Sunday, July 20, 2008
Music is her name...
Well this certainly has become the summer for sailing! After the opportunity I wrote about previously, I got up the nerve to call Skipper Mike about lessons. I do not like to impose and this was difficult but I made myself do it (Yeah me!). He was happy and set up our first lesson immediately. That was almost 2 weeks ago. I will have my 5th and final lesson tomorrow night. I am pretty excited!
The 1st 3 lessons were in very light or no wind. Very little sailing, though I learned terms and directions and sails and sheets and so forth. But last Thursday, we had a strong breeze the whole evening... what an exciting night!! We took the Catalina 27 out and all around and we were heeled over and the water was splashing and gurgling as we sliced our way through. We were truly sailing!! What a wonderful fun time...!
I will be sad to see the lessons end tomorrow, but I am hooked. I don't know how soon, but I will buy a boat. This is too fun for my soul for me not to keep at it. The peace of being on the lake and harnessing the power of nature to cruise at an exhilarating pace is a great salve for the spirit.
Oh, and those sunsets on the lake are priceless!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Southern Cross (Utah style)
For a dream to come true, it has to become a goal. And for a goal to be reached, there needs to be steps taken in that direction... I have dreamed all my life of sailing a big sailboat on the ocean. Kind of a funny dream living in Utah and all. But...
The ad in the paper was simple. The Great Salt Lake Yacht Club was having an event and one of the events for Saturday was free trips on a sailboat! I had 3 of my kids for the Father's Day weekend, so they agreed it sounded like fun and we waited our turn to go... Somehow we ended up being one of the very last groups to go out, but that worked out quite well in the end. I expected we would get on a boat, it would cruise around the harbor and then we were going to get off. I was excited for that! But then we heard the rides were an hour to an hour and 15 minutes... Cool!
Our skipper was late, and the kids (ok, me too) were getting impatient. Finally he was there and we boarded our assigned vessel. It was so sweet getting in and feeling the gentle swaying. It was a Catalina 27 I think. Skipper Mike used the motor to guide us out of the harbor. As he moved aside to let other boats through, we got stuck on the bottom! He ordered us to the bow and he was able to get us unstuck. Yeah, Captain Mike!! On we went out into the pretty, Great Salt Lake.
What a thrill to pull the line that made the main sail go up the mast! And the wind caught us and away we went. This was a hands on trip and we helped in many ways. Erin, Matthew and I helped steer, and learned to watch the sails to read what the wind was doing. We didn't have a clue what to do with what we saw, but it was a blast! Jeffrey helped a lot with the main sail line, tightening and loosening at the skipper's commands. I think we made a pretty good crew!
Oh my goodness, the peace was amazing... The lake was calm and soft and the boat just cruised along, and the day soaked away with the gentle sounds of water on the bow marking the speed of time... I had never felt this peaceful about moving, traveling, enjoying time... The bubbles behind us were proof that we were moving because the scenery changed so slowly, it could not be trusted to be a sign. Somewhere around when i was lost in the joy and peace, we turned around and headed home. Matthew steered us home, including through the buoys almost into the harbor. He did great. It was exciting yet tough to get off the boat onto the dock. I didn't want it to end, yet I also knew I could never have another trip otherwise... We were all fried from the beautiful sun. Some were tired as this had turned out to be a 3 hour tour. A 3 hour tour. (Sorry, couldn't help it!)
Some adventures happen and you walk away with a memory to last a lifetime. I hope this adventure is just beginning.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Last fishing day
On the last Wednesday in April, I showed up at the pond on a cold, rainy day, a little nervous about my first day as a mentor in the city youth fishing program. The rain and hail let up just before 6 pm, the time that the 1st of 6 weekly classes was to start. I wasn’t much of a fisherman. But when I saw the listing in the local paper that said there was a need for mentors, I knew I had to help. I hoped the kids wouldn’t figure out that I wasn’t much more advanced than they were! I was introduced and the 5 kids who were assigned to me came and stood by me. Some were nervous and some excited, but they buoyed me up by just being there because I was their mentor! To them I thought, I was their avenue to catching the big one. Later I was to learn that I was simply another milemarker in their childhood and that is better than what I’d hoped to be.