Practice Day One: Sailing in Fog

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARK! Today is Mark's birthday and we celebrated at a sushi/hibachi restaurant. The skipper is a day older, but any wiser?

Today was a first for me. We left the hotel at 9:00 AM for an 11:00 practice. The fog was thick and we decided to wait and see if it would "burn off." Apparently the fog that rolls in around here only dissipates when it is burned off by the sun versus being blown off. As the day didn't seem to warm up too much, well the fog didn't disappear either. Around 1:00 we decided the fog was less and we would have good enough visibility to do some practice starts.

Around 4:00 the visibility was no more than a few hundred feet. We were not only sailing with our individual disabilities, but we were now blind. It is the most disorientating feeling that I have ever had. I lost all sense of direction and we had somehow drifted into the sea lane where large vessels (like barges) pass through. At one point the horn of one these vessels sounded and it was much closer than we thought. We clustered close together around the coaches boat, and he kept blowing his whistle to alert them that we were there. From the size of the waves the vessel made and how quickly they reached us--that ship was way too close for comfort. We decided to head in.

We followed the fog horn sound that marks the mouth of the bay and followed the land line as closely as possible. It was a "Bermuda triangle" kind of moment, eerie and tense with only ghost-like visibility of other vessels. We all made it in (only 3 of the 5 teams are here practicing at this time) safely. The fog continued to roll in and it was thicker than this morning when we left around 6:00. Another first for my sailing experiences.

The great news is that my seating worked great and I had good leverage and it made a great difference with the speed and strength at which I can manage the sails, especially the spinnaker. Mark's seat works well but would be easier if we reverse the switches. When he is on the low side it is hard for him to reach the far side of the head piece to tilt back up. Mark had some very good starts and I felt much more confident about my sail management. Overall, a good day.

I've added some pictures of where we are sailing out of and you can compare them to today's fog pictures. I also included a couple of Mark's tilting switch that he activates with his head. Tomorrow is an 11:00 am practice...let's hope the fog gives us a break!

Amy