3000 miles in 10 years? That doesn't sound like much at all. I've done about 8000 in the 4 years
I've had my cat. Even without long passages, I must do 600 miles a year just putzing around.

I'd say my knowledge of boats peaked when I was about 28. At that age I knew everything there was
to know about anything. Now I find there's more and more that I don't understand.

I'm often reminded of a minor revelation I had about 8 years ago. I took out a friend on my old
Nonsuch. He was a near-Olympic level Star sailor (I think he was first or second alternate for
Barcelona), and had raced for many years in Boston Harbor where we were cruising around. He started
playing with my rig and in about 15 minutes had us pointing 30 degrees higher and going twice as
fast (so it seemed).

Then I mentioned to him that we were heading right for the only rock in the middle of the harbor
(Lower Middle) and since it was low tide we should honor the buoy. He said "no, its on the other
side of the buoy" and I had to show him on the chart where the channel ran. He said "Damn, you
mean all theses years I thought it was over there?" He may have been the best racer in the city,
but he didn't know how to read a chart and didn't know about a channel that was a few hundred yards
from his race course.

The moral is that as much as you know about one aspect of the sport, its impossible to know
everything.


--
-jeff

"Joe" wrote in message
om...
I've had RedCloud for almost 10 years now and have sail her more than
3000 miles, but I feel I still have things to learn about sailing her.
Thats been the best thing about having a sailboat is learning how to
get 110% out of her. Ol thom has given many tips that helped me learn
how to get more out of the sails. When I bought Redcloud I had no
ideal what half the rigging was for.

Makes me wonder why someone would jump boat to boat every year, and
never really fully understand what he has. Its like starting to read a
book and putting it down half way thru.

How long did it take you to really understand everything your boat
can do?

I still get a new suprise every now and then.

Joe