Day 129

It's windy today. For the first time in months I thought about going to the sailing club and getting on a boat. 

The club owns three small catamarans – Hobie Waves – that are well suited to windy conditions. By windy, I'm talking 15 knots* and up. Anything below that and these boats hardly move. But above that, they come alive. Once I figured this out, I would always keep an eye on the wind forecast. If it was going to blow hard, I made a point of going to the club. It was my equivalent to "...Surfs up!" The stronger the winds, the more enthusiastic I was to go. Ideal wind speeds are between 20 and 25. Much above that and I need the extra weight of another person onboard to keep the boat upright. 

*A knot is speed measured in nautical miles rather than statute miles. A nautical mile is 800 feet    longer than mile.  
        - 1 knot (kts) = 1.15 miler per hour (mph)
        - 15 kts = 17.3 mph 
        - 20 kts = 23 mph 
        - 25 kts = 28.8 mph
 
The Hobie Wave has been around a long time. (A quick check of Wikipedia says that it was first introduced in 1994.) The Wave is small (13ft x 7ft), relatively light (245lbs) and easy to rig having only one sail. One of its main selling features, besides the aforementioned size, weight and simplicity, is that it is made out of plastic rather than fiberglass. As such, a Wave can withstand a LOT of abuse. For this reason, the Wave is the go-to choice of rental boat for resorts all over the world. They are everywhere. One of the telltale identifiers of a Wave is the blimp attached to the top of the mast. This is nothing more than piece of styrofoam shaped to look like a blimp; its purpose being to keep the end of the mast afloat in case of a capsize. Without this flotation, gravity would pull the mast under the water until the boat was completely inverted (i.e., mast pointing straight down rather than straight up or sideways). When a sailboat is in this position - completely upside down - it's referred to as "turtled". This is not a desirable orientation for many reasons but mostly because getting a boat back up from this position can be difficult, especially for the inexperienced. Since the majority of people who rent or use boats at resorts are inexperienced, it makes sense to add some buoyancy to the top of the mast. 

I was not always a fan of the Wave. I thought they were ugly, slow and not a "real" boat because they are made of plastic. My opinion of the Wave completely changed after I took one out for first time. It was in June of 2018 while Dawn, Damian and I were in Grenada to celebrate my 50th birthday and the 25th wedding anniversary for Dawn and I. Joining us on this trip was Max, the slightly older-than-Damian friend of the family. Dawn and I thought Damian would have more fun on this trip if he had a friend a long. (We were right of course.)

The four of us had spent the better part of two weeks cruising around the islands of Grenada and the Grenadines on a 39 foot sailboat. It was a ton of fun. The last 3 days of our trip we spent living in the relative luxury of a resort which also happened to have a Hobie Wave for use by its guests. Looking to get out on Damian out of the villa and have some fun, I went ahead and reserved the Wave. I then had to all but force Damian to go. Max being Max was happy to do whatever so I only had to ask him once. After much whining and dragging of feet by my son, the three of us shoved off from the dock and went on our way. The going was slow at first since the contour of the land surrounding the bay blocked most of the sea breeze. But as we ventured further south and the mouth of bay became wider, the wind became less impeded which translated into more boat speed. Eventually we hit the point where the bay stopped (or started, depending on whether you were coming or going) and the open ocean began. The wind was blowing towards us and from our left (southeast to northwest) at about 15 knots. Because the wind was blowing across open ocean there were also waves coming at us, some as high as four feet. We kept sailing into the wind and the waves, but getting really wet in the process. We had dressed for this so it was a non-issue. After about a half mile or so, I turned the boat around and headed back towards the mouth of the bay. It was at this point, that our cruise went from "meh" to "hell yeah!" 

Remember those 4 foot waves? Well they were coming from behind us now.  When they would catch us and start to lift the boat, I had Damian and Max scramble to the back to keep the weight as far back as possible. At the same time, I would pump the sail and then steer the boat so it was heading in the same direction as the wave. If we timed it all correctly, we were able to surf the boat on wave. (The Wave on the wave!) And it was a blast. We loved every minute of it. After we got back to the mouth of the bay, we turned around and did it all over again. Again and again. We had smiles plastered on our faces the rest of the day. 

June 28, 2018 – Max & Damian enjoying Grenada

When we got back to Atlanta, I couldn't wait to go out on one of the club Waves. When I finally did, I found to my chagrin that they are not nearly as much fun in light breeze and no surf. It is beyond boring. After learning that lesson, I grew a lot more patient and would happily wait until the wind would kick up. Big storms heading through north Georgia always got my attention. I remember once pulling Damian out of school early in the afternoon because the forecast was calling for winds in excess of 25 knots and I wanted him to go with me. (I thought that made me a pretty cool dad.) The high wind speeds were due to the dying remnants of a hurricane that was passing over us after having done its thing in the Gulf. It was a lot of fun but still not as epic as that first time in Grenada. 

I've gone sailing on the Waves many times since then, mostly by myself, but haven't had any inclination to do so since Damian died. Until today that is. I take this as a good sign. Feels like maybe my desire to go sailing is starting to come back. I'm not quite ready to turn this feeling into action, but at least the feelings are starting to come back. 

I'll keep you posted. 

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