Lizzy
 
Kimmy
 
Emilie
 
Meagan
 
Tom
 
Alex
 
Start Sailing Right
 

Yo, here we go! My cousin Elizabeth (red lifejacket) and I (blue lifejacket) leave the dock area with our sailboat ready to fly! My boat is called a Minisail and it was made in England. I like it because it is easy to rig, easy to sail and it's easy to flip it back upright when we occassionally tip it over. O.K., so we flip it over a fair amount but it's good practice getting the boat back up and running!

The picture above was taken from my grandparent's dock on the western shore of Lake Washington in Seattle. They are very nice to let me keep my boat at their dock. My grampa even built special wooden holders for my boat which makes it easy for me to store it on the dock when it's not in use. He's a very clever fellow. Of course, my gramma's very clever because she took all these great pictures. But I digress. In the picture above you are looking toward the east across the Lake Washington and we are heading upwind to the north-northeast in a light wind.

Of course, we have to rig my boat before we can set sail. Here you see my cousin Kimmy threading the main sheet through the pulleys on the boom. After we attach the main sheet to the boom we clip the boom to the bottom of the sail and we are just about ready to go. We also have to check to see that the main sheet is clipped to the traveller across the stern and that the rudder is set down properly. The last item is to drop the centerboard into it's slot and then we're off. The mainsail itself just sets into a cylindrical holder in the center of the boat in front of the cockpit. Kimmy usually sits in the bow and I take the tiller. From time to time we switch spots on the boat so each of us gets a chance to handle her.

We like to help my cousin Alex with his Sunfish sailboat but this is ridiculous! Lizzy is not a human painter, Alex! (In nautical terms, the painter is the bow line.) Here you can see Lizzy holding the boat to the dock by the bow while Alex whiles away his time at the tiller. He's lucky he's got someone like Lizzy who is so patient with him. But he helped us learn how to sail this summer so I don't really mind helping him.

Here is my cousin Alex getting ready to take his younger brother Kyle out for a ride on his Sunfish. Although it doesn't look like it, Kyle likes to sail. He just doesn't like to tip over. He even went sailing with my Dad this summer in my boat. We'll make a sailor out of him yet!