smooth sailing

I went out sailing for the first time ever this past weekend with my friend Robbie. He bought the boat a few month's back and has been out on the water maybe twice and I didn't even have my sea legs yet. I learned what a jib is however. Sometimes when people tell you that certain things are best done "under the supervision of a professional", you should go ahead and heed their advice. 

The day was calm, the sun was out and it seemed like a nice day to be out in the bay, at least to the eyes of an untrained, unexperienced civilian. I was excited, except for the slight headache I was experiencing from the previous night's bender in which I drank half my body weight in free fat tire at my work's benefit. Self-restraint is not one of my strong suits.

We readied the sails, prepped the rigs, and started the motor. Since neither of us were well versed with steering, my jobs was to use an oar to protect us from hitting the dock or any other boats as we made our way into the open waters. It was a little choppy and my fantasies of a nice smooth day out on the waters were dashed, but I didn't really mind too much, adventures are full of surprises. We hoisted the sails and soon we were powered only by the wind and incompetence. The boat dipped and rocked, sometimes leaning haphazardly to the right, but life was good, the sun shining down, and the spray of the water as we set forth. 

I kept thinking about a girl who I just met who I am enamored with. It is always strange how you are most intrigued and captivated by those things which you can never really have. I thought about her laugh which rings like the tolls of a bell and the way she throws her head back at even the most trivial jokes, her eyes creased in delight and it made me smile. Some things are best kept undisclosed and I don't think I'll ever tell her how beautiful I think her laugh is. Robbie and I sat in the stern, taking turns with the rudder, sipping on Coronas, enjoying the experience.

The further we headed out, the worse the water became. I tried playing with the main sail since it was fluttering and not properly channeling the wind. As I toyed with it, the rigging slipped and the sail came a quarter of the way down, the lines became tangled at the top and I could not get the sail back up to full mast. It flapped angrily in protest to my novice treatment. I went to the bow to try to correct the problem, but made it worse. I asked Robbie if he had any life jackets on board, he shook his head no. He tried to keep the boat as steady as possible, but the water had other plans. Suddenly, the wind ripped violently and the boat whipped suddenly in a 180 degree turn, like a car spinning out. My stomach was set to spin cycle. 

Luckily, the turn had pointed us directly back to port and as quickly as possible, we took down both sails and engaged the trusty old motor. On the way back I thought about nothing else except putting my feet back on solid ground. We made our way back in one piece and broke down the sails and cleaned up a bit. We joked about the experience, only then realizing how close we came to being tossed out into the sea. 

Even though the experience was a bit unnerving, I still want to brave the waters. Life is about chances and sometimes you have to take the risk of being thrown overboard to realize that there can be some things worse than never having even lived a little.