Catamaran
from the Polynesian for
logs tied together
see also:
method to
simultaneously soak tourists in salt water while convincing them they
are having fun.
Ah,
catamaran.
I'm not
talking about those ginormous America's Cup boats with the
hydrofoils, or even the sleeps four comfortably while you cruise the
islands in search of rum drinks.
Oh no.
I'm
talking about those dual pontoons with a mesh sling between,
flying over the water, usually only one pontoon submerged, as the
captain desperately tries to keep the boat upright.
You've seen them.
 |
| there they are. innocently awaiting their next victims |
Admit it.
You watch just to see the
whole boat teeter precariously before giving in to gravity and
flipping over, leaving its crew dangling on the sideways pontoon
looking confused.
Or is that just me?
Thanks Catamaran.
Because of you, every single
person who sets foot on our monohull sailboat is convinced they will
flip over and go for a swim.
I promise you, our boat will
not easily capsize. It has several failsafes built in.
If we are heeling (leaning)
so far to one side that control is gone and a simple turn will not
help then all Rob needs to do is release the mainsail and the wind
will be lost, thus uprighting the boat.
Or, I can drop the sails
entirely. Same effect.
Of course the biggest safety
feature is the gigantic MESS and subsequent hissy fit to deal with
should the boat actually capsize.
But, back to Catamarans.
We had the good fortune to
spend a luxurious week at a luxurious resort in Jamaica where all
non-motorized water craft were included in our stay. Naturally we
(Rob) had to give the little Hobie-Cats a try.
We've rented sailboats
before and fully expected a few questions about ability, rules of the
road, next of kin...
We were asked two questions:
You feel comfortable with
this one?
And
You see that reef, where
the waves are breaking violently? Well, don't go past them.
Or the imaginary rope
marking the resort's portion of ocean, which in my head was yellow
and accompanied by imaginary snipers in palm trees waiting to take
out the errant sailor who looks like they might be absconding to
Montego Bay.
We carried the small boat to
the water, climbed in and headed directly for the reef.
Really quickly.
Thanks to Rob's endless,
obsessive study of sailing and my professional job as ballast, our
little cat soared, turned and soared some more.
It was exhilarating and such
fun. The wind. The spray. Our friends went with us one afternoon and
I am not sure they stopped smiling the entire evening.
That's the beauty of island
sailing. The winds tend to blow consistently in one direction – see
'Trade Winds'. And in this case, that wind blew directly down the
coast past all three versions of the lux resort towards the imaginary
roped off end of the world.
 |
| This is us! Our friend the Fireman snapped this one. Way to go, Fireman! |
Downwind sailing was
exhilarating.
Returning to the boat hut,
upwind, was a challenge.
Especially if you were the
poor guy who has never been on a sailboat and just can't seem to
manuever the boat back up the shore. But it's vacation and you really
wanted to try something new.
You know, the guys we
skimmed past.
It's not that we wouldn't
have helped them. Each time, just as one of us was about to say,
'maybe we should go help those guys' they would begin a turn and look
to be almost there, causing us to pass, at which point the one in
charge of the tiller and main would freak out and turn the boat
downwind again.
 |
| que the theme from Gilligan's Island, or that scene in Club Paradise where the guy takes a sailboard out and never returns |
We managed to get our
serpentine return trip with just enough minutes to spare in our hour
time limit to laughingly make plans for the next day's outing. An
elderly lady standing in the shade of her gigantic straw hat smiled
and in a strong New Jersey accent commented, 'you really seem to know
what you're doing out there!'
At last, the validation we
had always hoped to get! Sailing approval by a complete stranger. And
on top of an amazing morning on the water!
Later at lunch, we noticed
several catamarans from early in the morning, still floundering near
the imaginary rope well within the scope of the imaginary sniper,
clearly past their one hour allotment.
Eventually the boat hut guy
appeared, helped drag the boat to shore, unloaded the exhausted
sailors and promptly charged them fifty dollars for a 'rescue'. He
then proceded to quickly sail the stranded boat back to its home.
The elderly lady in the big
straw hat just happened to be sitting behind us at lunch leaned in
and said, 'he really knows what he's doing too!'
We all laughed.
Is that wrong?
 |
| they are quite lovely even as they lay in wait for tomorrow.... |
Up for tomorrow: D –
Dramanine. Oh, yeah. We're going there...
Click on the link: a-to-zchallenge.com for more alphabetically themed posts!
