Sailstice- An International Day of Green Sailing!

I thought it appropriate that my first actual post for this blog would fall on a weekend where a lot of people are introduced to sailing.  Yet, for me- that was not the case, so not ENTIRELY appropriate if you want to get anal about it.


I was introduced to sailing when I was 21, and I was about 8-9 months pregnant (Ha! This posting is actually getting more appropriate because we are celebrating Jae's 9th birthday today).  That would mean it was May or June 2003.  Jeremy was invited by his long-time friend at the Carter Lake Marina to crew for a race he was sailing in.  Thinking back on the whole situation Jeremy has earned some 9-year old brownie points.  I'm sure if he would have preferred to make it a boys day, but he invited me along to be "Rail Meat".


There are only two things that stand out in my memory when people ask me about how I got started. The first, I had the pleasure of meeting the family that runs the Carter Lake Marina, which was my first exposure to really great people who care, and have a passion for the lake.  The second- well, not as pleasant, but a great thing to know when going into sailing: Competitive husband/wife teams are not for the feint of heart.


How so?  Well, during the race.  The guys were all very nice to me and just told me which side of the boat to sit on and where, and as I sat there I remember looking around at all of these really pretty sails that were coming out.  As these sails (which I now know as the spinnaker) filled with wind my attention and calm in that vision quickly shifted to a boat where the husband was frantically shouting at his wife while steering at the back of the boat.  Quickly, the shouts started to sound somewhat like a heated debate- in a foreign language.  So I assessed at that moment that sailing can create some pretty contentious moments, and that if Jeremy ever yelled at me like that on a boat I would jump off onto the next boat that got close enough.  So far, I haven't had to do that, but we also haven't flown a spinnaker yet.

In hindsight, the Sailstice is a far better way to experience sailing for the first time.  Sail clubs all over the world offer free rides and experiences with their sail club all over the world on this day.  Carter Lake Sail Club had 47 people come out this year.  The morning of the Sailstice the wind was very gusty, and senior members of the club decided that for safety we would wait out the wind before taking out those new to sailing and for some- boating in general.  Shortly after 11:30 a.m.  the wind speed slowed enough to take out a large group that had already gathered.  Groups of people where able to try out different boats for different uses cabin cruisers, racer cruisers, and racer boats.  Each with an experienced sailor.  I know what you're thinking, and I was not the experienced sailor, Jeremy was.  So while Jeremy was really great at showing and somewhat teaching sailing- I would like to think I did a good job at reassuring people that sailing is super accessible for "Green Sailors" when surrounded by the right people- like the Carter Lake Sailing Club.  Good people, great times and experiences that last forever.