Lesson No. 3 Learned the Hard Way

Lesson: In rough water, don't take down your sails until you get inside the jetties.

Price of the Lesson: a shortened main halyard, delay, and frustration

How I Learned It: On the way back from New Orleans Mardi Gras last year, the winds were high and the waters were rough, at least for me on my first solo sail. The waves on Lake Pontchartrain were at about 2-3 feet.

I had been pinching the NW wind but still had ended up a bit to the East (downwind) of the mouth of Bayou Castine. So I dropped the sails and cranked the motor. Bad idea.

Unfortunately, the pitching and rolling pulled the motor out of the water, making it difficult to make any headway or to navigate. The sound of the outboard's cavitation was distressing.

Also, I had not properly cleated the main halyard to the mast. It came loose, swung around the back of the boat, and promptly got fouled in my outboard's propeller. The motor was dead as a doornail, and I was drifting to the shallow waters off Goose Point. Not a good feeling.

It is not much fun to hang off the back of your boat and cut the halyard line while your boat is pitching and rolling, but I now know that it can be done.

Eventually, I made it into the Bayou and back to Indian Landing. Had I simply tacked once more, worked upwind a bit, and kept the sails up until I was inside the jetties, I would have saved about 1 hour, 4 feet of halyard, and much anxiety.