Imagine, somebody wakes you up almost every night at 2am and tells you “Go, it’s your turn for watch”. You dress up and go to the cockpit. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it is bloody hot. You have to wash your clothes in a bucket, even worse, the definition of “clean clothes” changes in your mind because it simply doesn’t exist, or imagine you frequently feel sick.
When you read this, you would probably saying “no thanks”. Let me in you on a little secret. This is a typical life of a sailboat cruiser.
Then… Why are we deeply in love with sailing?
Big blue and the Solitude it brings;
Sailing is great way to spend time with your beloved ones however sometimes you sail single handed or maybe with your partner. You leave the rush, noise and the stress of the society behind and lose yourself in the big blue. You are always in the nature and trust me you definitely feel united when the sun is setting and there is nothing between you and the sun. This perhaps sounds scary but this is the pure definition of being alone. You feel the gratitude right to your bones and appreciate this life and the world.
Unique experiences; It is not about the destination but the journey
Every passage, every cruise is unique. The wind and the sea keep surprising you. Sailing teaches you how to deal with the unknown. These are the moments in your life that you scared but doing it anyway because you know it is the right thing. We say, every passage is a puzzle, a game. We prepare hard for the worse. We read the sea to find where the wind is. We almost never go from A to B in a straight line but hey isn’t that same as life? It is not about the destination; it is all about the journey itself.
The sense of achievement
There are no limits in sailing. There is always a place you want to sail and when you arrive there, there is always another one little further. Each cruise requires tremendous amount of preparation to be done. You need to take care of your boat. You prepare your route, your boat and yourself but there is always something comes in between. Once you succeed, the feeling you have when you set the anchor or dock safely into the marina in the destination. This sense of achievement is as great as wining the marathon. The only difference you race by yourself.
Teamwork and Fun
Making a passage of 2-3 days with a fun crew is splendid feeling and great way to build comfort. Even if you sail with a group of people that you never met before, after couple of hours, when more water flows beneath the keel and when you share the limited space all together, the strongest bonds will be created. In the end you end of with the moments that you want to stop the time. What can be greater than this feeling right?
Tradition and the community
Sailing is not just a sport but thousands of years old tradition. The history of sailing shaped the world and the civilization that we are living right now. Same excitement you feel when you set the course and leave the marina. It is the deepest connections with the thousands years old fellow sailors and sharing the same excitement. We do have our own language and we live in our own world which doesn’t have boundaries. When two sailor comes across, they will be family already. Every sailor is united with their boats. The boat has personality and even feelings. You take care of your boat and she takes care of you. You learn how to talk to the nature and its harsh conditions. You sometimes accept sometimes assisted but you never fight.
And that’s why we love sailing.
