Hello, and welcome to our sailing blog! Well, I say "our" blog but to be honest I'm sorry to say that you'll be stuck hearing from me the majority of the time. My wife, Beth, is as funny as she is pretty and it's my hope that I'll be able to provide you all with a few insights and quips from her as we embark upon this little sailing adventure. By the way, her first contribution to the blog has just come in! She's reminded me to keep the posts short and sweet - a challenge that may prove to be more difficult than the sailing!
Anyway, I was mentioning an adventure, right? Well, I'm not really sure what else to call it, really. I mean, I don't want to oversell this but when you think of the word "adventure", you think of doing something new. Something different. Something, perhaps, exciting but completely out of your comfort zone. I think most would agree that saying goodbye to land for 6 days would certainly count as doing something new. Our six day home will be aboard a 47 foot catamaran off the coast of Fort Myers - definitely something different. And, on Friday, if you can believe it they'll actually hand over the catamaran keys to neophytes with little to no sailing background whatsoever with the full expectation that we'll somehow return the boat (and ourselves) unharmed and on the correct side of the water. Goodbye land and goodbye comfort zone!
A few people have asked us why we are doing this and their rationale for this being shall we say, a questionable decision, is pretty solid. Houses don't sink. And, typically you can't fall out of your car (if you do, you are unlikely to drown). We'll be trading in a nice master bath with an abundance of hot water for a shower half the size of a phone booth that may or may not have hot water. And while there will be water, water everywhere around us, there will be ne'er a drop to drink...or shower with...or brush with once our limited water supply runs out. We'll have a propane stove and a toilet (located on opposite ends of the boat, I hope) so it's not like we are going all floating caveman or anything like that but I guess it does make some folks wonder why we'd intentionally set sail for a sailing course for six days.
The simple answer is that upon completing this course we will be able to go anywhere in the world and charter our own boat - there's something incredibly intoxicating about that. Imagine flying to the Florida Keys or the Bahamas or the Virgin Islands and sailing from island to island to island without a care in the world. When you are on a sailboat you are powered by mother nature and the only limitations you have are your provisions and your fears. With the world being 70 percent water, a sailboat can take you anywhere you want to go. For me, I enjoy the wind in my face and the sound of the wake of the water as it is left behind you with all of your worries, pressures and requirements of mainland living. When I am on the water, my mind and soul travel to a tranquil place that I've come to crave. It's away from everything you are encumbered with in your daily living and, honestly, that's a pretty cool place to be and we love it! So come Monday, it'll be alright...just 2 days to go.
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