Sailing's lessons

[Todd Alt]

Time

Sailing has proven to me the validity of the saying that "it is the journey and not the destination". The patience and time it takes to get to a destination makes the arrival a form of reward, and as always you appreciate something that you work hard for more than you do something that is gained easily. I have also learned just how important my autopilot, and a good book can be.

 

[Tom Monroe]

ironic

I wouldn't want to try to explain with words what I feel/experience when I sail, but embedded in that are the important lessons I've learned, and they emphatically shape who and what I am.Here's a complicated and multifaceted irony ... I've worked so hard and sacrificed so much to own and operate a sailboat ... a THING ... so that I can learn how unimportant THINGS and WORK are to me in life.Tom MonroeCarlyle Lake

 

[Craig McDow]

Partner's in life

Sail first THEN pick your partner in life, (or else)!

 

[J Mashburn]

Lessons I am learning...

I would have to say that sailing has taught me how to deal with constant change and it has allowed me to enhance my patience with uncertainty. Most of all, sailing has taught me how to enjoy life.Hunter 146TIKI

 

[Phil]

Downeast and mobile

Just what I have learned from sailing could fill a book, I am a graduate of Hurricane Island Outward Bound School's downeast mobile course [1987]out of Camden Maine. I sailed for 28 days and nights with other "endangered youths" not ready to join the ranks of adulthood.I now sport a captain's hat as the co-leader of my family, I owe a great deal to the ocean. I am currently restoring a 21' Luger Southwind in my backyard, I hope to expose my own kids to the teachings offered by the greatest professor of all time, the Atlantic.

 

[Jeff]

balance

Sailing is about balance ... finding a balance with the wind, the sea, a boat, and yourself. Those that must have a plan, an alternate, a fixed destination, and an agenda will often find themselves preplexed and frustrate. However, if you relish the thought of being prepared but surprised, as you solve yet another new puzzle, then sailing is for you. What can compare to the feeling of a well trimmed yacht as she lays a rail to the sea and takes the bone in her teeth? It's something that can never be conquered or manhandled, but if all is in balance, she'll let you share that feeling of power through a light hand on the helm.PS: In all due respect to the women here, you can decide for yourselves if the gender is appropriate or should be neutral or reversed.

 

[Buzz Dunitall]

Expertise and Effort Required

Well....let me see now. When I was an astronaut, I had to pre-plan how to difuse a nuclear reactor whilst still being able to lasso a twister and save a small community in Wyoming. Then there was the time I got with P. Bunyon and we had to execute a plan to level a thousand trees in a single day so as to keep a massive forest fire from spreading out of control and killing innocent sodbusters who were carving out an existance in the wilderness. Compared to all that, I guess sailing thru a gale doesn't really require much effort.

 

[the Pirate of Sha-lin]

Forever Learning

I think all that I've learned sailing solo has given me the self confidence to learn more and more.

 

[John S. Spooner]

This may sound callous and cynical but I think the greatest lesson I have learned from some 50+ years of sailing has been never to trust a body of water. Most of my sailing has been on the Great Lakes, especially Lake Erie and the Finger Lakes of New York, and I have seen how quickly their moods can change with very little warning. I used to tell sailing students, "A boat, a wind, and a body of water can make an honest man out of a liar." I meant that as a warning to those who thought they were better than the sea and would boast about how easily they could handle a sailboat in any kind of weather. I always try to have back-up systems on my boat so that I could still do whatever was necessary if one system failed. It has served me well and has made me cautious. I know that even though I may love what the sea can do for me, it will never love me back. It will always be neutral.

 

[Roger]

Life is Motion

I saw an ad a while back- I don't remember what for- but the tag line was ' When was the last time you did something for the first time?" For me, (and I would humbly suggest for a great number of us 55-plus geezers) sailing provides that challenge, pretty much everytime we take the boat out, or something breaks, or we want to make our boats better, or.... When we were raising children, for example, or at the beginning, or even the middle of our careers, there were lots of first-time, or at least first-time-like challenges. And we still need them. Returning to sailing after a thirty-five year hiatus sure provided me with dozens, maybe hundreds of these hard and refreshing challenges over then past two years. Of course there are also the evening sails in 15 knots of breeze with clear sky and stars, but let's not romanticize this too much. There is also trying to squeeze my considerable, inflexible bulk into the starboard-side deep cockpit locker to reach the batteries, complete with 'swearing like a sailor'.

 

[Jerry Anderson]

Slowing Down

I am a busy type A person... But when Sailing I just relax, and go with the flow.. Sailing has taught me to stop and smell the roses...

 

[David Guthridge]

I have a friend........

who has a 25 foot Maxim power boat. It has a 350hp sterndrive that sends it hurtling down the river at 40+ knots. He asked me out last summer and the two of us got in it idled out the channel, then he hit the throttle and we flew down the river for an hour of holding my hat on and keeping the wind from ripping my face off. We got one hour downriver when he turned it around and back we came up the river. He berthed it in the slip and we sat there exhausted from holding on for dear life for the last two hours. I asked him to join me the following week on my Pearson 26. We left the pier at 10am, motored out for ten minites and made sail. All was quiet except for the wind and the the slap of the waves against the hull. We were out most of the day when I looked astern in the cockpit and my friend was sound asleep. I think that was when I realized how much I love sailing. I woke him up as we were approaching the TIKI Bar in Solomons, Md. He still has the Maxim but now he knows why I love sailing and he doesn't tease me about ragboaters.

 

[Bob]

"One of the qualities

that makes sailing so fun is that every sail is different. On any given day you don't know what adventure awaits, what special moment of beauty that won't be repeated except in your memory, what adrenaline-laced emergency that demands immediate action. In the 7 years I owned her, Lazybones and I had some memorable moments. Nights when the Hale-Bopp comet dominated the starry sky; days with each of my daughters, adding cement to our bonds; watching the molten gold of the reflected sunset create a thousand ephemeral masterpieces; counting the windvane making 13 consecutive rotations one afternoon in a calm; learning the hard way you don't singlehand a spinnaker in winds above 12 knots (VERY small spinnaker); towing in a disabled powerboat with our motor tilted up, rubbing it in a little; nearly being mesmerized by the emeralds and rubies that were only drops of spray thrown into the glow of the bow lights on a blustery night. You don't need money to be wealthy." - from 23 Tell-Tales, an Ericson newsletter

 

[SailboatOwners.com]

Final results

Final results for the Quick Quiz ending May 11, 2003:What I've learned from sailing that most carries over to my land-based life is:55% How to enjoy life at a slower pace 22% Self-reliance 19% Self-confidence 05% Specific skills like electrical works, etc.

 

[Richard M. Smith]

Love but don't trust the ocean

I have always loved the ocean, but when I was younger I always trusted my abilities to overcome it. As I have gotten older (and maybe a little wiser), I have learned that no matter how much we love the ocean she may never be trusted. The ocean gives us sailers wonderful times, but at any given instant she can turn into a terrible foe and try to kill anyone who underestimates her. Luckily I learned this lesson early and without injury but some people are not so lucky.

 

[Mark Waggoner]

A straight line

The fastest course to a goal is not necessarily a straight line.

 

[Paul Rondina]

Humilty and compassion

I learned:Humilty - because at some point we all make a mistake, which everyone sees, like hitting the dock, grounding, accidental jibes, etc.Compassion - for someone else's humbling event and need for a helping (not criticizing) hand