Sail Away

I had my first real sailing experience on saturday. It was a beautiful clear sunny day, made even clearer than normal due to my having lasik surgery the day before. I have perfect vision now and am loving my eyesight. The surgery was painless and some of the best money I've ever spent. I highly reccomend my doctor, Dr. Mockavak.
Anyway, one of my goals in Costa Rica is to learn sailing basics and perhaps go on a three to seven day cruise to some of the islands down there. A friend of mine invited me out on his 30 foot sailboat out on the columbia in St Helens and gave me my first brief lesson. It is complicated at first but the hardware and process becomes much less mysterious with a few key explanations. I learned about tacking (going back and forth in order to sail into the wind) and I even got to steer for awhile although I steered a little too hard to the starboard (right) at one point and caused another boat heading toward us (in our lee) to have to veer to their starboard. This was really bad etiquette I guess and we had to wave sheepishly at them in apology. If you lose your wind then you come to a stop and then you are SOL. But fortunately our captain is more than able and got us going again. I can't wait to go again in CR, it does take a bit of work but there is something about sailing that is very therapeutic. Plus he has this fun chair/swing that attaches to the mast so you can sit in it and swing out to the side of the boat. It will also lift you out of the water if you want to jump in for a swim. We ended up getting extra food and drinks and five of us slept on the boat that night. (Or passed out depending on your definition) Good Times!