Challenge: When You First Started Sailing...

[ColdFusion]

The "1st anniversary" thread got me thinking... Not long after I started sailing, a nightschool tutor told us:

"When to starboard red appear, 'tis your duty to keep clear" (spoken like a pirate for dramatic effect!)

If you had to name one thing you were taught about sailing that you've always remembered, what would it be?

[barnakiel]

"Keep her upright."

b

[S&S]

It's called a Boom because that's the sound you hear when it hits the side of your head.

[olhippie]

"Red right returning"

[Ocean Girl]

Not quite as catchy as the others but probably the best advice I was given was how to take a dock line from someone. Most people throw the dock line straight at you nearly hitting you in the face. We all know the arms out and duck method of catching a line.
Well an old salt taught me (probably after hitting him in the face with a line) to hold one arm straight out to the side and tap the spot on the arm the person is to throw the line to. This allows the line to drape over your arm, giving you a better chance of getting it, and it keeps the line away from the face.
Cheers,
Erika

PS
also,
"Red over red the captain is dead"

[David M]

The very first thing was... Don't drop the El Toro on the concrete.

[scook1]

As a kid on board, I often got bored and wanted to go fast or "Do something exciting". My father taught me about the strength of the ocean, the beauty of the horizon and that so much of sailing is not in the heeling over and sail reefing, but in being with people that you care about.
Pretty good lessons.
Spencer

[Pelagic]

Not so much sailing but salmon fishing in the cold PNW waters…after a couple of beers and the obvious need for relief.

“Most guys drown with their fly open!”


I remember that every time I unzip

[Intentional Drifter]

When approaching a dock, "Slow is Pro."

ID

[s/v Jedi]

GRAS : Green Right At Starboard. Amazingly translates well from Dutch ;-)

ciao!
Nick.

[James S]

A place for everything and everything in its place.

[anjinsan]

Survivors will eat anything, Non survivors taste like chicken.

[anjou]

'Port is ruby red' Also as we came out of the creek into the harbour, port of milford haven is to the left 'Port left' never wrap the fishline round your hand, you may just lose it.

[ColdFusion]

Originally Posted by anjinsan

Survivors will eat anything, Non survivors taste like chicken.

Brilliant!

[Dick Pluta]

Actually, for me it was two things, both learned at the same time. A friend and I bought our first boat, an 11 foot Glen L cat, in the dead of winter. I spent the time until the thaw reading every book about sailing in the local library. When spring came, I knew no more than when I started, except that I was more confused. I knew all about mast bending and leech lines and racing tactics but knew nothing about how to sail.

We went out as early as we could to a local lake. There, who did we meet except the guy that we bought the boat from. He had built our boat and came to see his baby off. We launched and couldn't move an inch. There was just no wind. We knew that. The PO didn't, though, as he sailed in circles around us. We came home deeply depressed at our lack of sailing ability.

Back to the library! I found the Cub Scout sailing merit badge handbook. It's the best treatise on basic sailing I have found to this day. Here are the two things. First, face the wind. Look 45 degrees to your right and 45 degrees to your left. You can't go there. Now point the boat in the direction you want to go. Let the sail out until it luffs and pull it in until it stops shaking, the pull in a bit more.