Heidi and the Zen of Sailing

Today was going to be another upwind day. We waited until the afternoon before leaving Ronde Island so that the tide would be pushing us upwind. A good excuse for a long sleep and then a swim to the beach to wake up.

We motored round Diamond Island and then set the sails for hard upwind sailing and were depressed to see that we were going to miss Carriacou by at least four miles. The hoped for two knot push to the east just wasn’t happening but as Guru Heidi wisely commented “you can only sail where the wind takes you.”

Upwind sailing a la Heidi

As we headed north we saw another boat we knew getting pushed even further west but then we found the hoped for current and the course began to improve. Heidi took over the tiller and entered “Zen Sailing” mode. No looking at the compass or the surrounding islands – she just stared at the clouds and “felt” the best course. Sounds pretty wacky but you can’t argue with success. She was faster than Neill and slowly bent us to the east and Tyrell Harbour.

As the boat that had been pushed west motored back upwind and a French boat struck their sails to motor, Heidi tacked twice and sailed straight in to the harbour.

And all this from some one who only ten moths ago was complaining that “it is impossible to feel the wind”.

2 thoughts on “Heidi and the Zen of Sailing”

  1. Hi Neil,
    now you have a sail teacher on board, respect. Let Heidi teach you something 🙂
    Andi

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