A question from a sailing acquaintance got me thinking the other day. He asked several of us to describe our best sailing experience. For my family, it was not hard to choose one … we haven’t had all that many sailing experiences yet.

Our best, most enjoyable sail had to be the Saturday we spent on Lake Erie in late August this year. The wind was light and out of the south, the sun was shining and when we set out at 10 AM, the temperature was about 75, on its way to the mid 80’s.

My wife, our 13 year old son and I motored out of the channel of our marina east of Port Clinton and set sail. Many times in the past we had intended to spend a day on the water but were forced back in by sea sickness or other problems.

This day we were trying a new anti-motion sickness product we had found. You put a little dab of the stuff behind each ear. It absorbs through the skin into the middle ear and calms your balance organs. Turns out it worked pretty well.

We first headed west toward Port Clinton. We approached the Portage River channel but decided to not get too close, since the Jet Express and lots of other big boats head into and out of there all the time.

We swung around and headed north for a while, then decided to try to get to Catawba Point. Catawba State Park has been a goal of mine. It’s certainly not a huge challenge, since it lays only about four miles from our marina, but it’s kind of a psychological thing … a need to get somewhere, not just sail out and back.

Anyway, we headed east toward the point. All was well.

My wife sat leaning against the mast. I was at the helm, and our son crawled on deck and fell asleep.

It was time to enjoy sailing. Looking up, I could spend time watching the sails do their work, catching the wind, producing lift that propelled us forward. I could look over the side and watch the Lake Erie water flow past the hull of Rubaiyat. And she went where I aimed her.

After about 45 minutes, we arrived just outside the Catawba State Park Harbor. We have driven to the state park several times. But the day before, we had gone there with the specific purpose of finding out what we could about docking there.

What we found was that docking there is not something a boater does unless he has to. The thought of tying Rubaiyat close to the hungry steel I-beams was chilling. As a result, we decided that having arrived at the point where we would drop sails and motor on in was the same as doing so.

It was time to head back. Sailing upwind, we worked our way back to the marina, motored into the channel and turned toward our dock.

Then things began to unravel. Our dock is at the far end of the marina from the shore. The only dock north of it is used by the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department.

Normally, this location is very good. The high breakwall shelters Rubaiyat from storms charging in from the north. This day, with the wind from the south, it was a problem.

I had turned to head straight from the channel to the dock. However, by the time we were a couple of boat lengths away, we realized that the wind was carrying us north and we were likely to run into the end of the dock, and then the sheriff’s boat.

My wife noticed it first and started to warn me. Although I was moving slowly, there was no time to reverse. The left side of the bow slid against the upright pole at the end of the dock and my wife grabbed hold.

Isaac Newton and the laws of leverage being what they are, she was in trouble. As she held onto the dockpole, the wind swung the aft part of the boat to the north. The bow, where my wife was standing, went south.

There was a splash and, pretty soon an, “I’m OK!” She had fallen in. Fortunately, the water wasn’t too deep and she wasn’t too mad.

Meanwhile, the stern of the boat swung toward the sheriff’s inflatable. I managed to lean over the stern and push off before they collided. After that it was a pretty simple matter to motor to an open area of the marina, swing the boat around and head back to the dock. This time, aiming a little upwind.

Son went to the bow with a boat pole to replace his mother, and we finally got Rubaiyat secured.

We had set a new family sailing record … three hours, and had fun doing it.