I learned to sail, more or less, by myself; by taking out a small singlehanded pram, exploring the nooks and crannies of a river, enjoying the wind and water, no instructor in a coaches boat yelling in a bullhorn that I was doing this wrong or could I keep the boat a little flatter. I have quite a few sailing friends (all accomplished racers) that learned outside a formal program. Unfortunately, what is lost in a junior sailing program is that confidence gained for a pre-teen in their first independent driving; by steering and handling the sails of a complicated piece of machinery, without an adult hanging over us, telling us what to do next. I'm sure that, going sailing by myself just racheted up the fun factor of sailing even more. I'm also thankful that my parents made sure I knew how to swim, was wearing a life jacket and were willing to let me push off in my 8 foot "yacht" as long as I was back by dinnertime.
I have a soft spot for juniors who are learning on their own; maybe their form isn't quite right and they are capsizing right and left but, geez!, are they having fun.
Exhibit A is the junior duo in this video making all the mistakes and grinning the whole time.
Velocette
23 minutes ago
6 comments:
Amen.
The enthusiasm, unbridled enjoyment, full acceptance of the moment - what more could you want from any sport? And having all that in a dinghy is even better.
Thanks for a great post.
2nd that emotion! Too many sports and activities have too much parental involvment. Mom and Dad, get out of the way!
I was pushed off on an old Sailfish alone, with no life 'preserver'. I cried almost the whole time. Things got better....
My father, not a sailor himself, pushed me off in a Moth Boat when I was 10. Every day during that month of August, whether it was blowing or flat calm, we'd go down to the club first thing in the morning, rig up and after helping me launch he'd push me off telling me he didn't want to see me back at the dock for half an hour. Some days that half hour was terrifying. Other days boring. But by the end of the month I knew how to handle that boat. As for life preservers, back in those days we had square vinyl-clad boat cushions which qualified as PFDs. Does anyone still make those? Although my father also eventually learned to sail, given the choice he'd rather stay ashore and drink beer.
I has a similar experience except it was at a YC day camp. They would put us in a moth and push us off. No chase boat so you had to get back by yourself. No jackets. Just the cushion. BTW, they still make them. They make good seat cushions for big boats...
positively ditto!
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