Coming About

It has  been exactly  a  year, to the  day, since   we  returned  from the  islands and  our  giant  pair of  skis  to the   craziness of the   corona  virus  world.  I  only managed  to  get the little  skis  out on the snow once this  season  and  will  likely be  putting those  away  soon. There are many  parallels , yes intentional ;-),  between  skiing and  sailing. “Tacking back and  forth” is  just one of them.  Perhaps  a  bigger one is the  nature of the people the  two  sports  attract.  In a  coconut shell, sailors and skiers are   adventurous  outdoor  people who are willing to put  up  with the  whims of  mother nature in  pursuit of a  little fun. 

We are a product of our families and dad was a sailor. On perfect days, tiller in hand, he would go into a trance like state, in the groove, his breathing would change and his focus would sharpen. I only observed this in him when he was steering his boat, but it happened many times. I , perhaps, experienced something similar as a lad when skippering a dinghy for the first time, but I think that was something different. I was making dad proud and that made me happy. After college, as youth often do, I came about and sailed on a different tack . Due to career building, young family and indecision, I was directionless, without a rudder, and in irons when it came to pastime passions. Eventually I became a skier, and pursued a sport that dad had never tried.

On perfect mountain days, I’ve occasionally found that elusive trance like groove where everything falls into place, is effortless and just happens. It’s quite a wonderful thing and as I’m discovering right now very difficult to put into words. Nevertheless, things internal and external change , it’s the nature of the universe. For me the wind has shifted and for now I’ll be sailing on a different tack in search of the perfect ocean day. With sails trimmed , hulls in harmony with the sea, and dancing to the rhythm of the waves, dad’s sailing trance can’t be that far away. The quandary remains, however, sailing and skiing , port and starboard which is which ? I’ll contemplate that the next time I’m ” in the zone” because I’ll need both to get anywhere.