What do you do if you don’t own a boat? – part 2

So the water…. That’s what we’re missing. And we want to brush up on our sailing skills. So we go out for the day. Early in the morning we (2 of us) are in the car. We take our life jackets, sailing pants, sailing jackets and some refreshments with us. The weather is kind to us, a wind 2-3 predicted, sunshine there.

Around 10 o’clock we arrive at Hoora, a boat rental company in Heeg. About a year and a half ago, we also rented a Poly-Valk here, but then we only had a wind force 4-5.

Preparation

We get on board with a little bit of excitement, what was it like again? Line here, line there, red halyard, blue halyard, crane line, mainsheet, jib sheet…. Yes, slowly we remember. We manage to make the Valk ready for sailing on our own. A last check with the landlord before departure shows us that we still knew.

We cross the channel on our little outboard and look for a jetty to hoist the sail. But of course not without a plan. Before we moor we have already thought about how we are going to sail away from there (despite a lower shore). I feel some tension while hoisting the sails, but I have Roelof with me so I’m not really worried. Until I look into his eyes and also discover some tension in him. Come on, just do it, we managed with wind force 5 so this should definitely be possible. And yes, without any problems we sail away. Just to get used to it, first we sail around the island on the mainsail only. Within a few minutes we feel comfortable on the water.

We make a kind of plan, what course do we want to sail, where do we want to go. Let’s see if it works out. At first, it’s a headwind and behind the island it changes a bit in strength and direction. We manage to sail our course. We tack and tack again. Yes, we have also discovered the jib-box.

Together

The sun is shining, the wind in our hair, the water against the polyester of the Falcon, what a pleasure this is. We have lunch on the second island on the Heegermeer, and then sail along it so that we have a challenge to sail back along it close to the wind. We look at the courses of other boats, copy some and choose our own path. We go back and forth twice and it’s nearing the end of the afternoon. It’s time to head back home. With the wind, the sun and the water in our faces, we return home satisfied. It was a fantastic day, we can do this together…. We can work together, give each other space and trust, we can be happy together on the water. And confidence is growing that we can also sail a cabin sailboat together… no matter how exciting we think it is.