Friday the 13th Nightmare!

Voyage date: 8-13-10
Departure: 17:45
Arrival: 19:30
Logged sailing hours: 1.85 hrs
Conditions: 91F, wind 10-12kts ENE, sunny, hazy

I am have never been a superstitious person until today when I decided to go sailing on Friday the 13th! When I arived at my mooring @ 17:20, the I couldn't get my sails on quick enough! The wind was kicking at 10-12 kts perfect conditions for a great sail! Within less than a half hour, I had rigged the jib and mainsail, locked in the tiller to swing me around to the south to catch a perfect ENE wind port close reach tack and head to point 1 upwind and miss the dock to the southeast. Departure and arrival are the most precarious moments in sailing especially with sail and oar power alone. I currently have to push the boat out of my mooring paddle into position, raise the sails and depart away from all the moored boats to the south, dock to the southeast, and pier to the northeast. This process reminds me of my pilot training during takeoffs and landings. The difference here is without power via a trolling or outboard motor, you only get one chance to get it right similar to a glider pilot without an engine on final approach to land. With all the great sails recently, I have become a bit complacent to the fact that every sail is going to be a smooth sail. I have had a few terrifying experiences that help remind me to be vigilant at all times. EVERY SAIL IS DIFFERENT! At 17:45, I released the stern and bow lines including the cable attached to the mooring, and leaned on the bow and to push toward the stern to depart - I couldn't push the boat back. I surveyed all lines, all were detached and the boat was free but it felt like someone was pushing on the stern of the boat and I couldn't make it budge but a foot or two before it would float back into my arresting line at the bow. At this point, I was becoming more frustrated because I wanted to capture the wind and sail away! Normally the wind is coming out of the southwest and I haven't experienced this problem of wind resistance directly off the stern. With a SW wind, the boat turns easily into position for a starboard tack to point one. However, today FRIDAY THE 13TH WAS A DIFFERENT SCENARIO! In my haste to start sailing, I pulled the boat foward into the arresting line as hard as I could so it would slingshot me into the wind, I jumped on the boat, grabbed my oar and paddled with all my might directly into the wind and mother nature kicked my ass! Rather than turning around and harnessing the wind, some freak force of nature pushed the starboard side of my boat around 180 degrees and I was heading back towards my friend, Charles Honeycutt's MacGregor, on course for a direct collision for the stern of his boat. "Holy bleep" What the bleep am I going to do now. The wind picked up and I was barrelling toward the shore with the mainsail fully hoisted and I was on a starboard tack heading the wrong "f" ing direction. "Holy bleep!" Before I was turned around like a toy sailboat, I almost started to sail after my slingshot maneuver, and was able to deploy my mainsail, but today was a differernt day - IT WAS FRIDAY THE 13TH! What was supposed to happen didn't happen and I was living a nightmare. "HOLY BLEEP!" I had to sever the coulda woulda shoulda thoughts and focus on the moment. What can I logistically do at this point to prevent disaster? Since I had run the main and jib halyards into the cockpit attached to jawed camcleats, I could quickly and efficiently raise and lower the sails. Before I created this rigging, I used to have to physically get out of the cockpit and walk up to the mast, remove the halyards off the cleats, pull the lines to raise the sails, and reattach to the lines to the cleats. I thought this process was very inefficient and time consuming especially during high wind solo sailing. With sailing my M.O (modus operandi) is economy of motion. During departure and arrival seconds are critical! Thank God I had my new rigging! I was 30 yards from impact heading west rather than southeast @ 6-7 kts toward the shore. "HOLY BLEEP!" Let's head back to the reality of the emotions I was experiencing at that moment in time. Fear vanished from my psyche, as I entered a zen like trancendental state during this chaos. I instinctly became aware of the how calm and relaxed I was in lieu of the present state of affairs I was experiencing. Everything I had learned and the sailing drills I did over the last several months just all fell into place. Repetition is the mother of skill. This is the reason why our military pilots train every day. Rather than thinking, I was doing what I had already done several times before. This is just another maneuver, I can do this. It was like I was observing this event as a third party detached from the event at hand. I surveyed the tell-tales, they were pointing toward the port bow side of the boat indicating I was on a starboard broad reach port tack. To bleed speed, I simultaneously pulled the mainsail halyard out of the camcleat to lower the sail and pushed the tiller hard right to initiate a jibe maneuver through the eye of the wind to whip the boat around so I could get on a close reach port tack. Quickly grab main halyard and hoist mainsail, insert in camcleat, done. Surpise # 2! When I realized I was going to miss Charles' MacGrgor, another potential collision came into view as the bow moved port. I saw two guys fishing in a flat bottom boat tied between two morring posts sipping an undisclosed beverage less than a minute from impact! "HOLY BLEEP!" "Which way is backwards?"All I could think of at this point was a scene from the classic 1980 movie Caddyshack when Rodney Dangerfield was hauling ass in his yacht and the look on this black guys face fishing in a similar boat I was about to hit! Rodney severed the black fisherman's boat, fortuitiously I escaped fate one more time! These guys I was about to hit had the same big, round, white, bug eyes! See video of this scene below. I love that part in the movie. Ironically, as I whipped around inches from their position, all I heard them say was Joe Kennedy is sailing again today! Not sure if that is my new nickname from the local fisherman, but I did look good sporting my en vogue wrap around black sunglasses and mildew-laden Kent life-jacket (the one my mother says looks like it was monogrammed for a guy named Kent). Who knows, perhaps it was my confident posture as I averted disaster! Not sure what that was all about, but it the whole scene was hilarious. Surpirise # 3: possible collision with dock to the southeast. At this time, I was going the correct direction away from the fisherman, away from the shore, and away from the other boats. However, I did not have enough steerage yet for forward momentum and the wind was pushing my mainsail and entire boat toward the floating dock. Adding insult to injury, the wind shifted directly east. I looked up at the tell-tales and they were streaming directly backward and my sails began to violently luff. I was going backwards again. In order to achieve forward momentum, I would have to turn toward the dock and capture the wind on a close reach port tack to avoid another possible collision. I defied fate again and missed the dock by two feet. What seemed like an eternity probably only lasted 15-20 minutes. I was away from all hazards and I began to heel over on a comfortable beam reach port tack. Surprise # 4: what started out as perfect wind conditions became light and variable and deteriorated to no wind. I was in the irons. It took me an hour or so to make it to point one with the aberrant wind changing directions every few minutes. What an intersting adventure. Are all these strange events happening because it is Friday the 13th? I was beginning to wonder. After reaching point one, I did not venture to point two, but was able to do a 180 and catch a steady 5kt breeze starboard beam reach tack all the way back to my slip for a perfect, non-eventful arrival. Evidently, the evil spirits had left Salem Lake. I enjoy the challenge of being a sailing purist, but plan on installing some power to assist me on these Friday the 13th type of days! Another day in paradise! The worst day of sailing is always better than the best day of work!

Video 1: black man's big bug eyes before hit by Rodney Dangerfield's yacht
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Kez_Cs-_I&feature=watch_response

Video 2- full scene from Caddyshack Rodney Dangerfield reckless yacht driving and the black fishermans big bug eyes @ 1' 05" mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGD-tUsySPs