Going Back II- Sailing

I went sailing for the first time in my life!!! If I had a 30 by 30 list (which I don't) sailing would have been near the top.

My only experience with wind-powered boat travel was on the Lake several years ago. Mr. E.S.'s hair-brained shceme was to sail across the Lake using three canoes a, tarp, several stout poles, and a bike. He raised enough interest and we set off- Anna, Bria, Aaron, Ethan, Kim & George, Mr. E.S., myself, and possibly someone else I'm forgetting.

We lashed the three canoes together with the stout poles, put the bike in the middle canoe so that Ethan could ride back around the lake to get the van (our steering mechanism was too primative to think about tacking back), and arranged ourselves according to weight and skills. We must have paddled out a little way before raising our sail. For sail read Anna and I and the tarp. Yep, I was the mast. We stood up in each in the bow of the outside canoes and raised the tarp. It flapped about, caught the wind and filled to a beautiful taut roundeness and pulled us forward. We braced against it and our trimarinne shot forward, skimming across the lake at incredible speeds (cough, cough). I was enchanted!

At the other side we lowered the tarp and leaped over the side to enjoy a spot of swimming while Ethan biked back for the van and trailer.


Okay, so I went over to Bria's house a couple weekends ago for our first annual Shakespeare weekend, another story all to itself. But that got interruped when her father told us he was planning on going out the next day on his thirty-foot sailboat. Would we like to go? Would we ever! We dumped Shakespeare like a ton of bricks.

The sun was out, the wind was perfect, the boat was lovely. The sky was a gorgeous blue with little fluffy clouds. The sun was deliciously hot and the breeze refreshing. Since have I no practical knowledge of sailing (aside from knowing how to be a mast) and there were several other much more competent individuals aboard, my only responsiblity for the next several hours was just to keep from falling off the boat. :-)

I did actually steer for a few minutes while we were still under motor power coming out of the harbor. It was an interesting experience- nothing like steering a car because the whole boat is in front instead of behind. It had a delayed response to any turn of the helm, and was affected by outside forces in ways a car is not. Weird.

After my two minutes of activity at the helm I moved on to several hours of inactivity. We sat about the deck talking or being quiet as we felt lead, dangling our feet over the edge to feel the cool spray, learning to avoid the beam, eating snickers and granola bars, avoiding Cheech's crumbs, watching the waves, the coast, the clouds, the sails, dozing or just sitting. I wasn't scared at all, and I only felt slightly nauseous when I went below.

My cell phone was out of hearing, it was the Sabbath, and all obligations and worries were beyond my control. I wish the day could have gone on for a week at least.

I know that sailing can be pretty miserable in adverse weather or winds, but 100% of my sailing experience has been 100% positive. Pretty good, eh? I suppose I should stop while I'm ahead. I suppose the odds of ever having such a wonderful time again get worse with every sailing trip I take. :-)

Anyway, here are my words for sailing: peace, joy, beauty, intensity, light, grace, heat, cool, speed, movement, silence, stillness, timelessness, decadence, bliss, perfection, solitude, wonder, companionship.