#50| Collision course

About the heading, the course and the difference that matters

The whole thing in a sentence

This week’s lessons: anchoring under sails only is a lot easier with bigger crew; we’re not always going where we’re heading; mist and fog can erase any sense of distance and when tacking in stronger winds, depowering the main slightly during the maneuver helps to prevent Tailwind from turning up into the wind.

Drifting

Let’s skip the legend about the petrification of the pre-celtic king and his army. The many granite rocks sticking out of the blue waters ahead remind us more of various animals rather than of “the king’s tongue split in seven pieces and his molar teeth scattered around” anyway.

So, here we are again. In the middle of Canal de Sagres (Channel of Blood if translated literally) just north of the Island of Sálvora – part of the Atlantic Island National Park of Galicia.
This time, Kate & I are prepared for the optical illusion we experienced here the last time. Klemens and Maribeth are not. Sailing theory is one thing. To experience those physics first hand is another.

Big swell and shallow waters can create sudden and steep waves that can be fatal for incautious vessels! @Bajos Bruxeirados, ES

“There are rocks right in front of us!”

Klemens exclaims and points ahead to where the rhythmic swell unveils a large stone plateau with every wave. Of all the rocks around, this is the most dangerous one as it’s visible only half of the time. Thanks to good visibility we all see it. Coming closer.

“I know. Thanks. That’s just our heading,” I reply briefly. The slow & carefree sail across the wide bay is over. The wind picks up as we turn around the headland and into the narrow channel. Close-hauled, we must maintain as much height (relative to the wind from NE) as possible to stay clear of those stone animals (or royal teeth).

“What’s the dangerous coast?” I ask the crew. The next moment everyone points to the leeward rocks on our starboard side. “Yes!” I say cheerfully and head straight towards the foaming patch of sea in front of us where Klemens correctly identified the shallow rocks from far away. Now it’s only about 20m. Pretty close – even if traveling at about 8km/h only!

“Look,” I point out at the navigational tablet. “This is our true course over ground. This is where we are actually moving towards.” Just midway to pass between the shallows and the rocks to either side. So, as mindblowing as it might seem, heading toward the breaking seas is in fact the safest thing to do. But how come?

The drift – caused by the lateral component of the wind’s power – is gradually pushing us downwind. More so on a close-hauled point of sail. And due to shallow waters and playful Orcas Ibericas, we pulled the daggerboard up too.

All of this makes the difference between our heading (where our bow points to) and our true direction of travel (course) significant! You might know it from skiing or snowboarding down an icy slope – if your edges aren’t sharp as a swiss-army knife, you can be pointing toward that chair lift station, but your speed and gravitation will mercilessly take you down to the Après ski bar down in the valley.

Back to Tailwind. Sticking as high as possible (to the wind) might seem scary, but helps to clear all the dangers of the Canal de Sagres with ease. And once in the lee of the landmass, the wind dies off completely, giving us enough time to discuss and grasp what we just experienced:

Heading and direction (of movement) are not necessarily the same thing.

Btw, how to determine if you’re on a collision course with a moving object or not?

A Rule of Thumb:

1.) Take a bearing at your counterpart – covering it with your thumb while you remain still with your hand stretched out.

2.) Hold your course.

3.) Observe if your counterpart shows up left or right from your thumb.
→ If it appears on the side closer to your bow, it will pass in front of you.
→ If it appears closer to your stern, it will pass behind you.

!!!) If it remains behind your thumb, take action soon enough to avoid collision.

Do you have any helpful rules of thumb to share with the crew?
We’d be stoked if we’d knew ;)

Different kinds of traffic: one must obey the rules – always keeping the sailing physics in the back of the head!

Life’s heading

Same rule applies to goals and dreams in life. And I speak of experience. When I started to throw coins into an empty jam jar 8 years ago I had a dream of saving up a couple of thousands to buy an old sailing boat and sail to the horizon. Quickly, the jar grew into a magnum bottle and then turned into a bank account. The dream started to adapt the characteristics of a plan, my determination was growing and soon I would have been able to buy that little old boat I imagined.

But then, I saw that for twice as much I could buy a much nicer boat – or a bigger one. So, I kept on working, saving and dreaming.

Many say, that we are what we eat. Others say, we become what we think. I started to believe that we are what we practice.

And I practiced earning money. For years. And that’s what I became better at. Finding well-paid employment labor. Working hard. Living smart. Saving up for the dream.

Then I woke up one day and realized: I’ve done some sailing in the past years. But I’ve done many more Crêpe Suzette flambees than nautical knots, cleaned more restaurant floors than boat decks and spoke and heard more about wine & exquisite recipes than about sail trim, tides or wind patterns.

So I asked myself: Am I still preparing to manifest the dream? Or does the ongoing preparation push my goal further away with every step – into the hazy realm of I-wish-one-day-I-could? The comforting bubble to cultivate distant dreams – those we love to talk about but are afraid to implement as we fear their shadows once they grow real?

What a crossroads! I felt how during the past years of my life I was drifting toward a rather regular employee existence – even though my mindset and heading were set on an adventurous journey of life exploration. But what was my true course? How much of it were words? How much of it were actions?

“Talk is cheap,” as Maribeth would put it.

During the past months, I experienced another interesting thing. It seems like my (professional) past sticks at my heels like the tree resin after our last island forest walk. Like if my repetitive actions and decisions and developed their own force of gravity, pulling me back to where I thought I was only to earn money for what I do now in the first place.

I know. Confusing. And a frighteningly powerful lesson. Just as a drifting vessel.

Our heading in life can be an illusion if our actions take us in another direction (for too long).

Setting an own course

Whereas effortlessly navigating through life seems a fine art reserved for life artists, spontaneous and intuitive decision-making comes naturally when we allow ourselves to explore, play and enjoy.

During the past week, Tailwind’s Crew got another taste of Galician summer and showed what they are all about!

Some were chasing pure action. Klemens with his curious and anticipating character is literally soaking up the sailing basics – hoisting the sails, tacking upwind, jibing downwind, traffic rules and dropping or raising the anchor under sail only. After just 10 days of boat life, he confidently plots out a feasible route upwind through the many obstructions to our next destination, respecting the boat’s performance & wind forcast!
Moreover, spearfishing and surfing are activities he sets his course on and achieves both: a fish for dinner as well as surfing the beach break in Corrubedo. Documenting it all with his action cam in a systematic manner. We are excited to see “the after movie”!

Meanwhile, Kate goes for a run on the beach – the longest of its kind in Galicia – and enjoyed its full length. She’s got her mind set on covering significant distances just for the pleasure of movement – her passion! And observing the vegetation along the way, of course.
Being the good soul of the boat, she manages to pop by a grocery store on her way back to keep on conjuring healthy and tasty meals in Tailwind’s galley. Probably in such a determined and efficient way, that if you don’t stand up and claim the cooking spoon explicitly you might come too late to prepare the next meal!
Ah, and those fresh flowers on the table? The lovingly arranged cushions on the sofa? The dishes magically disappearing back into their shelves?
Yeah, you know who’s been at work here. Big shout-out to Katerin!

Maribeth is into movement too. But she doesn’t need much landmass for that. Nor a destination. “We’re on a sailboat,” she says cheerfully, “let’s go sailing!” She truly radiates the pure joy of simply being out on the water. The pleasure of facing and harvesting the elements. And encountering its inhabitants: seabirds of all kind and a group of little playful Common Dolphins comes by to prove her right!
At the same time, she’s a committed crewmember who shows her hands-on mentality with every maneuver. Intrigued by aspects of navigation and sailing, Maribeth also contributes with valuable questions and contemplations that help all of us to grow. Her kindness and openness inspires. Her life experience speaks for itself. Her courage impresses!

And me? Well, I take a little downtime for myself, observe the surf breaking just aft of the anchored Tailwind and digest these past days of enriching companionship. I contemplate future steps and priorities. I plan ahead and answer new crew requests. My course is set on further developing Tailwind as a floating base camp for a like-minded crew that seeks first-hand experiences, encounters with the elements and insights into an alternative way of life. I feel that sharing what we do and how we live in real life is much more rewarding for me than using media to do so. And I feel hungry. But I don’t touch the yummy lunch Kate prepared before heading to the beach. Instead, I’ll get the dinghy ready to pick up the crew – and grab the camera to shoot some pictures of Klemens’ first surf session ever.

What a day! What a week.

Have a good one, dear friends!  
Special thanks to the crew.