I just thought of another crazy story lol. Unsurprisingly, sailing produces a lot of stories you can tell your friends. Well, in general it isn't that crazy but the outcome and the amount of stress I felt during ordeal was off the charts.
Note: I will be using a lot of sailing jargon and I will try to explain each one but I might miss some so ask me if I do.
So recently, a few weeks ago, my coach took my team out for sailing practice. Due to us being in Toronto and therefore in Canada, we have in general very little wind during the summer. However, during the fall the wind picks up and we receive more wind than the summer(about 50/50 chance of being windy or dead). So, in the mornings I check the weather, and this time I found that it was to be windy, and therefore I was ecstatic. Upon arriving at sailing practice and rigging and etc, we saw that the wind had a nice breeze and we would be able to get some excellent training in.
Fast forward an hour or so, and we're on the water barreling downwind towards the gap out of the harbour(it was like 10-12 knots: about 20 km/h). Now, with spinnakers up(a large sail that you only use on the downwinds), we were able to go a reasonable pace, and on windy days downwinds are really fun but can also be extremely sketchy, especially with spinnaker. Anyway, upon leaving the harbour and entering the outer harbour(if you search up a map you'll see that there's two harbours sort of)(also the wind was coming from the west), we found that it was less windy than we thought it would be. So, we were quite disappointed. However, upon sailing further out into the lake, the wind started to build up, until we could see a very distinct
dark line in the water, which indicated wind, and lots of it(this kids, is called
foreshadowing). My crew and I were ecstatic to see this, and were wooping with joy. However, we had to wait for the coach to arrive. When he finally got here, we asked him if we could go all the way out into the lake(we were still sheltered by the island as the wind was westerly). He said sure, we would do our drills there. He zoomed off, and me and my crew started going for it. The moment we crossed that line, my crew all of a sudden had to go all perpendicular on the trapeze(basically it's a wire attached to the top of the mast which allows you to stand on the side of the boat to balance it should the wind pick up enough- There'll be a picture at the bottom). Even though they were as far as they could go, I still had to hike(hook my feet into straps and lean over the boat) my butt off and even let sail out. At this point we were rocketing, and now we were able to go at a beam reach(perpendicular to the wind and the fastest way to sail) towards the coach, who was attempting to drop some marks(training buoys) to set a course. The moment I turned, my crew was still on trapeze, and we were still rocketing, but now at mach 1(exaggeration but you get my point). The water was so loud my crew had to scream at the top of her lungs for me to hear her, and the only thing we were saying was "
HOLY @$#%!!!!! WHAT THE @#^#$%!!! WHAT THE ACTUAL %$@#^!!!!" We were quite literally jumping waves like a motorcycle would and landing on another. Sailing might be dangerous but when you're going fast it's exhilarating. Anyway, we had to stop by the coach and do the drills.
Here's a picture that the coach took: The waves and wind were bigger than it looks.
Anyway, fast forward a few drills, and by now we're exhausted. It may have been 10 degrees out but to me(wearing multiple cozy layers of wetsuits and a splash guard) it was cozy, aside from my extremities. Anyway, I had switched partners(odd number), and although I should have been warm, I was really getting cold, and my hands were dying. Anyway, I decided to ask the coach if I could switch. He said sure. Then I got into the coach boat and the partner went with someone else. The wind was by now 15-17 gusting 20 knots(40 km/h), and this was about our limit. At this time, somebody capsized. This is a normal occurrence, and is quite easily remedied most of the time. However, this time it was windy, cold(you don't understand how bad the water was), and wavy. The two people, with a cumulative weight of about 220 pounds(the overall weight of people on the boat is supposed to be 240 pounds), were both suffering. One of them is known to be extremely bad under pressure(I can confirm), and the other really doesn't like sailing with her. However, in this case they were amicable. With the help of the coach, they managed to right the boat halfway. Now, normally one person would stand on the centreboard(imagine my profile picture but the boat is sideways[Yes that's me]) and prepare to pull the boat up while somebody sat inside the boat and prepared to balance the boat when it came over. However, this time something strange happened, and the centreboard person fell of or something, and the boat turtle again, and the girl inside was dragged under and came up the other side. Understandably, she was traumatized by this. When we pulled her out of the water she was shaking and crying. However, when the coach tried to get the other girl out of the water, he accidentally rammed the boat, and the metal hook on the bow of his boat hit the fibreglass hull and put a hole in it. So now not only wa there a capsized boat with two traumatized sailors, there was also a hole in said boat. At this point he gave up and said ok, Tacocat(obviously not using real name), I'm going to right this boat by myself(he could easily do this he had been training in the boat for over 15 years), and once I'm up and running you're going to drive over to the other people(I forgot to mention he sent them to go home earlier when the boat turtled). Anyway, we're sitting there for a while, and he's trying endlessly to right the boat. eventually, the girl who got dragged under decided to help him ,and then they succeeded.
So me and the other girl race over to find the other people waiting by the gap, only to find somebody's head hurts. At this point I want them to go into the gap and go home, but they want to wait for the coach and the other girl. I can't make them move, so waiting it is. When they finally arrive, the coach wanted me to go into the hole boat, and for him to drive. So now, I'm in a boat with a hole in it, with a traumatized girl who is absolutely terrified now, and we're looking at the gap. To describe it in detail, it:
Had wind coming from practically every direction, gusts of 20 knots and lulls of 3, boats coming through, 3 police boats that were responding to calls in the outer harbour(1 person fell out of a canoe or something, 1 keelboat capsized, and one dinghy without a coach boat and was suffering out there). I ended up just asking the coach to tow me in and that was that.
At the end of the day, it turned out that the girl with a headache had a mild concussion, and the girl who got pulled under had a concussion(she had to get a C-collar for the night).
The next day my brother would end up getting a severe concussion when his head got hit by the boom(metal pole that holds up the sail) at 30km/h and he still has symptoms today, a month and a half later.
This was a bit long but it was a very interesting story. I have more sailing stories too. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Edit: this is the type of boat I sail, and the guy on the side of the boat is trapezing(not me this time):
sporza.be
