Exiting & Entering the Dock, Learning to Singlehand

I reached another milestone this week! I left the dock on my own, without any crew assistance (well, aside from being ready with the boat-hook in case something went wrong.)

Typically, I've had my crew stand on the dock as I remove the bow lines and then walk her halfway out of the dock before hopping on. That worked quite well. The only time I had previously attempted to leave the dock on my own, Twinkletoes removed the bowlines from the dock and then hopped on the boat, majorly pushing her out from the dock in the process. Not good.

This time, though, I removed the bow lines while standing on the bow (go figure), and then gracefully (matter of opinion) made my way back to the cockpit where I removed the stern line, put the ob into reverse, and then glided very nicely out of the dock. There was no flailing involved whatsoever. ((breaking own arm patting own self on back.))

Victory!

And I have already managed to pull back into the dock without crew assistance several times now. Much fun! I am quite comfy with this now, if I may be so bold to say so.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that there hasn't been a super-significant amount of wind in play during these attempts. Envisioning what the process might look like with more wind brings to mind 'me, with boat hook in one hand and tiller in the other, perhaps in tears.'

Regardless, it is so encouraging to see progress! At the beginning of the season, I was pretty nervous about docking and undocking under any conditions -- with or without crew.

This weekend will bring a new learning experience. I believe that I will learn to pretty much singlehand this weekend. My Mom is coming to visit me so that she can enjoy her first-ever sail. I'm so excited to finally have her aboard! I imagine that I will do much (or all?) of the 'stuff' associated with sailing the boat on my own because I'd like Mom to be able to enjoy the day without worrying that she will do the wrong thing or something. (Yeah, wonder where I picked up that characteristic, eh?) I adore my Mom and I want her first sail with me to be special -- magical, even.

Here's a snap of Mom last May, doing the ole Vanna White on Central Air 1 (a CL-14) when I put her up for sale. I'll soon have a lovely photo of Mom on Central Air 2 to post, too -- and surely a story to accompany it!