Our family’s sailing saga has continued during the summer. Last weekend was a big step forward.

Don R. of Bascom and his son Jordan met us for a few hours of sailing one day last weekend. In one way it was not a perfect day for sailing. The wind, which was pretty lively while we readied the boat, became light and a little erratic, then just plain died in the midday doldrums after we got out on the lake. However, it turned out to be a good day to learn some things we needed to grasp, most notably, patience.

We had gotten some knowledge of the sport of sailing earlier from Tom H. and his family. Unfortunately, when sailing on our own, we tended to forget some of the lessons we should have learned about handling the sails and helm and what should be happening.

When things did not go right, or at least when what I expected to happen didn’t happen, it had a tendency to make me nervous, grumpy and not someone with whom anyone wants to be on a small boat. My family began asking why I wanted to sail, since it did not seem to relax me. I had to agree.

So the day Don, Jordan, Son Two and I went out onto Lake Erie turned out to be valuable. We chose Catawba Point as our destination for the day. However, the aforementioned light, fickle wind repeatedly got us near there, but then forced us to tack off in another direction.

This was the kind of thing which had been frustrating me in previous sails with my family. I didn’t seem to be able to make the thing do what I wanted.

Apparently I was ready that day to understand Don’s explanation that, sometimes, that’s just how it is. Sometimes you can’t get to where you’re going exactly the way you want, you’ve got to find another way, whatever way the wind provides. Ah Hah!

Finally, after a couple of hours, we decided we had gotten about as close to the point as we were going to. Don suggested we use the spinnaker to sail back.

The spinnaker is that big, pretty, colorful sail with a corporate logo you see America’s Cup racers using and I had been hoping to have a chance to “fly” mine before the summer was over. Even though mine does not have a corporate logo on it.

It is pretty and colorful, though.

The spinnaker is a little tricky to use. You’ve got your sheet, guy, spinnaker pole and sail and there’s a topping lift and a downhaul on the spinnaker pole. So four was pretty much the minimum crew necessary to fly the spinnaker, even in light wind. It puts a lot of force on the boat and it puts that force high over the center of gravity. This can lead to a “broach,” which can get you wetter than you would like.

We got it set up and flying and headed back past the marina, working our way a little close to shore to show off to the folks on the beach. It felt good.

After we “doused” the spinnaker I felt confident enough to try to sail back to the channel on just the mainsail. That turned out to be pretty slow, but I was surprised that I suddenly had the chutzpah to experiment a little.

The next day, Wife, Son Two and I took the boat out for a little while. The confidence I had started to acquire the previous day stuck with us. That was in spite of the fact that we suddenly found ourselves on the return leg of a sailboat race bound for Port Clinton. A quick turn to the south got us out of everyone’s way, probably before any of the racers even noticed us.

The next big step will be to get comfortable with “heeling,” the leaning over thing which looks so spectacular in the movies but which actually slows down the boat.

Time for a big Thank You to any and all who had anything to do with the development and building of the new press box at Frost-Kalnow Stadium.

To most of you, who never have occasion or opportunity to work in the press box during an athletic event, its amenities understandably don’t mean much. However, those of us who do sincerely appreciate the new facility and creature comforts.

The fact is, something which seems so insignificant to most of the general public actually represents the entire community to visiting coaches, athletic directors, newspaper writers, broadcasters and band announcers. For the most part, the stadium and press box are the only parts of the city they visit.

You should be proud that those parts again make a positive impression on visitors.