First Mate joins this blog

After sharing my opinions last night with Donavan that sometimes the blog feels like a technical manual, he suggested that I become a contributing writer. So I took the hint, and here I am. I have enjoyed the two seasons of sailing that we've done, and hope to learn a lot more as time goes on, but I haven't taken any classes or sailed across the Gulf of Mexico like Donavan has. One of my favorite parts of sailing is the serene feeling I get laying on the boat deck near the front pointy part (there's a marine term for that, but I don't remember it) and listening to the water slap against the sides of the boat, and the wind against the sails. The other favorite part is the simple way we get to spend time together on the boat--no distractions, working together to make the boat go, watching the world go by.

My 9-year-old daughter likes sailing too, and I want to soak up every minute of time with her right now. I am acutely aware of how quickly she will probably prefer spending time with friends, to spending time on a boat in cramped quarters with us. Maybe we'll be lucky and she'll continue to want to join us, but regardless of her developmental stage, she will grow up and have her own life in a matter of years. And like every parent, I feel both excited and sad about that, all wrapped up together.

Back to the sailing blog, I won't be using technical words, because I don't know them. I've learned that ropes are lines, a toilet is a head, duck your head when someone says "coming about," and don't sit on the ropes that are laying all over the seats. I know how to steer the boat into the wind while the sails are being put up, and I can put up the sails when the boat is being steered into the wind. I have learned about myself that I have a hard time believing that the boat will not tip over, even when it's leaning veeeerrrryyy far over.  My inner ear is screaming at me that I will be falling over soon, and my stomach is all tense, but my brain is saying it's fine, relax, not going to tip, and even if it does just swim to shore. I hope this internal conflict resolves itself, because dealing with the tippy-ness is a big part of sailing. I'm confident I'll learn to handle it.

Thanks Donavan for letting me join your blog!  Any regrets yet???