Today's Daily Double is... hands on a tiller!

day one of the on-water weekend. written test at 8am first, all those weeks of flashcards paid off, points of sail, right of way, which lights mean a boat is fishing. passed it and forgot about it bc the actual boat was waiting at the dock.

we motored out of the marina like any other boat and then the instructor says kill the engine and the sails fill and everything goes quiet and the boat keeps going, faster even. every person aboard grinned at the same time, instructor included, and he must have felt it ten thousand times by now.

tacked a real boat for the first time, said "helm's alee" out loud and meant it. did the crew overboard drill and my hands did the thing before my brain finished being nervous, which I guess is what all that drilling is for. you could feel the tide running under the hull all day. Al and I have been staring at charts of the Abacos at midnight for a while now, so it was kinda something to actually be out there with a tiller in my hand.

came home sunburned in stripes (sunscreen applied by a man whose mind was elsewhere) and Lady gave my legs a good long inspection. day two tomorrow. more wind please!