Today I had a fantastic experience. My boys and I went sailing on the Stars and Stripes Sail USA-11 boat (she won the 1992 America's Cup) and actually got to work on the boat as we sailed around San Diego Harbor. What a ride! It was a beautiful day, with good cloud cover to shade us (no one got a sunburn). I wasn't at all sure about getting my hefty self on the boat, much less actually get out to raise sails, steer, assist with navigation and tactics, tack and jibe and grind winches. But I did it! For nearly three hours. My biceps, triceps, knees and thighs are sore, but its a good kind of sore because I got that way due to something I really enjoyed doing. We even got up to 12 knots, with one side of the boat up in the air. I didn't want to leave!
So, that activity let me know that I really could work as a real crew mate on a sail boat and learn how to do it all, even at 300+ lbs. It would really work my muscles, and I would gain a lot of joy from the activity.
Up until today I wondered if I would be able to do this. I also really wanted it, and I wasn't going to learn if I could do it until I ventured out and took the chance. It opens up other ideas in my head.
But one dream was shut down today, and that's okay. I wanted to build/restore my own boat, live on it and sail it. As I spoke with the other regular crew mates, I came to the understanding that the best boats are those owned by other people, because they're very expensive to maintain and a lot of work. And I suck at that sort of thing! I came to the conclusion that I need to make some new friends, people who own boats and need a crew. Or I can just pay to go on a voyage as a crew mate. And if I want to live on a boat, I can always rent one for a period of time!
I can still learn woodworking. Maybe I'll make furniture. For the new friends who own sailboats.
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