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ManaKai March 2009 - Alyson Price
Three sleeps, two sleeps, one sleep to go! This is how the last
weeks had been like. We had been counting the sleeps till we got to
go on our “competent crewman” course aboard “ManaKai” in Keppel Bay.
To say we were excited was an understatement.
Ginny, the owner and our instructor allowed us to sleep aboard the
night before our course was to start. As I suffer quite badly from
seasickness, Ginny thought that staying on board the night before
might help relieve some of the tension that is sometimes caused by
the unknown.
Shane and I had over the years often talked about wanting to learn
how to sail and maybe own our own catamaran. Shane had had plenty of
boating experience but not in sailing and I was fairly inexperienced
in all areas of boating, apart from creek boating.
So
here we were on a 3 day course on a 34ft Catalina yacht. How lucky
were we?
We
awoke to a heavy sky and winds around 25knots, which is apparently
great sailing weather.
Sundowners at Great Keppel Island
The
next morning was a repeat of the day before as far as the weather
went, still very heavy and with winds of 20-30knotts. Today we were
reviewing all we had learnt the day before, with more tacking and
more points of sail. Ahhhhh, it was starting to come together and
make some sense. We found out what it was like to have the wind
behind us. This is more like it, so quiet and peaceful. I like this
type of sailing. That afternoon we headed back to the marina as the
winds were still playing up and it would be a bit uncomfortable,
even at Great Keppel Island.
Ginny left us to our own devises once back in the marina. We
showered and cooked a beautiful green Thai curry. We spent the
evening doing our homework that had been set for us and reading the
“Cruising Helmsman” magazines. Again after a great day on the water,
our bed called us early.
Our
final morning was spent going over the technical stuff we needed to
know to complete our course, followed by lunch and then again out on
the water, this time just outside the harbour in Rosslyn Bay. It was
more protected here. The sun was out at last and we had a wonderful
afternoon streamlining all we had learnt. There is so much to learn
but a lot of it is common sense. We sailed back into the marina at
around 5pm. What a magical experience. One we will want to repeat
many times over in the coming years. We were hooked!!! Thank you
Ginny and ManaKai |
Spent a lot of the day heeling in 25knots
Ginny had us going through all the safety aspects and terminology of
sailing before we cast off and left the marina.
For
the next 5 hours we were introduced to the wonders of sailing. It
was a fantastic feeling to have the wind in your hair and on your
face, controlling this big beautiful boat. Because of a previous
experience, I was quite nervous about the swell and the size of the
waves. After the first couple of hours, I came to realise that these
yachts were made for this type of weather and conditions. Now I
could relax and learn how to sail. Shane is a natural and caught on
really fast. We both took turns under Ginny’s patient guidance, of
being at the helm, hoisting the sails, reefing the lines, tacking
and gibing and even heaving too (stopping the boat). We spent a lot
of hours beating to windward (that’s a point of sail term we learnt)
as we were tacking our way across to Great Keppel Island.
We
arrived in the bay at around 3pm as this was to be our anchorage for
the night. By this time, we were ready for a rest and a walk on the
beach, followed by the traditional “sundowners” in the cockpit of
“ManaKai”. This is the life, one which would be very easy to get
used to. Ginny is a great cook and so we enjoyed beautiful steaks,
salads and of course a bottle of red to help it all go down so
smoothly. It didn’t take much rocking to sleep that night. Am
pleased to say the seasickness pills were doing their job
beautifully.
Alyson & Shane Price
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