For a long time I have thought that sailing is a good mental exercise because if you do it right, you spend a lot of time thinking about the future.
- For safety reasons, you need to plan for the most likely mishaps that may accompany sailing and make sure you have the equipment you need and emergency plans.
- Even if you don’t run, you need to plan ahead to find the best way to get where you’re going; taking into account weather, water conditions, proximity to large and small land masses, and water traffic.
I sail more often now with my two children. We normally take a 22ft out of our yacht club. However, two weeks ago, when we arrived at the club, all the 22-footers were ready and we took the next largest boat, a 27-footer. That was not a problem for me, but I had two young and inexperienced crew members with me. Suddenly, I had to think about how I was going to get the boat out of the berth and back into the berth without hurting my crew or hitting the boat.
Getting out of the slip was easy. I just managed it by pushing the boat off the mooring, turning it 90 degrees, pushing it, and jumping. No problem.
I had the next 3 hours to think about how I was going to get the boat back on the slipway with the help of my inexperienced crew.
I finally came up with a simple plan. I talked it over with my kids and told them what I’d like them to do and asked if that was okay with them. They were a little surprised that I wanted them to jump onto the dock while the boat was moving and tie up the boat when the time was right.
I asked them to practice their shot from the boat in their minds, and really, really, without leaving the boat. I could tell they were nervous. We had sailed without incident, but the breeze was a bit strong.
So finally it was time for action. I steered the boat onto the dock and, at my command, they jumped onto the dock in turn. Perfectly. The boat did not even “kiss” the slip. Beautifull.
Many of our adventures can be enhanced from a safety and enjoyment standpoint if we do a little planning, for the obvious and the not-so-obvious.
