Sailing

The second day of the camp everyone was called to learn the de-docking of the catamaran. Everyone got to their position assignments. There were three ropes attached to the dock and our boat. One of the lines was the Spring line which was attached to the center side of the boat. Then there were two other dock lines, one rope was at the front of the boat and one rope was at the back of the boat. The person on the dock would untie the ropes from their side and throw it to the people who were assigned to untie the ropes and put them where they belong. After we de-docked, the captain turned on the engines and started motoring until we got to the more open waters where there were no docks or land. When we are out in open waters, the captain called 3 people to raise the mainsail. To raise the mainsail there was a chunky black rope that we had to pull down. As we pulled the rope down, it got very hard as the mainsail went up. Some people would have others who would fill their spot when they were resting from pulling the rope. Behind us there was the steering wheel, and on the right of the wheel there was a winch that someone would turn to reel the black rope we pulled in so it didn’t get tangled. It was a real team effort. This was a reoccurring thing to do if we wanted to leave the dock. The other sailing terms I learned were the mast, jib, boom, bow, and stern.