Most of my life I have been around power boats. The main purpose of those boats was to get from the dock to the fishing grounds as quickly as possible. We were not usually out for leisurely cruises. We had limited time to fish and wanted to spend as much time as possible where the fish were, or rather, where we thought the fish were.
I have never been on a sailboat, it always just looked like a lot of work. On top of that, the people that I spent most of my time with also told me that it was a lot of work. I didn’t find out until just recently that most of those influencing people in my life had actually never been on a sailboat, or have spent very little time on one.
Preconceived Idea #1 – Sailing is a whole lot of work.
Zipping past small sailboats in the bay, they don’t seem to be moving very fast. In fact, they always looked to me to not be moving hardly at all. If the wind isn’t blowing in the right direction they would have to tack back and forth to get to their destination at what seems like a very slow speed. When we were trying to go fishing and had to avoid a sailboat in our path, we would have to slow down to go around them, and then complain amongst ourselves that they are in the way.
Preconceived Idea #2 – Sailboats are slow.
When I look out in the bay and see sailboats, they are very rarely upright. It seems to me that they are always heeled over on an extreme angle. I look at that and wonder, how in the world can that possibly be fun? Then think, forget fun, how can anyone even tolerate being at what looks like a 45 degree angle for an extended amount of time?
Preconceived Idea #3 – Sailboats are uncomfortable.
Aaannd then, the light bulb! This idea, this journey, has a lot to do with throwing preconceived ideas out the window and experiencing things for ourselves. Deep down, I have always wanted to at least try sailing. So, we are going to give it a shot. Alexis and I have booked a First Sail seminar at the US Sailboat Show next weekend. It is 50/50 class room and on the water. I am very excited to see how true my preconceived ideas really are. Plus, we will get to check out a few sailboats and really see how they are laid out and if going below deck really does feel like going into a cave.
When we get back, I will let you know if my ideas have changed.
Small Living, Big Life 
Never figured you to go to the dark side and become a ragbagger. I sailed often with my buddy Ralph Bertini in the Barnegate Bay in NJ as part of work assignments at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant. He bossed me around a lot , called the boat hardware weird names , and yelled at inconsiderate power boaters. He wore a stupid hat , drank wine and took sweaters along in case he got “chilly”. When he wasn’t looking, I would start his motor 🙂
LikeLike
Haha That story makes me laugh! I’ve never been on one so we will at least give it a shot. If we do end up going that direction, when you come to visit you can captain the dinghy so you have a motor to play with.
LikeLike