Sunfish
I learned to sail in a Sunfish, which Dad bought me when I managed
to
swim half a mile at age 7. The Sunfish was a styrofoam boat
that
Dad coated the bottom with fiberglass to protect it from the rocks
on
the shore in front of the house. It has a single mast, about
10'
tall, and was about 11 feet long. It had a retractable
centerboard, and was a terrifc boat to learn to sail in--but was
difficult to paddle.
I spent a lot of time sailing in the bay in front of our
house.
It was a great place to learn to sail, and by the time I was 12 I
probably had hundreds of hours sailing it.
My sisters also had a Sunfish, and one summer we decided to sail
around
the lake. We took both boats, our cat (who swam back and forth
between the boats!!) and dog. We sailed around our hill to the
bluff, where we stopped for the night. After we got the fire
going, our cat flushed a baby fox, who ran up the bluff with the cat
and I in hot pursuit. The cat gave up, but I kept
chasing...and
chasing...and chasing. We were closely matched in speed, so
while
I couldn't catch him, he couldn't get away either. We'd run
and
run, and then he'd dodge behind a clump of bushes and we'd both
catch
our breath. After I'd caught my breath I'd try to edge closer,
and he'd start edging away and then the chase would be on
again.
After nearly an hour I gave up...I just couldn't get close enough to
him!
We camped on the gravel beach below the bluff, and the next day we
resumed our trip around the lake. We had good winds so made
good
progress, though my memory doesn't say whether we camped out another
night!
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First written spring 2010.
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