Happy and gay

[Wansworth]

Single handed - out for a couple of days and back to home base which is a marina in a very tidal estuary. The approach over the bar with a stonking good sea breeze can be a bit fraught. I did see 13 knots on the GPs under 2 reefs as i surfed over the bar once! Suddenly one is over the bar and making a right angle turn inside the sheltering sand banks. Down sails and on engine to chug a couple of miles up against the 4 knot out going tide, but now the water is smooth and barring engine failure one is home and dry! Break out a big grin of achievement and contentment.
So happy - yes. Gay- not so much! I had a school friend called Gay, and often wonder how she has fared since her name was appropriated by the homosexual community. Their misuse of that name has certainly caused a lot of pain and difficulty to a lot of innocent Gays.

I can still recall my father tiding me in as we surfed over the bar at Chichester with a rising south wester

 

[Romeo]

Working from home means I can nip out for a lunchtime sail. Nothing could make me more gay than that. Feels like I am beating the system.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

And even if it all goes horribly wrong as it sometimes does.

"The worse the journey, the sweeter the arrival"

 

[Kukri]

And even if it all goes horribly wrong as it sometimes does.

"The worse the journey, the sweeter the arrival"

“…assuming that you arrive with the boat and the crew that you set out with!”?

 

[LONG_KEELER]

“…assuming that you arrive with the boat and the crew that you set out with!”?

Too true .
Fortunately, many things in life are sweetened by a bit of risk

 

[oldbloke]

S

I can still recall my father tiding me in as we surfed over the bar at Chichester with a rising south wester

Last night I watched an "excellence in yacht design" interview on YouTube with Julian Everritt where he recalls with horror an E Boat owner telling him how he sailed over the bar at low tide with the Keel raised so he caused escape a gale.
He obviously survived to tell the tale

 

[WoodyP]

Single handed - out for a couple of days and back to home base which is a marina in a very tidal estuary. The approach over the bar with a stonking good sea breeze can be a bit fraught. I did see 13 knots on the GPs under 2 reefs as i surfed over the bar once! Suddenly one is over the bar and making a right angle turn inside the sheltering sand banks. Down sails and on engine to chug a couple of miles up against the 4 knot out going tide, but now the water is smooth and barring engine failure one is home and dry! Break out a big grin of achievement and contentment.
So happy - yes. Gay- not so much! I had a school friend called Gay, and often wonder how she has fared since her name was appropriated by the homosexual community. Their misuse of that name has certainly caused a lot of pain and difficulty to a lot of innocent Gays.

My wife used to ride a pony called Gayboy. Not a name that anyone uses these days, I think.

 

[DownWest]

“…assuming that you arrive with the boat and the crew that you set out with!”?

I used to do a yearly trip to get a boat out of Portugal to avoid import problems. The owner liked poddling about, but not longer stuff. A few friends came one year, but when it became clear that we would have to overnight in Spain, jumped ship and got the train back.
Arriving back at the Marina in Portugal, the customs guy asked where my crew was. Oh, they jumped off... The look on his face
I had a nice kip and very early start, so got back in easy time. Apparently the train connections were not so great...

Leaving the outer harbour and feeling the change of motion and colour of the sea. Very satisfying to sense the power.

Mentioned this before, but after five days at sea in the med. Navigating DR with a compass and school atlas + a Walker log, in light conditions (thankfully..) then hitting my target on the nose. Still find that one unlikely...
Same trip, Swimming over the side (it was HOT) and seeing jelly fish. Swiftly got back on board, to see them all around, as far I could see.
Same trip. Being woken by the crew, as he could hear surf. (Well, that gets you up quickly) My nav made us well clear of land, but.. It was pre dawn and we could hear wooshing noises. Once my brain got moving, I realised it was whales. The dawn saw us in a large pod/group of them . Bigger than us and a bit alarming. Closest was about 30ft? That was magic after they buzzed off...

 

[GeeW]

For me one of the regular sailing pleasures happens after we've got ourselves aboard, motored from our drying mooring and grab a vacant mooring or drop the hook to get stores, tender any anything else put away and ready to sail . The next moment is that of joy as the anticipation of the upcoming sailing period (be it one day or a fortnight) is what I have been waiting for.....

 

[Buck Turgidson]

losing sight of land. That moment is always my favourite.

 

[Blueboatman]

Sighting land , and recognising it
( now obv a bit more of a given )

my first offshore island sextant arrival.. allowed myself a gay old Becks on that one?
And it was the right , and upwind island too

 

[Poignard]

My wife used to ride a pony called Gayboy. Not a name that anyone uses these days, I think.

There is still a Mount Gay rum being produced. No doubt it caters for a niche market.

 

[Kukri]

There is still a Mount Gay rum being produced. No doubt it caters for a niche market.

It’s jolly good stuff; it was recommended to me by Rum Pirate, no less.

I have a friend christened Gay. She is close to my age, a Filipina scion of a major “dynasty” but chose to earn her own living as a buyer in the rag trade, which of course puts her in contact with a great many “gay” men and women. She also sponsors a dance troupe - likewise. She is “straight” and has never felt at all uncomfortable about her name. She does start to squirm when we discuss her nation’s deplorable politics!

 

[grumpy_o_g]

Sighting land , and recognising it
( now obv a bit more of a given )....

Indeed, something GPS has rather spoilt. Somehow not using GPS and still getting it right no longer has the same sense of satisfaction (or of relief).

 

[Wansworth]

So far still quite bewildered by electronics on boats so still a pleasurea le ‘Columbus ‘ moment when I will find the other side of the ria or Islas Cíes??

 

[DownWest]

So far still quite bewildered by electronics on boats so still a pleasurea le ‘Columbus ‘ moment when I will find the other side of the ria or Islas Cíes??

I picked up a Yeoman a couple of years ago, tho it is badged as an 'Autohelm' . You might look out for one, as it combines the paper fun with the GPS to keep you safe...

 

[LittleSister]

after five days at sea in the med. Navigating DR with a compass and school atlas + a Walker log, in light conditions (thankfully..) then hitting my target on the nose. Still find that one unlikely...

There is a principle that I have forgotten the name of. If someone gives you directions for a journey, and you make, say, one left turn that should have been a right turn, you will end up in the wrong place. However, if you make an infinite number of mistakes, they will all cancel out and you will end up in the right place.

That's the system I rely on!

 

[johnalison]

There is a principle that I have forgotten the name of. If someone gives you directions for a journey, and you make, say, one left turn that should have been a right turn, you will end up in the wrong place. However, if you make an infinite number of mistakes, they will all cancel out and you will end up in the right place.

That's the system I rely on!

Shirley, this depends on whether infinity is odd or even. Since there are, I believe, an infinite number of infinities, it's not something I will be betting on.

 

[DownWest]

There is a principle that I have forgotten the name of. If someone gives you directions for a journey, and you make, say, one left turn that should have been a right turn, you will end up in the wrong place. However, if you make an infinite number of mistakes, they will all cancel out and you will end up in the right place.

That's the system I rely on!

Since I don't know how many mistakes I made on that trip, while still arriving right where I wanted to be, I suppose I was relying on the same principle. It sounds a bit careless, but I was 'volenteered' to get the boat back to UK and only found out it had been sunk when I got there, hence the lack of charts or other useful stuff (duff engine too..). So, using the school atlas (blagged of an English familly living locally), I drew lines of longitude and latitude on a large bit of paper. We had a chartet of where we were, so penciled that in and Corsica and St Tropez, our destination, and set off. We did have a Pilot Pal DF radio, but zero info on where the stations might be. Crew tried to get a fix, but it put us inland... The Walker log showed exactly the straight line distance between between our start and finish points, despite something munching the spinner one night. I saw that in the morning, and replaced it, but no idea when it happened. All this was in '69, so long ago. Would have given away both grandmothers for a GPS... in retrospect.

 

[KevinV]

There is a principle that I have forgotten the name of. If someone gives you directions for a journey, and you make, say, one left turn that should have been a right turn, you will end up in the wrong place. However, if you make an infinite number of mistakes, they will all cancel out and you will end up in the right place.

That's the system I rely on!

That sounds a bit Terry Pratchett to me, but I use the same principle on the lottery - if my numbers are truly random, and the draw is truly random, I should win every time!