So as soon as we got a touch of summer in Ireland we got roped into going sailing with our friend Troy who’s a sailing instructor with uSail at the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire just south of Dublin.
We’ve never really felt like we were the sailing types and had never gone out of our way to try it. But we ran out of excuses?
SO there we were, Gays Around The Bay…Around the Bay. Dublin Bay that is!
We learned about sailing terms we had heard from movies and shows for years like mainsails, gybing, down/upwind, port and starboard. And many other things we hadn’t heard of like “Tacking” (also referred to as “coming about”) which is an action necessary to continue to move the boat into the wind. But it’s also the BIGGEST HAZARD while sailing as it results in the “Boom” (The big long horizontal pole on the mainsail) to repeatedly swing back and forth across the boat.
But if you ain’t ready when that boom swings across, you’re going RIGHT into the ocean. Which is why you learn to communicate effectively VERY quickly.
And the boat can get surprisingly fast cruising across the bay for what seems like just a bit of wind in the sails but when you hit the wind at the right angle the boat can go what feels like full vertical up on its side. So ya bare down, clutch in and keep focused on not screwing up, letting go of the sails and sweeping every into the water or crashing into the cruise ship you’re creeping up on quite quickly! haha.
But it was way more fun than we thought it would be and we would totally recommend it. If you’re in the Dublin area you can look into booking at uSail.ie.
Or wherever you are, think about giving sailing a try! You won’t regret it.
Thanks guys! And huge thanks to Troy for showing us a good time on the water!
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Thanks guys!
Chris and Larry
