I’m not the best of sailors. I’m competent, I know most of the ropes (lines on a sailboat) and I enjoy it immensely, but like I said, I’m not the best of sailors. I jumped at the chance to go out on a new acquaintances’ Melges 24. This is a real hum dinger of a sailboat. Ferrari is a name known by all. It represents Grace, Power, and Engineering that verges on sculpture. Well a properly designed sailboat is all of those things…plus some. I like wooden sailboats. Much has been said about them, and often those words fall shy of complimenting them, but very few objects in modern times can be called sculpture. I think that some, not all, classic sailboats show lines that have more grace many women I know, and that is a tough thing.

Getting back to the Ferrari, this boat, a Melges 24 is about as close to a Ferrari for the water as you can get. Like many modern cars her lines were pulled out of Silicon Valley in the form of 2 million dollars of CPU time, but the results are good. I’m the first to argue that reason often gets beaten passion. In this case while the design of the boat isn’t passionate, its way of moving inspires passion.

By 2:00 Monday was looking like another great fall day in Vermont. The trees are turning quickly, but the lake has slowed things down, and there is still some green to be seen on Lake Champlain. The wind was howling all day, and I reconsidered a single-handed sail on my Folkboat. I hate to be a wimp, but in this case the boat was up to the wind, and I wasn’t.

At 2:30 when John called I was ready for a good sail! By 4:30 the sky had turned gray, and the lake was taking on new colors. The orange, blue, and greens of both the sky and lake had turned into grays and purples. You could taste the rain that was falling in the Adirondacks across the lake. I drove down to the Shipyard feeling a little intimidated by the weather, but as my sailing buddies arrived I couldn’t help but catch their enthusiasm.

After a couple of minutes the boat was ready, and we were casting lines off the dock. Being the new guy I was more than a little intimidated by the operation, but my hosts were gracious, and I managed not to screw anything up too badly. It wasn’t long before we had the main up, and were hurtling along at 7 knots or more. Sitting on rail, feet over the side the weather no longer seemed intimidating. I gained confidence (something I’m not usually short of) from my compatriots, and the Miller Genuine Draft that we were drinking. When you are on a sailboat of this type cans are preferable to bottles. Drinking cheap beer while being tossed by the wind at a 20 degree angle, feet inches from the water, looking at a cold fall day with rain and spray hitting your face, is a good feeling, and I was glad to be out there. Today it is damn hard to find an adventure, but this was as close as I was going to get on a Monday, and so far it wasn’t a bad start.

We beat our way up Shelburne bay, with a decent, but dying wind and little chop. This boat had a smooth ride. Initially I couldn’t imaging how a 24ft boat weighing only 1500 pounds could possibly handle much in the way of a sea, but she took the waves in a gentle way. After a couple of tacks we were at the head of the bay and ready to run down. I was pressed into service and we quickly had the Asymmetrical Spinnaker flying. In my Folkboat a downwind leg is less the thrilling, but in this semi-planning hull we were quickly on our way to 10-15 knots. I was told she will do 20 down wind with a really good wind, but despite our best efforts we couldn’t seem to find the cookin wind that had been blowing only a couple of hours ago. It was still a good 10-15 knots, but not what it was. As the storms moved in the wind followed the clouds more than anything, so we had to watch as the wind changed and changed again. Still I was amazed and impressed with the Melges, and our speed.

As darkness was falling and the beer gone, we headed back to the Shipyard for a quick breakdown in the rain. I rowed out to my boat to check batteries and bilge pumps, and met the other 3 guys for more Pizza and Beer.