Baltimore Harbour Single-handed Success

Single-handing!

Our first week has passed and we have to vacate Number 3. We pack up our suitcases and tidy up the house. Back in Creagh we help Danny bring in the cows. The weather is still good, with light winds forecast for the day so I’m hoping to go sailing this afternoon. Laura says she is not interested, and I’ve been thinking to myself that it would be very useful if I were able to single-hand the boat. Then I wouldn’t have to rely on an unreliable crew, I could sail when the girls can’t or don’t want to sail. So Eileen agrees to accompany me for a few hours today where I will try to do everything myself and she will be there if I need help, or to call for help if I fall in!

Before heading out, we stop at Bushes for a toasted sandwich and a drink. We get a table outside on the square, which is busy with holiday-makers taking the sun. While sitting there, I feel something hit my shoulder. Looking over, I see that a seagull has dive bombed me! Crap! Literally!! I wipe it off as best I can with a napkin and remind myself that this is in fact supposed to be good luck… I place the dirty napkin on the table in front of me, and it just sits there. Doesn’t even flutter. I can’t believe it, I’ve never seen it so calm in Baltimore. This weather really is exceptional.

I decide to go with the jib and main, as the jib can easily be rolled away without having to go forward. For getting on and off the mooring, I’ve been studying some of the methods in a book called “Stress-Free Sailing: Single and Short-handed Techniques” by Duncan Wells. Already, the title of the book is reassuring and inspires confidence. Duncan describes a technique where you set up a sort of bridle to the mooring which can then be released from the cockpit. Coming back to the mooring you reverse the procedure, and pick up the mooring with the same bridle from the cockpit. It all sounds good in theory, and I’ve gone over and over it in my head, but I can’t help thinking of the old saying “In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice they are different”. We’re about to find out! No pressure there…

Eileen lounges in the cockpit enjoying the sun while I go through my check list. I’ve given her strict instructions not to touch anything, and she seems fine with that! There is just a hint of a breeze as I start the engine and release my Duncan Wells mooring bridle. It works like a charm. Maybe this won’t be so difficult after all? I motor out past the moored boats and quickly hoist the main sail. Then I unfurl the jib and adjust the set of both sails. I sit back in the cockpit and quickly realise that I can let go of the tiller and Treo sails herself! I put my hands behind my head, look over at Eileen and let out a woo-hoo! It doesn’t get any better than this! 

We sail around a bit more and I realise that I need a better self-steering solution, since the cleat-to-tiller rope I’m using doesn’t really work. Also, with the light winds the jib sheet gets stuck on the forestay and I have to sprint forward to free it. I start the engine, take in the sails, rig my bridle, and prepare to pick up the mooring. I start my approach and Eileen reminds me that I might want the boathook! Oops, that might come in handy. I approach the mooring buoy, put the engine in neutral, and try to hook the pick-up line. I miss and the boat drifts away from the buoy. I go around and try again. And again. But this time I snag the pick-up line and thread my bridle through the loop. Cleat off the end and wait. The boat drifts back and lies on the bridle. Another woo-hoo! I sort out the real mooring lines and tidy up the boat. We meet Laura in the Jolie Brise and order apple pies with ice cream to celebrate my first successful single-handed outing (with emergency back-up just in case).

7/07/2018

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Baltimore Harbour single-handed