Well ... in May 2009 I jumped feet first into my "Quest To Sail." In less than thirty days following my Basic Keelboat ASA class (which I passed with flying colors) I enrolled in the Basic Coastal Cruising and Bareboat Chartering ASA combo class. Other than the time sailing in my "basic" class, I had a combined 0 hours practicing my new sailing skills. Seriously! I was excited (about learning to sail and about the new classes) and very frustrated (about not having an opportunity to sail). I didn't have a sailboat and I didn't know anyone with a sailboat. Further, there didn’t seem to be any sailing clubs in NE Oklahoma that catered to members without boats. How was I going to actually practice and internalize all that I was learning in my sailing classes? Reading sailing magazines, from cover to cover, can only get you so far. This was all going to change; I just didn't know it at the time. Anyway, I started my new sailing courses with the same school and instructor. Once again it was mucho information packed into a relatively short weekend AND I loved every minute of it. It was also a "liveaboard" class, so the students (me and a young couple from Arkansas) slept on the boat (a 1984 34 foot O'Day, "Sea Bella"). Capt. Debbie was great and I have grown fond of this petite woman who dispels any notion that you have to be big and strong to handle a large sailboat. She has, as most “sailors" I have come to know, an endearing personality and an interesting story about how she fell in love with sailing as well as the independence it gives her. Sea Bella has been well cared for over the years and it was a pleasure to be on board. Also, I was amazed at the difference between the 26 foot boat - Tiki - I sailed in my basic class and Sea Bella. A difference of 8 feet in length and almost 2 feet on the beam didn't sound like a big deal, but it made a HUGE difference. Hmmm ... on Sea Bella, I was actually able to envision what it might be like to live on a sailboat. In fact, the first night on board, I stayed up way to late, reading posts and replies from the "Liveaboard" forum on "Sailnet." Sea Bella was also my first experience with wheel steering and I loved it. All weekend the wind was a "perfect to learn on" 10 to 15 mph and it was May, so the Oklahoma weather was still nice with the summer heat at least 6 weeks away. The highlight of the weekend was a Saturday night sail. Most of the motor boat traffic had cleared and we almost had the lake to ourselves. It was 11:00 P.M. and I was getting hungry as we skipped dinner in favor of sailing longer. I was at the helm and took note of the full moon as it rose up out of the lake to our starboard. I was mentally and physically exhausted, but I did not want the night to end. No one had spoken for 10 minutes, maybe more. I welcomed the silence as I enjoyed the pleasure of sailing. It was almost perfect.* I deeply inhaled and tried to mentally capture the experience. The moon grew smaller as it rose over the horizon. Sadly, it was time for me to relinquish the helm to another student. I went forward and sat with my back resting against the mast. I stared out over the ink black water. The only sound I could hear was the gentle "laps" against the hull as we ghosted along. I looked up and found the Big Dipper. I could see the faint haze of the Milky Way. I lost myself in thoughts and dreams of sailing on my own boat with my wife as we made an evening passage. We were in the middle of an ocean, any ocean, and not on Grand Lake, Oklahoma. I was startled back to the present as the jib began to luff. We had turned into the wind so that it could be furled. I stood to help lower and flake the mainsail and a hint of sadness crept up inside me like I felt as a child on the last day of summer break. I didn't want the night to end … I didn’t want the class to end. It was the only means I had to sail, or so I thought...
*It really was perfect. But my thoughts of sailing are now so heavily intertwined with experiencing it with Suzi that I simply wished she was there to share the night.
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