Make Life Better with a Sailboat-in-a-Closet

Step 8 Go to sea

Enough with small lakes. Life should not be a lake, although I understand that many people will disagree with me; no insult was intended. But go to sea (here New Haven, Connecticut, coming in), return to the fluid whose chemical composition bears striking similarity to your own.

When you push off with miles of open water in front of you, you may feel, as I did, that you have pushed off into a new world. This could be space itself, for you are detached from continental geology. I was scared the first time, even though I worked one summer as a mate aboard a charter fishing boat, and have in general been on many boats, have scuba-dived, etc.

A large powerboat does not contain The Cure. It has to be all wind, water, and wits. Be a little vulnerable -- small sailboats are good at making you feel that way. Be a little scared sometimes and admit it; that helps you be reasonable, helps you measure things; that's part of life. Life is good sometimes. --WT

Comments

[Steelsmith1]

I want to thank you for both our article and your "Bloody First Day" writing. I got Gary Dierking's book, and your writing has convinced me to go #1 with his simplest design, use a tacking rig at first, go out on a not too windy day, and take a competent friend with me till I learn the boat. The tendency is to want the hottest boat first. Experience and and my limited wisdom tell me to go with what will be the most likely to give me fun and let me learn how to sail a new kind of boat!
You are an entertaining author. Obviously you chose the right profession. I would imagine you inspire and entertain your students.

[svensv]

An excellent read - I find your path to dealing with life-lessons far more valuable than how to build a two-piece triangular boat. It's been a few years, I hope the Cure has continued!

[Wade Tarzia]

Thanks. The Cure is continually operational!

[rowerwet]

sailors aren't the only ones to find peace in a boat, I row and paddle and find both of them as rewarding even if they require more effort. Of course most of my paddling is done withing 30' feet of the beach on a surf kayak, so it isn't relaxing as much as exhilirating mixed with moments of terror.

[Wade Tarzia]

Yes, some of the best adventures can be had not much further than 30 feet to a mile from the coastline.  Look at Matt Layden's tiny live-aboard boats for example (the Enigma, Paradox, Sand Flea, and his newest Elusion -- go to www.duckworksmagazine.com) or the Everglades Challenge race (www.watertribe.com) .  Or Tim Anderson's sailing canoe adventures (www.robot.mit.edu).   All possible on small-ish budgets! 

[Peebie3]

Wade, I enjoyed your instructable very much.  You're a gifted writer, I hope you finish that novel as I'd love to read it....this wonderful world is waiting!

[Wade Tarzia]

Thanks. I'll be working on the writing and a new boat this summer.

[bigdeee]

That is the greatest escape vehicle I've yet seen! Excellent job and thanks so much for sharing.

[wbmcirvin3]

I was curious as to how you made the sail, mast, booms, and so forth. I have a homemade catamaran that I made 15yrs ago, I was going to fit it with a sail, but I have no clue as to how.

[Wade Tarzia]

Hello -- I made everything quickie-style on that boat (I mean rough because sometimes it seemed to take forever to build). I cut the spars out of Douglas Fir stage lumber, off the edges so I could get more-or-less quarter-sawn pieces. There were inevitable small knots, and these I wrapped with fiberglass and epoxy to strengthen those areas. The 14 foot spars ended up being very strong through heavy. The first mast, canting style like a true Pacific proa, was just a reasonably clear 2 x 4, planed oval. The second mast, stationary in the center of the boat like Harmen Hielkema's Toroa proa, was two douglas fir pieces laminated and planed round. It was pretty free of knots but where there were small ones I again glassed over. The sail was just cut flat because that was the common wisdom I had heard about crabclaw sails. However, growing opinion is now that they did have some curve designed in. I used blue tarp because I had no money for dacron. It worked, I sailed, but not very efficiently. You can find white poly tarp too, which looks like a real sail, and maybe the Coast Guard will be less likely to pull you over to check you out with white. An excellent idea is to buy a used sail! I have gotten small ones fairly cheaply off Ebay and such places as Bacon Sails. People who race small sailboats are anal about their sails and often sell sails used only for a season or two and then replace them. For 'real regular guys' these sails are perfectly fine. I am going to use one on my new outrigger. For a catamaran you might want standard Western sail (marconi) I suppose. If you do not buy a used one, you can search on the web for sail cutting tutorials. Look for one by Todd Bradshaw -- it may be a link off the Yahoo canoe sailing group's mainpage. But you can google it probably. Or, get Marino's book, The Sailmaker's Apprentice (the bible of do it yourself sail making). Or get Bradshaw's book, Canoe Rig (there's much more in it, though). Or get Gary Dierking's book, Building Outrigger Sailing Canoes. All of them are great and have stuff on sail making.

[aackpht]

Your cure is much better than the one I undertook-drink yourself silly for three years. Thanks for sharing. I hope things are better now, and death has lost your paperwork.-Robt.

[Wade Tarzia]

Thanks; I hope you are well. Things are better for me....mostly because the scar tissue has built up into a thick layer ;-) -- but after 7 years I'm still waiting for the children to wake up -- something that neither a court-appointed social worker nor two child psychologists have been able to accomplish. What to do? Good advice from a British man who had set up a good www site on parental alienation: "Take care of yourself and live well, so that when your children return, there is something for them to return to." I also like Thomas O'Crohan's words (read his "The Islandman") -- an Irish peasant-fisherman who recounted after a tragedy: "There was nothing to be done but to put both oars in the water and row." A harsh but sensible comfort.--best, WT