Helm Time!

I met with Jessie this past Saturday afternoon to get some sailing in with some great winds forecast. The Tampa Bay area was on the outer bands of tropical storm Bonnie that crossed the state and dropped a bunch of rain in the area. Winds had been in the low teens through the morning and a storm front was off in the distance so we knew it was going to pick up and probably wet. After getting Jessie's boat all rigged up for the sail, the engine would not start again. After a week of charging, the batteries were dead again. After accepting that nothing was going to correct the problem, we opted that it be wiser to not try and sail out and back since we did not know what to expect once we were out. It was deemed that it may be too strong and with no engine it would be a much greater risk.

As we were walk back to the car we bumped into Reggie who was coming down to his boat for some afternoon reading. He was not planning to go out as he thought it was not a good idea to go out alone in what seemed to be building conditions. He offer to go sailing if we came along and had no hesitation in saying yes. The breeze was good, the boat was healing and I took the helm for a bit enjoying the rush. As the front approached, I tacked the boat and sailed her back to the entrance to the basin. It was exhilarating to helm under those conditions and keep her straight and sailing along.

After arriving at the dock just in time before the downpour of rain and the arrival of strong thunderstorm clouds, we decided to grab some food and a beer. Reggie again offered to be happy to give me helm time whenever I wanted. He is such a nice man and always so generous with his time, boat and friendship. I hope to take him up on his offer and get some more practice behind the helm. He also talked about a short two day trip to Venice one weekend in October. Let's see if we can make that happen.