Maybe you're luckier than you think.

One of the first times Deborah and I sailed together I was down at the
navstation figuring out "nav" stuff.  Deborah was steering and, in a calm,
gentle voice from the helm, asked "should the toe rail be under water?"  I
shoulda known I was in trouble right then.

A few years ago, we were in the Gulf off Dauphin Island, Alabama .  The
admiral was driving and I was trimming (155% headsail only).  Winds were
mid-teens on the beam.  We were heeled 15-20 degrees.

Deborah had one foot on the cockpit sole and one foot on the coaming.  She
kept watching the knotmeter.  7.6!  Trim!  Trim!  7.8!  Yay! New personal
record.  Trim!  Trim!  8.0!  8 knots!  Awesome.  Trim!  Trim!  We finally
got to 8.5 knots.  Another new personal best for her.  By this time I was
worn out from trimming.

The next day she wanted to race another sailboat up a section of the ICW in
Mississippi Sound.  I was trying to enjoy the cruise and drink coffee.  She
again urged me to trim, trim, trim.

So, be careful what you ask for.  :)

Dennis C.
Touche' 35-1 #83
Mandeville, LA

On Sat, Sep 20, 2014 at 9:15 AM, Chuck S via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com
> wrote:

> David,
> Well said.  I am learning late in life that *many* wives don't appreciate
> when a sailboat heels or as mine says, ". . . don't like when it leans".
> And what I find challenging and fun about sailing like short tacking
> through a narrow channel or sailing hard on the wind close hauled, causes
> my wife anxiety or grief.  Just when the wind starts getting good, she
> usually asks to go somewhere for a swim.
>
> I recently went sailing w a friend with the same problem.  His wife is
> very similar to mine. We've all been friends since before we married over
> twenty five years ago.  He wanted to show off his new boat and his
> wonderful country of Holland.  His plan; the guys went sailing for 10 days
> in Holland while the wives went touring by car through France.  I noticed
> most sailboat crews were guys, many skippers were alone, a very few white
> haired couples and the same number of twenty-ish couples.  My friend and I
> had a great time sailing whenever possible and remarked several times when
> the boat was making  8 to 9 knots and heeled to 25 degrees, and we were
> having fun, "The girls would hate this."  One leg on the North Sea, we
> sailed w just the 110% downwind in 27 knots wind making 9 knots boatspeed.
> On the return, we had 18 to 20 knots on the nose.  Sailing would have taken
> longer, causing us to miss getting a slip, so we motorsailed w a reefed
> main making 8.3 knots.  The main steadied the boat so she maintained
> momentum and sliced better through the waves.  I remember playing w the
> vang to get a better shape to the top of the sail, because the boat had no
> traveller.  The girls would have hated it.
>
> So, I'm looking for suggestions to keep both the boat and the wife, happy.
>
>
>
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