Practicing Stopping

1 minute read

Well, there is no reason that it can’t be fun to learn. That’s how I feel every time I take out Brightside. I am still such a novice that I try to go out as often as possible. I’m still making plenty of mistakes but each time I go out I learn a few new things.

Tonight I left with one purpose and that was to practice stopping. Before I can sail to Block Island (my next goal) I need to be able to park my boat. I’ve gotten better and continue to gain confidence at parking at my slip, but hadn’t ever caught a mooring ball or dropped anchor solo. I’ll have to do one of those two things when I get down to Block.

First, I motored out to a series of mooring balls about 1NM from the marina I’m living in. I headed upwind and got ready with the boat hook. Nailed it! First try, perfect catch and got the line on board to tie up.

I immediately dropped the line back in so that I could go drop anchor. I motored a short distance away from the moorings and let go the anchor. I was in about 35 feet of water and got the hook set with relative ease.

After a few minutes ensuring that I wasn’t drifting, I cut the engine and set up the fly-away grill to cook a nice dinner at anchor.

About to taste the meat, not the heat

I had a short video call with Grete and kids and took a few minutes to enjoy how absolutely amazing my life is. The sun was setting, so I pulled the anchor back aboard and headed home.

Sun is setting, time to head home