Fantasy vs. Reality

The wind in my face as it brushes past the sails.  The sun is warm and the ocean below is turquoise and clear.  There is land in the distance, but mostly I am surrounded by water.  Relaxed and calm.  This is me suspended in my fantasy life aboard a sailing vessel.  I follow several blogs about others living this life and I am charmed.  Mesmerized.

And then the screeching halt into REALITY.  First, there is the learning.  I am slowly working through Sailing for Dummies.  I realize just how much there is too learn.  The terminology, the procedures, weather, navigation, etc.  There is nothing romantic about a boatyard in winter.   Our boat sits in a cradle, covered in a homemade cover.  Andrew is constantly driving out to see if the storms had blown it off.  It feels grey and lonely, with the only real sounds being the clanging of the lines hitting the mast on all the boats that are also in storage.  

Andrew really wants me to be excited.  But, as of yet it is hard to see the beauty of sailing.  As for the grey, lonely boatyard, Andrew and I looked and discussed many options for a boat slip.  He is the no frills kind of guy.  No amenties needed as long as he is in the water.  Me - I need a shower, bathroom, possibly club house.  It is these comforts that will make it possible for me to stay comfortably on the boat for a weekend.  After searching, we decided to stay where the boat was stored when we bought it.  

So now I may need to come to terms with my dreams and the reality that I am facing.  But as the sun starts to warm up I am ready to start working towards that dream.

A Halyard is A Halyard...DUH!

The other day Andrew and I were having dinner at a local place and discussing the usual - The Boat.  The discussion revolved around things that were in need of repair or needed to be replaced before the start of the season.  Me and the organizational lists, I NEED them.  Andrew starts to tell me that eventually the halyard would need to be replaced.  Alarm bells go off in my head, "Halyard?"  

So, I prepare for the uphill climb of learning a new term and I pose the question: "What is a halyard?" His simple reply, "A halyard is a halyard."   The words just sort of echoed around in my head.  I am pretty sure that my eyes were bugging out and my mouth might have been agape. (Please note: Andrew swears that this is not what he said, that this is what I thought he said)  Does he really expect me to magically understand what he means?  "Why yes my dear, that makes perfect sense.  Of course a halyard is a halyard" I think about retorting. Instead I try asking again, "Can you explain it in landlubber terms?" And so begins the downward spiral faster and faster, picking up speed at an alarming rate.   Terms are flying off his tongue, "lines", "mainsail", "jib".  He even starts looking for paper and pencil to draw a diagram and my head is still making sense of the first five words he spoke.  I try to simplify it for me, to get the very basics.  I clarify, "So it's a rope that helps pull up the mainsail?"  If I thought the tempest would stop swirling I was SO wrong.  The maelstrom began instead.

"No it is not a rope." He replies.  Now I am really confused.   Andrew being the old-fashioned, use the right terms, love of all things boat type sailor has to use all the correct terminology.  The correct terminology on a boat is that it is not a "rope" it is a "line" because there are "no ropes on boats, only lines".  This makes my crazy and that makes me stubborn. And the winds swirls and the storm of misunderstanding continues...

How did this whole discussion end up - with me requesting the book "Sailing for Dummies"  I figure that I need to go down to the basic level.  I need to learn from the ground up and from someone that isn't trying to use all the correct terminology to describe what I already don't understand.  What did Andrew come home with the very next day - the book I asked for.  [Sometimes he is very smart.]  And for right now the storm has subsided.  I don't think that this is the last fight we will have over "sailor speak" and the perfectionist of being a sailor, but at least for now I have something to read and reference with my questions.  We will have to see how it turns out.

And I promise there will be more on what exactly a halyard is.


Halyard - (definition from Wikipedia)  In sailing, a halyard or halliard is a line (rope) that is used to hoist a sail, a flag or a yard. The term halyard comes from the phrase, 'to haul yards'.

The Call of the Sea - Runs in the Family

Dad and I in front of the boat San Diego

My father loves water - rivers, lakes, oceans.  I think that he feels a great calm, along with the crazy enjoyment, anytime he is near the water.  He is simply drawn to it.  His voice changes when he talks about his time on the water.  There are so many old photographs of him on a boat, or with a fish he had caught ( he loved deep sea fishing, forget the small fish and bring on the swordfish).  When I was born we lived on a boat (OK, it was a yacht) until I almost went overboard and we moved to a house (I am sure at my mother's insistence).    Since then we have lived in land locked areas, the Midwest - it really doesn't get more land locked then that.  But my dad always finds the water.  Fish out of water.   His parents had a cabin on the river in Wyoming, where we would tube down the river in the day and sit by the water at night.  But some of my fondest memories were at Lake Pomme de Terre in the Ozarks.  Yes I know that it means Potato Lake which seems like a complete oxymoron, but hey it was a great time.  My best friend's family had been going to the lake for years.  They had a camper and a boat there.  Soon after we were parking our camper there and racing around on the boat too.  My dad loved driving us out and pulling us on tubes or skis.  At night he would sit outside and enjoy the sounds of water, wind and peace.  Now much older and looking for a way to escape the brutal heat of Phoenix in the summer,  he bought a boat and lived on it during the summers in San Diego.  His own escape, sitting out there in the ocean breeze.  I think that he only took it out a couple of times for an actual trip around the bay.  He developed friends and a social circle that he loved.  We all worried about him going out there - but who could stop him when he was so happy.  

He finally had to sell the boat. I know he misses it every summer.  It was a real joy to tell him that we bought a sailboat.  Of course, I don't think he knows how to sail and I sure don't.  But that is besides the point, the call of the water runs through me as well.  Something I think that I got from my dad.  And I hope that he will get a little joy out of my ridiculous journey as I learn how to be a sailor.(well he would if I could teach him how to get to this blog)  I hope that he is proud of me for answering the call of the water. 

My sister and I enjoying the sun and water