SV Little Woo

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. ~ Mark Twain

                                               

Ahoy! We've set sail....


Introducing SV Little Woo.  We are now proud owners of a sailboat.  She is a MacGregor 26S.  SV, stands for sailing vessels, 26 is her length and MacGregor is the name of the maker.  The MacGregors are wonderful, family friendly boats.  The mast folds down very easily and the boat comes with a made to order trailer that we can pull behind our suburban.  Because of her move-ability and length, we have the freedom to take her to any lake or ocean lagoon we choose.  She has two berths (sleeping areas), a small head (toilet) and a little tinny kitchen sink and counter I keep the camp stove on.

 We found her north of Dallas.  She was just what we had been looking for.  We knew we wanted a MacGregor with a length of no less than 23' and no more than 30'.  Its a scary thing to look at buying a boat.  Not something I do everyday.  We had to look at sails, rigging, hull, keel and make sure the engine starts and the thing can float.  But, we knew she was "the one" as soon as we saw her.  We were all so excited when the day finally came to bring our sailboat home.  I grabbed all books needed for a full day of school in the car, the boys grabbed their life vest.  While Jackson navigated the amazingly scary, and always under construction, roads of Dallas, in the rain, the boys sat all buckled in, in their life vest (it was a rainy day, you never can be to careful). Now, I didn't sleep the night before as I was unable to stop thinking how in the world we were going to drive a 26' sailboat through Dallas.  I voted on taking the long rout and making it a two day trip by going completely around the big city.  But, no, we were going to be coming back strait though the middle of it.  I don't have any pictures of the haul back home because I was too busy freaking out, something I'm an expert in.  Jackson, on the other hand, did great and maneuvered that suburban and sailboat on trailer combo like a pro!    

 Alex is reading "Robinson Crusoe" and "Swiss Family Robinson".  Both stories of shipwreck... great! 

 A few days later, we were ready to take her out for a spin.  We took our neighbor, Mr. Mark, with us for an extra set of hands, just in case.  Not that he has any sailing experience. Actually, none of us did at this point.  Not unless you count Jackson's Navy submarine years (under the water) and the fact that I had read "Sailing for Dummies" three times.  Which, by the way, makes allot more sense after you've been on a boat. 

The first time out was fun, and totally scary.  We did a lot of motoring.  But little by little we are gaining knowledge and confidence.  We have camped out on the lake a few times.  It's wonderfully peaceful out there.  We fall asleep to the movement of the boat on the water, while watching the stars though the hatch.  At first, all the lines (the boat term for rope) looked like a bowl of spaghetti and I saw no hope in ever seeing which line did what.  But, now I can raise the mast, unleash the furler and drop anchor!  

    Little Woo is our practice boat.  We are learning, we are baby-stepping it.  Our hope is to be able to go on a more long term sailing adventure.  But for that we need practice, lots of practice and a bigger boat.

We named our sailboat after one of our favorite movies, Jo vs the Volcano.   Jo and Patricia are about to leap in the volcano, the Big Woo, they are in love and ready to see what life has for them. They hold hands and they jump.

Patricia: "Nobody knows anything, Joe. We'll take this leap, and we'll see. We'll jump, and we'll see. That's life, right?"

It's true, that's life.