Sailing Trip

After my first class on Wednesday morning, I carpooled with my family to Stockton lake. My dad has a client up there who owns a sailboat, and he said that we were welcome to go up there anytime to go out on the boat with him. Leading up to the trip, the weather didn't look very good. The forecast called for afternoon thunderstorms, which had its pros and cons. Obviously, being outside while it's raining means getting wet. But on the plus side, sailboats need a decent amount of wind to perform well. The stormy weather would provide just that.

On the way up to the lake, the rain was coming down pretty hard. By the time we got up there, though, it had died down significantly.

The boat was 36' long, with a cabin that could easily hold 8-10 people. I didn't know cabins on boats were that large, but most of the sailboats at the marina had proportionally large cabins.

We headed up the lake under overcast, ominous skies. My dad's client, Wayne, let me take over the wheel almost immediately. This was my first time on a boat that was moving without the power of an engine. We sailed left up the lake until we were near an island off the coast. Due to the wind, we had to tack, which basically just means that we redirected the sails so that we could go straight across the lake. Once we neared the other side of the lake, we tacked again, and started going back up the lake in the original direction. My dad then took over for me at the helm, and I went up with my sisters to the front of the boat.The sun had just come out, which made for some beautiful pictures with the sails in the background. After another 10 minutes, we turned around and started heading back.

We had planned for a much longer trip, as we're used to going out on ski boats, which is normally an all-day thing. But it was a very fun experience, and one we hope to do again soon.