Sailing

Outside of meals eaten at Le Petite Bistro, and outside of getting to know Hana, sailing was the stand alone highlight of the time we spent in Na Trang. The city is supposedly "world renowned" within windsurfing and kite boarding communities, and while I highly question the credibility of the sleazy rental guy who fed me that line, I can say this: “The wind in Na Trang absolutely rips.” Winds sweep out of the south, tear up the Vietnamese coast, and render the South China Sea a wind-sports playground, and plenty of people are playing. For two days Brittany and I sat on the shore watching wind surfers and kite boarders get after it, and for a minuet I thought about renting some equipment and joining them, but then I thought back to my trip to Australia, remembered how shitty of a kite boarder I had proven to be, and thought better of it. I did however, continue to eye the hobbie cats down the beach. Three boats sat in the sand unused for almost two days, but after a day of debating how well I could manage the boat in such high winds, Britt, still having never sailed before, put arguably undue faith in me and we agreed to go for it. We dropped half our daily budget on a boat, and pointed it to sea. I cleated the jib, cranked in the main sheet, and took the tiller. Less than a minuet later we were up on one hull, screaming through the South China Sea. All the while Brittany screaming at me that I had “PROMISED” that I would explain all this to her... So explain I did, but I never let up, and Britt being the champion that she is, never complained. She did call me out on overusing ridiculous sailing jargon, but beyond that she took it all in stride; even when I got overzealous and ended up putting us in the drink. We were on a down wind reech when an unfortunately timed swell coupled with an overpowering gust of wind, submerged the right pontoon, lifted the rudders and sent us cartwheeling through the open ocean. I am sure Britt stared daggers into my back while I righted the boat, but I never heard a complaint. As to whether or not she will sail with me again we will see, but she was a good enough sport not to kill me; and she even manned the jib as we pointed our boat back to the still sleazy, and now agitated rental guy.