Why do you sail?

[Greene]

B and I posted on our blog tonight the reasons why we choose to sail rather than zoom across the lake in a powerboat.  Why do you choose to sail?

Mike and Brenda

[crazycarl]

i give you a good karma for this question mike.

now to answer...i've had power boats.  they are far easier to launch and retrieve, but the maintenance is far greater and i never had the feeling of being one with the water and wind while operating a power boat.  and that is the difference between the two.  a power boat is operated.  a sail boat is handled.  it's the same with riding a motorcycle and a horse.  the motorcycle responds to the twist of your right wrist, but a horse is alive under you. anticipating your next command. 

there is a relationship with a sail boat i never felt with a power boat.  you become one with your boat.  you anticipate the way it handles the next wave or gust of air.  you feel it come alive when the wind picks up and it starts to heel.  you calm her down in high winds by letting out the main, or coax her to speed up by pulling the main in.  and when the day is over, and you've "brushed" her down, she cradles you in her cockpit with the days memories.  as you lay snug in her cabin, and you've closed your eyes for the last time this day, she gently rocks you back and forth, and plays a melody with her halyards against her mast.

                                                                                                                       carl 

[JParody]

Carl, Carl,

            The sheer poetry of it all!  How true the analogy.  I have always looked at sail boats in the terms of their land born brethren, the horse.   Both are majestic.  All you have written is true.  Added is the way sailboats wait for you.  Watch you.  Sometimes still at the dock, (and even on the trailer,) patiently waiting for your attention as the horse in the stall.  At times they pull at their ropes and toss their heads and demand to be taken out for a ride!  The rhythm, the waves, the wind! Sometimes the calmness.  Yes, always there is unpredictable adventure and beauty when on the water in a sail boat as with on horseback on land.   Truly,  for me,  my sail boat is the "Horse" of the second half of my life for I no longer have horses or a place to keep them.  "Puff" does stare me down impatiently from her trailer she sometimes winks with a promise of fun to be had on the water.
            What a lovely way to start my morning!  Mike and Brenda, thank you for the thought evoking question. 

          Pinch, pinch...          Now - off to work! 
Jill

[brackish]

It is difficult to put in words.  It is everything that Mike and B, Carl, and Jill stated, and probably an additional book.

At 65 all those with whom I originally sailed have made the transition to power or off the water altogether. I'm truly not sure why them and not me.  They all seemed to be as enamored with sailing as I was in the beginning.  We are all still friends, do things together, but I'm the last one still sailing and have no intention of changing that.  

I think it is that everything about the process is just as important and enjoyable as the goal of reaching a destination .  And that process is likely to be different for every trip.

[Glenn Basore]

Some one once told me the answere to this, I will pass it on to you.

A power boater gets into his boat and speeds off to his destination.................

A sailor, once he / she steps on board has arrived at his / her destination!

Glenn B.

[NateD]

I learned to sail Sunfish in the Boy Scouts, but my family always had power/fish boats (and 26' cabin cruiser for a few years) so I didn't sail during my teens. While I was in college an uncle was selling a small dinghy similar to a Sunfish, which looked like fun so I bought it and stored it at my dad's farm. Started working after college and left the boat at the farm. Stress built up, started drinkin a little too much on the weekends and didn't have any kind of hobby to keep me busy. I decided to get back into sailing and brought the boat to my place. First time back on the water with the wind blowing and the boat on the edge of capsize, giant smile on my face, I realized I was in that zen state with nothing on my mind but the here and now. That feeling of clarity when the wind pipes up and your mind focuses on just the boat, wind, and waves is the primary reason I sail.

[SpeakEasy]

Well, I can't create poetry, like some others here have, but I can answer the question.

1) It's quiet. I love quiet.

2) It's an activity that engages the mind. Without understanding, a sailor you can not be.

3) The journey is the destination.

4) It can range from completely peaceful to terrifying.

I owned a powerboat along with my sailboat a few years back. I found myself driving it around really slowly; practically at idle speed. I had to laugh at myself when I found myself doing that. Caring for the powerboat always seemed like a chore. Caring for the sailboat is never a chore. Go figure.

-Speak

[skip1930]

Cheapest way to go boating.
About the best way to waste time, better than on a computer.
My wife won't go boating.
But we'll go Model 'A' ing.
It's usually restful and quiet.
Can use the CP-19 as a houseboat and just sit on it in at anchor.
But mostly as a baby the parents had this...and mom said I did just fine in a basenet. I really don't remember.
Problem is we alway's needed a crew. The bigger the boat, the less you go sailing.






The family always had sail boats, till mom's back gave out. Then it was houseboats.



Then I had my own personal yacht.




It's just something to do.

skip.

[Mark F.]

My wife and I love sailing as one of our shared outdoor activities.  We enjoy working together as a team from rigging, launching, sailing, and de-rigging the boat.  There is a wonderful type of peace out there on the water that we find nowhere else.  Some days we have deep conversations out on the water and on other days we rarely say a word.  We'll pick a point on the water and work the challenge of sailing there and back.  Sailing is good for us!

[shamblin]

becoming one with the rhythms of light and wind,
current  and tide.
and then dancing along with the forces of the universe
is the sailboat way.

[ChumleysRest]

For many years I have worked in rather high stress, demanding, information systems jobs. 

When I am at the helm and the sails fill and nature pulls me and my boat through the water, all of the stress and worry falls away - replaced by delight, and a seeming return to the world that we were really meant to experience and enjoy...

[skip1930]

When your on the boat, way out there, it's like raising the middle finger to the rest of the world.

Or as dad would say about his beloved houseboats, "No phone on the boat."
We had a VHF on a few of the boats but he would not turn it on. "It's for out going calls only."

skip.

[Glenn Basore]

When I was a very small child I would take a small piece of would and put a point on one end of it and add a mast, then cut a piece of cloth to make a sail.

I would dam up the water in the street gutter by using news papers, once there was a couple of inches of water dammed up I put my sail boat in.

Through the years I made many sailing ship models so I always had a passion for sail boats but didn't get into sailing until late in life.

My first boat was a Hunter 170, very nice day sailor. The first time I pushed away from the dock and pulled the main sheet line in and felt
the boat start to accelerate, that was a thrill, knowing that I had harnessesed a small part of mother nature and I was a part of it.

The water slapping against the side of the hull, the boat in rhythm with the swells, the wind whistling across the rigging every care in the world just melts away.

Glenn B

[Bob23]

I'm alive when I sail!

[esterhazyinoz]

It was on this day that I experienced my first capsize after decades of sailing.  That was something that I was always frightened of all my life as I am not a great swimmer.  But like like most events that put you on the anvil to test your metal, it wasn't so bad.  We recovered easily, and had a great day and that's the core reason why I sail.  It says to me "I'm alive and here's proof".