First Sail

Grete and the kids have finally been sailing. I’ll admit I was nervous and excited to see how well they handled it as well as whether or not they would enjoy themselves. It was perfect on all accounts.

Obviously Brightside at just 28 feet is a tad smaller than we intend to move aboard in a couple of years, but even so we managed pretty well for the week that they were in Newport visiting me. I kept talking it up to the kids (and Grete) over the last month or two and ramping up the excitement after they arrived here.

The day after they arrived in Newport, the wind was good, pretty consistent at about 10 knots and the sun was shining. Dublin asked if we could go sailing and I certainly had no reason to say no.

Smiling faces under sail

Turns out that sailing with two really small kids is harder than single-handing. Basically all of the sailing aspects were unchanged from when I normally sail since Grete constantly had to make sure that they were all staying safe, but the added obstacles in the cockpit made trimming sails and coming about generally more difficult.

We sailed a small loop from Melville Marina around a small island to the Southwest called Dyer Island without any issue at all. We doused sails and headed back in to the harbor for a post-sail cheeseburger and shower (sold-separately).

We moored up and ate then got ready for bed. Our sea trial as a family was a huge success. No seasickness, everyone got to steer a bit, and it was a great enough experience that everyone was asking for more…

“Fira, right full rudder”

Dublin has the conn, I maintain the deck