Years after my wife sailed with me from Hawaii to Seattle and San Francisco (79 and 81) she was able to articulate the difference in her perception of the trips and mine.
Sailing conditions I recall as "great" and "a good adventure" she perceived as "frightening" and "terrifying". As others have mentioned the extra training in how to handle a sail boat and use the radio, auxiliary power, and how to dock with out damage could help change frightening to fun. Martin Calypso 1971 C&C 43 Seattle ________________________________ From: CnC-List [cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] on behalf of Chuck S via CnC-List [cnc-list@cnc-list.com] Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2014 7:15 AM To: David Donnelly; CNC boat owners, cnc-list Subject: Stus-List wife dosen't like it when the boat leans 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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