Emotion on the Ocean

"The Voyager's Handbook" is a 500 page textbook about all things related to sailing. Not exactly light reading on a vacation, but this is Jon's book of choice on this trip. The chapter he is reading right now is all about fear - a very appropriate topic for today.

We left Red Hook harbor after a very extensive tutorial of "Journey's End" by it's owner, Skip. (We learned more about the mechanics of a sailboat during the 2 hours we spent with Skip than we have in any class we've taken). Unfortunately, our departure was delayed due to some problems with our dinghy so we had to readjust our itinerary.


The thing I love most about sailing is that it leaves me off-balance. I'm a producer so I REALLY like to have a plan. In fact, I'm so obsessive about planning that I've been known to take a 3-ring binder on vacation so I know exactly what we should be doing at every moment. "Typical Amy" wouldn't change our itinerary on day 1 because that would be a failure. But today I saw it as a wise move and we headed southeast instead of northwest.


The other part of being off-balance while sailing is the fact that it makes me absolutely terrified. I was the one who really wanted to be a sailor. But when we finally headed out into Pillsbury Sound and felt the huge swells from the recent tropical storm, my whole body started shaking. Last summer, we took our niece Ellie out sailing on our little boat and she had the same reaction. Not obvious panic. Instead, a quiet kind of disintegration.


Fortunately, it only lasted a couple of minutes. I got my sea legs and we landed here.....

And these are our only neighbors. We haven't met them - yet.

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