Aug 16 2008
Sailing With Tom
Last Wednesday, we got the opportunity to take the family out on a sweet little sundown sail on our friend Tom’s boat, s/v Tempest. Tom is a liveaboard right down the dock from us, and we’d taken him out on our boat a few times. He’s a great sailor and a fun guy to have as a neighbor.
I was a little nervous, since the boys hadn’t been on a monohull in over a year and I wasn’t sure how they’d cope with heel. Turns out I had absolutely nothing to worry about; my little guys are total troopers. They settled in down below with a movie and barely came up for air. They got bounced around a little and thought it was absolutely fabulous. 
Jason had a great time fussing with sail trim… We both had a bit of mental disconnect with the differences in monohull sailing versus our usual catamaran mode… tacking was so much nicer on Tom’s boat. Turns out we had more adjusting to do with heeling than the kids did. It was also fun being on a smaller vessel; you get used to moving like a tank on something so much bigger, and it was cool being zippy and maneuverable and actually getting spray over the bow from time to time.
Tom even graciously let Jason drive. That was the point at which the sun tipped below the horizon and it suddenly became freezing cold. You gotta love sailing on San Francisco Bay in "summer".
When all was said and done, it was a really awesome sail and a lovely evening out. Thanks Tom for letting us go out on the water without having to take our entire house along!
COOL!