California Gold: Sailing Lesson

Text, photos and video by Jason McKenney.

I don't believe in reincarnation. But if I did, I would be convinced that I must have been a sailor in a previous life. I have always loved the ocean, the organization of boating, tying knots, pulling ropes, being free to travel wherever one dared to go.

But I am not a sailor. I have spent most of my professional career typing on computer keyboards in well-insulated office buildings. So after reading the novel The Celtic Ring by Bjorn Larsson I felt I was ready to take the next step to being a part-time man of the sea. The novel follows the journey of a man who owns and lives in a small boat and who can sail virtually anywhere he wants. In the story he navigates through the isles of Ireland and Scotland searching for answers to a dark mystery. It's a wonderful book and prompted me to ask my wife to take a sailing lesson with me.

South Bay Sailing in Redondo Beach offers several different courses on how to sail boats including
coastal cruising, keelboat sailing, and racing tactics. These classes run a few hundred bucks and require four 3-hour classes. They also offer an Introduction to Sailing class (for soft landlubbers like yours truly) that only lasts a couple hours and runs under a hundred dollars. That's what we chose to start with.

"Do you want to help sail, or do you want to just sit back and enjoy the view?"

Our instructor's name was Steven. He gave me the option of either learning how to set sails and pulls ropes or let him do all the hard work while the wife and I unwind like tourists. I'm no tender foot. I wanted to help the man sail. Captain George was one of my favorite characters from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I wanted to learn how to handle a boat from stem to stern just as he could. And all in 90 minutes!

I hoped to gain an understanding on rigging and terminology. We took out a J/80 monohull, 8 meters long with a 2.5 meter beam. Nice and cozy. The boat had just the mainsail and jib. After tacking out from the docks near the Redondo Harbor, I helped Steven unfurl the lead jib and speed out (as best the wind would cooperate) of the bay and into the Pacific.

As it ended up, I didn't do much work. No captaining, little rigging, and I now don't remember much of the terminology. I actually spent most of the time enjoying the scenery, chatting with seals, looking for fish, and expanding my tender lungs with fresh sea air. Steven led us out near a bouy layered with lazy seals. We avoided a large yacht we guessed was heading out towards Catalina Island. I dipped my hands in the blue-green sea and imagined what giant beasts lurked underneath, just out of sight.

We made our way back to the dock with sun-tanned smiles and big appetites. I thanked Steven for the wonderful morning on the water and walked out on deck. A small crowd had gathered around a pelican moping along the pier in obvious discomfort. The large bird had the misfortune of having a fishing hook snagged in the gray skin just below its eye like some sort of rebellious teenager.

The noble men and women who work along the coast of California know a thing or two about handling its wildlife. After a few minutes of patiently corralling the frightened bird, the hook was removed from the skin and the pelican was released. All in a days work.