big gust and over we went!
This time, though, we got the boat righted immediately and were again on our way.
We had learned from our first “failure” and handled this challenge with relative ease.
A broken part on the rudder prevented us from continuing, or we may have been tested even more. As it was, we licked our wounds, dropped the sail, and ingloriously paddled the boat back to the dock.
At the dock we both debriefed… looking at what we could have done differently (better), what mistakes we made, and what we had learned.
We both agreed that, although we didn’t get a lot of sailing in that day, that we were glad we went out… that we tested ourselves.
It is only by getting out of our “comfort zone” that we can grow. It is only by testing our limits, that we can expand our limits.
I know now that I improved my Hobie sailing skills because of our “failures” that day.
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Remember – You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!
Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com