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Because of much work as well as a sailing trip on the Wadden Sea I haven’t been sailing for a few weeks. Today I thought: “Well, now I have time, hard wind and I’m really motivated!”  Therefore after work I went directly to my boat to sail a bit.

I wasn’t at my boat if it starts to rain. Because I’m a beginner and twist and turn my boat in every direction (also with the sail under water) I didn’t care about water. But I guess this was this first sign I had to pay attention to. Next I recognized a real hard wind that wasn’t coming straight from one direction but turns continuously. Nevertheless I lift my boat into the water and start to sail. I really enjoyed the hard wind for about one hour. Then suddenly a screw of my boom vang breaks and I lose control of the boat. So, what to don in such a situation. First I obtained my sail. Then I fetched a paddle and started to canoe. Because I got headwind I wasn’t able to move only one meter forward. “OK, you need another solution“,  I thought. I put my paddle away, fetched the front rope and left the boat. While swimming I tried to pull my sail boat to the harbor. It took me nearly 30 minutes to cross 1/4 of the lake. Fortunately some members of my sail club visited our club house. As soon as they saw my pulling my boat while swimming they fetch a rowing boat and picked my up. Nearly one hour after my boom vang broke I was in the harbor again. Even it wasn’t a critical situation it wasn’t funny at all. While I was swimming I not only have to fight the headwind but also the waves. Happily I was wearing my wet suite as well as my buoyancy aid. Well, just another experience more. The next time I will double check my equipment as well as to keep away from the water if the wind blows to hard.