Sailing with my bro

Yesterday was probably the last sailing day of the year (for get wet boats, anyway), and I took my older brother out for his "maiden voyage."

We got to the lake around 5 p.m., and the wind was definitely gusting. And the water was COLD! Although the air temperature nearly hit 70 and the sun was shining beautifully off the gold and red trees, the water did not seem to recover from a night in the 30s. There was plenty of swearing while pulling the club's Sunfish from the ramp to the beach.

Then there was more swearing as the sail and boat bucked and bobbed with the gusts during set up. I tried to turn the boat into the wind, but it would whip around as things would shift. It nearly took off on us at one point.

But we found an opening between gusts and took off for the open water.

And it was glorious.

Brother dear had never sail before. The wind was blowing perfectly to sail mostly on reaches, so we only needed to tack when to head up or down the eastern side of the lake. This was a good thing, because tacking with someone who has never sailed before can get complicated. Bro would go under the boom as I told him, but struggled with sheeting in (I've been there) and would forget to hop to the other side of the boat. He'd cling to dipped side of the boat and I'd have to tell him to hop to the other side. But we never capsized!

 It was just us and a jet skier pulling a buddy around and adding some fun chop. Hiked up with some good speed to echo the 'Whoohoos!' coming from the speed demons. Overall, it was a perfect sailing evening ...

... until you put your feet back in the water.

Looked up how much dry sailing socks cost. Ouch.