I still have vivid memories from my sailing experiences as a young adult.  The core of experience was mostly of flailing lines, jammed main sheets, and uncooperative winches all accompanied by lots of yelling by some of my older relatives.  Sailing today is completely different. Turns out a lot has changed in the last couple of decades.  I can literally stand in the stern with one hand on the wheel and raise the sails with a simple push of a button on the electric winch.  All the lines are now threaded back to the stern (back of boat), the winches are all electric, the main sheet is on an in mast furler, the jib is self-tacking, the helm has an autopilot, and there are both bow and stern thrusters to help with docking.  All the advances in electronics and navigation have made it very easy to plot and follow courses while avoiding underwater obstacles.

We have christened our boat, Vitae Magna, and it has been a good life aboard her.  In the two and a half years that we have had Vitae Magna, we have taken her out at least two dozen times each year.  For us the season starts in early May and ends in late October.  While most of the outings are day trips over to the islands, we have done a fair number of overnights as well.  I continue to be impressed by how easy the Vitae Magna is to sail, how well it handles, and how smoothly it rides through the waves.  In a four-foot sea you barely notice the rocking.  In a good wind, Vitae Magna will do 10 knots (11.5 mph) and it moves quite well even in a light breeze.  One person really could sail the boat, but it does help to have a second person on board to work the lines on the other side, so you don’t have to run back and forth. Also picking up a mooring solo is not something I would want to attempt although I have seen it done (it involves a lot of running back and forth).  The only moderately stressful part of going out for a sail is getting back into the slip at the end of the day.  Backing a 51-foot boat into a slip with only a few feet of clearance on one side is not for the faint of heart.  To do it properly you have to get the transom (boat’s butt) perpendicular to the edge of the dock, then swing the bow using the thruster until the boat is parallel to the dock, and then use the motor to back in.  Depending on the current and wind direction, you also need to use the stern thruster to keep it lined up with the dock as you reverse.  It sounds easy until you factor in wind, tides, and currents.  It’s akin to driving a race car on slicks in the rain.  It’s all fine until it suddenly is not.

Vitae Magna is 50 feet long, 16 feet wide, and draws 7 feet.  Vitae Magna sleeps 6 in 3 cabins, has 2 heads (bathrooms) with showers, decent size galley (kitchen) area, chart table, air-conditioning, heating, and a good size dining table.  The boat does have Wi-Fi so it is millennial friendly.  She has both a generator and solar panels so we can power a fair number of appliances on-board for as long as the sun, batteries, and fuel tank last.  Life on board is quite comfortable with a fridge, freezer, oven, stove, microwave, Jura espresso maker, and washer/dryer.  We also have a hot plate and grill which swing open off the back deck over the swimming platform.

We are very fortunate that we have a number of islands within a short sailing distance.  Many of our daily sails involve sailing out to one of the islands, finding a beach, dropping the anchor, and BBQ’ing off the back of the boat.  After lunch we normally would take the dingy into the beach and let the dogs go for a run and a swim.  The balance of the afternoon was normally soaked up by a few dips in the ocean off the back swim platform on Vitae Magna, soaking up the sun, before heading back to port.  As much as we enjoy being out on the boat together with our dogs, it’s also a great experience to share with friends.  With three cabins and plenty of room both above and below deck, we can comfortably take a 8-10 friends out for a daily sail and Lobster Rolls or a smaller group out on overnights.  As we only moved to the area a few years ago, sailing has helped us turn new friends into good friends and opened up a number of great new opportunities to meet people.