"Jessica B" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:25:41 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:
snippage


I've seen way more sailors who use their engine as a crutch in lieu of
learning how to handle their boat under sail. I've even had some of the
Rubes in this very group try to say it's irresponsible to anchor under
sail
if there are other boats anchored. They say such nonsense because they
never
learned how to anchor under sail and if they tried they would most likely
ram somebody. If they weren't so inept or inexperienced they would
discover
that a sailboat has better steering functionality under a balanced
sailplan
than under engine power alone.


I'd imagine that if the sailor is experienced in anchoring when
sailing that it wouldn't matter if there were rocks or other boats
around. I don't think I could do it, but ....

You could do it, Jessica, once you familiarized yourself with the
characteristics and handling of your sailboat, the ground tackle, bottom
conditions and wind/current. Like anything else it just takes some
experience and some understanding of how things work. With your analytical
mind, you'd be anchoring under sail with the best of them in no time. It's
more about finesse than muscle. Even a big strong man simply cannot muscle a
four-ton sailboat into place. On the contrary, one must know what the boat
is going to do and let the boat do it in the direction and velocity one
desires. A sailboat is like a woman. You gotta let her do what she wants but
you have to know what she wants to do and then everything goes as expected.


Wilbur Hubbard