lessons ahhhhh

hi everybody. the top two photos are of my first lesson yesterday. and the bottom of Lifeboat Steve and Fran.


Yesterday went better than i hoped . got confused with ropes [ sheets ]but all was soo so, thought it could only get better.
It didnt. I learned today that booms hurt and that dinghys appear to know this and honest to god by the end of the day i am sure it was doing it deliberately.
The instructor who is blissfully patient with dimwits like me , is called Rachel and the other lassie taking lessons with me is called Karen now that is Karen with an e and i am Karin with an i. you just know don't you how confusing this is going to get. well yesterday we almost capsized because Rachel said "Karen if you would like to move over , so we both did and if Rachel hadn't of lunged for the other side we would have been over. So now i am Scot Karin which is working well.
Karen is also lovely and very easy to get on with , has an adorable daughter 6 called Poppy who is going to be a great sailor and is completely running rings around us as are the other kids..This is causing abit of anguish as we the adults are trying to learn to tack  and going out from the shore and back and they are also doing that but are also going across, So us as parents are trying to learn a skill that seems counter intuative as well as do the motherly thing and watch out for the kids .
Now yesterday we were in two different types of Dinghy. A wayfairer and a pico. . We went up the channel heading for titchmarsh in the wayfairer to get some space , but it got really choppy so we headed back in for some nibbles. and a warm up as Scotland had decided that i would feel happier if it came down for the day, so we had horizontal rain and a biteing wind.
After nibbleswe got out the pico, which is a more basicically shaped , has no back to let the water out. [Honestly i had to see that to believe it ] It was still windy so we reefed the sail in. [ In the pico the mast is turned winds in the sail making it smaller and catching less wind so it isn't so fast.]. Now i went with Rachel , she sat in front of boat and i had control of the sail and tiller. Doing ok she shouts tack i go to go under the boom , slip end up on my arse legs in air jammed Rachel is going centre your tiller centre your tiller  so while legs in air i manage to wiggle tiller to centre position. she turns round saying not bad looks down and bless her just goes mmmm and helps me up.
That was yesterday , She knows us better and was cracking up over the legs in air incident and steering at the same time. today in the changing room.
Today started well we went in the wayfairer again as it was a bit calmer in the main channel but the tide wasn't in enough and we had the jib sale [One at front , smaller than the big one , mainsail. Helps get more wind and to steer the boat ]So we did alot of tacking to avoid the mud banks.. We got into a good routine and was keeping up with the big yachts that were using power. Came back down goose winged [ Mainsail on one side jib on other, to catch all the wind that  is there when going down wind.]. Went for nibbles. Outin the pico again.. ON MY OWN. AHHHHHHHHH. I am like i can do this i can do this. I was till i tacked to avoid a speeding 8 year old coming from the side, did it too fast and capsized., now we had practised this yesterday but without the sail on. And i did well, which had me going back to LAL yea i can cope a boat , well chuffed i had got it back up again.
I pushed the boat so it would be into the wind when it righted [ Gave myself a pat on the back for that ], swam round to the back and pulled on the daggerboard untill the boat came back over.. Great all well so far. Then i had to get in. This is actually really hard. It is a low sided boat but when you are in the water it is still above your head , you are wet and heavy and i didnt want to pull on the side of the boat incase i brought the boat back over. So I went round the back and heaved with all my strength and rammed my breast bone on the rudder,Knocked the wind out of me and turned my legs to jelly and lay head down  thinking this is it.and what a position to die in. .i could hear them on shore asking if i was allright but i just couldn't get the breath to speak. i went fuck it , i am not  dieing like this . I hauled myself on  stuck my hand up  to give a thumbs up and lay there for 5 minutes till i could breathe.
Come on Karin you can do this!! got my ropes sorted and the stupid[ it is driving me nuts ] tiller with the extension on in the right place , pulled the sail in and took her round a bit. Got straightened up and realised i was heading straight for a buoy so tacked, and came to an abrupt stop almost having me off again. I am like  "what the F" tried everything almost cried got angry almost swore didn't  cos of the kids Growlled instead which echoed all across the back waters, looked to see who heard [ everybody ] noticed my crewmate and instructor doing ballet movements , went " duh silly cow "and lifted my daggerboard. In avoiding the bouy that you can guess marked the mudbank . i went straight into it.
i got to shore safe , knackered and extremely pissed off. I was not to only one , Karen did a fantastic , wish i had a camera moment where in avoiding another child went to capsize through herself off. the boat almost went over but at the last minute righted went over the other way righted , the wind got it and it headed like a torpedo straight for us on shore, i  lept in and caught the boat. It was brill even the instrutor has never seen anything like it. At least i didn't have to swim ashore. so we all had a laugh and put the boats away.
I will finish by saying  i love boats but i will never rent buy or borrow a Dinghy. i find i have more fun going in the water in a proper boat whos intention is not to throw you in the sea at every opportunity. Bash you in the head till your ears ring  cover everybit of you in bruises. and make you feel like an old incompetant TIT.
Oh yes and  i have another lesson tomorrow. if it wasn't for the lovely instructor Rachel Her nice friend instructor Hiedi , who is taking the little one and the very likeable and keen Karen and the fact i am stubbourn , i will have went  " Not for me " and quit. But as they are putting such effort in then it is only fair i do the same But i think i may need quite some luck for tomorrow and maybe an ambulance.
Goodnight and wish me good luck and could someone please tell me why the bloody boom is so low.