Learning how to sail on a 27' Ericson

Sara and I bought a boat!

My first trip on a sailboat was in 1994, when my cousin Richard and I sailed across the English Channel to bring back a boatload of duty-free wine and booze from France. I never knew you sometimes want to be strapped to the mast, and I have never been able to drink cider since! Sara had also been on sailboats before, but neither of us really knew what we were doing.

We wanted to learn 'the right way', with classroom and on-the-water instruction, and we also wanted to learn first in small boats. It's so much easier to feel what the boat and wind are doing in a dinghy, even if you do get whacked with the boom once or twice.

We signed up for the US Power Squadron's free Boat Smart course, which covered everything from knots to right-of-way. It also was an introduction to the wonderful people at the Carquinez USPS and the Vallejo Yacht Club.

Next we took dinghy sailing lessons with the VYC in their little tub-like dinghys. Lots of fun sailing up and down the harbour, and around bouys in the Carquinez straight. Highlights here were taking a laser out into 20knts of wind and getting catapulted over the sail when gybing a little too hard.

After dinghy sailing we wanted something a little bigger so our friends could join us. We bought a 27' Ericson named "Velella" in Antioch and sailed her a few hours to a closer berth in San Rafael.

I was freaked out the keel was going to fall off, the shrouds were too loose and the mast would come down, the steering would fail, and of course we only had handheld VHF radios so no one would hear our cries for help. Sara was a rockstar - calm and collected.

We didn't sink, our first slightly-terrifying sail in our new boat was just fine.