It’s Always Sailing Season in St. Croix

I’ve been meaning to blog about this for a while, but with all the holiday happenings, I just didn’t get to it. Late in October, my human siblings (Elijah and Penelope) took up a new sport: sailing! I’m their biggest fan and love watching from our terrace, which overlooks the harbor where they sail. Honestly, it’s premium entertainment for a small dog with a strong appreciation for moving things and a good breeze. My sister, Lunalu, loves to watch from there too! My mom’s favorite place to watch them is from her kayak, bobbing along in the waves. She and my dad also soak up the sun on the dock and snap photos of the sailing when my dad isn’t out in a sailboat himself.

From what my family says, sailing is more complicated than it looks from afar. When they were first learning, they didn’t even go out on the water. They started on land, learning all sorts of things. For example, they learned how to rig a boat, which is how you put the boat together on land before you launch it into the ocean. As a landlubber, I was a bit confused why they wouldn’t just keep the ship in one piece. Thankfully, they explained. The sail is kept separate from the hull because if it were permanently attached, the wind would either break the sail or tip the boat over. Sailors learn to harness the wind, but they don’t control it. The wind is powerful and not always cooperative. Left to its own devices, the wind would surely have its way with an assembled boat on land.

After learning a great deal on land and once their coaches deemed them ready, Elijah and Penelope took to the water in boats called Optimists. I was encouraged by the name, I mean, can you imagine sailboats called Pessimists? Something tells me those boats would be good for nothing, they probably wouldn’t even float… see what I did there?

Anyway, Optimists are small boats shaped kind of like a square bowl. They are perfect to learn in, but that doesn’t mean they are always perfect. No boat is. A couple of months into sailing, Penelope’s sail broke. It was a wild ride. She almost floated under the dock! Luckily, one of her teachers came to rescue her. I felt so helpless watching from the house.  I almost sent our Newfies down to get her (they are water rescue dogs after all).

Overall, Optimists are sturdy boats that don’t capsize very often, though it does happen occasionally because of the size of the ocean waves and the sea breeze. When an Optimist capsizes, or flips over, sailors must bail the water out of the boat. Sailors actually practice capsize drills so they can quickly right their boats and bail out the water. Honestly, it sounds exhausting!

Optimists are fun, but Elijah and Penelope have sailed other amazing boats as well, including one that doesn’t require bailing water when it capsizes. I’ll tell you all about that boat in my next blog post. For now, may the wind always be at your back (and if it isn’t, may you become really good at tacking like Elijah and Penelope).