100th Post

100 Things We Love about Sailing and Blogging

1. The opportunity for fine craftsmanship is never-ending.
2. Ample opportunities for fun entertaining and bbq-ing aboard.
3. Learning a new sport: ocean racing, crewing on other people’s boats, etc.
4. Sailing uses wind power and natural energy, a green activity.
5. Sailing gets us outdoors and off the couch!
6. We can do it together!
7. Great photographic opportunities abound.
8. We meet new people in the local community and online community.
9. Dockmates are the spice of life!
10. Neighbor Wilson is quite the gem!
11. Teak is beautiful wood, very needy and endearing.
12. Galley cooking challenges are fun.
13. All our friends are excited to visit us and get a boat ride.
14. We’ve met new blogging friends on blogspot.
15. Our family knows what paraphernalia to buy us for the next 200 birthdays and Christmases.
16. Being on the water is calming and peaceful.
17. Dinghies are just as fun as sailboats.
18. Learning how to sail our boat, our “pig”, has been comical and satisfying.
19. Working with marine paints and varnishes is pretty intense.
20. Doing something adventurous makes us adventurous people.
21. Sailing is something to do when to surf isn’t up.
22. Learning sailing language: lines, sheets, grog, and halyard!
23. Learning knot tying. There are so many kinds of rope and knots in the nautical world!
24. Taking friends on a water tour of Morro Bay Embarcadero.
25. Buying and reusing boat stuff on craigslist. Recycle. Recycle.
26. Getting away from technology; leaving pagers and computers behind.
27. Happy Hour and ocean racing with the Morro Bay Yacht club.
28. Watching sailing movies and reading sailing books.
29. Watching the Jessica Watson and Abby Sunderland sailing sagas unfold. These young ladies rock!
30. We hear that Sailing is one of the safest sports and the least amount of injuries. Even though it feels dangerous, it is actually very safe.
31. Pennants make me smile.
32. Slapping halyard sounds, screeching seagulls.
33. Blogging has improved our writing skills.
34. It is easier to blog than to become a member of the yacht club.
35. A photography hobby has been born. I can share pictures with others without even buying a photo printer!
36. Interactions with nature, finches, seals, otters, pelicans, cormorants, etc.
37. The smell of fiberglass resin in the morning.
38. It is Simon-free activity for the most part! Ha ha, Simon! You sucker.
39. Another excuse to use power tools around water. I love the added risk of electrocution.
40. Chilling wine on a line in the ocean water.
41. Pirate fantasies. ARgh matie.
42. Travelling without cars and planes. Practicing patience. Nothing moves fast on a boat.
43. Planning future sailing trips.
44. Dreaming about retiring on a 45’ live-aboard in the Caribbean.
45. Dreaming about buying a bigger boat so we can stand up straight in the galley.
46. Blogging has made me a better story-teller.
47. Being a Captain has made me a better husband.
48. Being a First Mate has made me a better wife.
49. Blogging has taught me to be willing to be in the story, even to be unselfconscious as the main character in the story.
50. Sailing has allowed us to get in the Morro Bay game. We are engaging the community with good old fashion fun.
51. Blogging has made me feel more comfortable with my poetic voice and my artistic choices.
52. I’ve learned how to tell a story in a photograph.
53. I’ve learned how to pick the best picture out of hundreds of piss poor ones. A picture is worth a thousand words.
54. Capturing a flattering picture of a friend in a photograph is a gift to the friendship. It puts a smile on our faces and reminds us of the joy in living.
55. I imagine I have a “blog audience”. My blog readers have expectations. I imagine they have hopes to find something memorable here. And I hope to be creating a memorable story. I write the hope that I expect from myself.
56. There are no ropes on a boat, only lines. And sheets are ropes.
57. The First Mate is admittedly obsessed with deck shoes and white Capri pants.
58. The Captain is admittedly obsessed with sanding down the resin mold on the dinghy.
59. We learned that HMS = her majesty’s ship. Can’t use this one, because we don’t have any majesty in the U.S.
60. But, s/v= sailing vessel. Maybe we might use this one.
61. Yet again, s/y= sailing yacht; why do we need this abbreviation?
62. You can get cheap drinks at the Yacht club!
63. There is a $2.50 corking fee at the Yacht club if you bring in your own bottle, which is the cheapest corking fee I’ve ever heard of!
64. The First Mate still wants to eat pate with French bread and a fine Viognier on the boat, watch a sunset, and write amazing poetry. Ahh, Hemingway, I love you.
65. The Captain still wants to sail to Catalina.
66. The First Mate still doesn’t know how sea sick she could be.
67. The Captain still doesn’t know how sea sick he could be.
68. Training Wheels still has no official boat mascot, aka, cat or dog aboard.
69. “Let us imagine care of the soul, then, as an application of poetics to everyday life.” –Thomas Moore
70. Boat maintenance is just as therapeutic as weeding the garden or painting the bedroom or scrubbing the toilet.
71. Floating along in the dinghy is almost as fun as floating along in the sailboat.
72. There is floating along. And then there is being set adrift. The only difference is attitude and motivation. Just floating along is perfectly fine with us.
73. Mutiny on the Bounty is a great book! I never would have read it otherwise!
74. We are 100% satisfied with renting a slip for our boat. We’ve both decided it is money well spent. We couldn’t imagine trying to get all the work done on a mooring or pulling the boat out of the water!
75. After a whole year, the First Mate has decided she is ready for an ocean sail adventure. Watch out Seasickness, here I come!
76. Participating in the Yacht club’s events are so worth it! We’ve learned so much!
77. Otters are the house-cats of the sea; we are really their pets, we just don’t know it.
78. Captain’s secret dream #293: to have a picture of my boat on the wall at the Yacht club.
79. Few things are a picturesque as flying a colorful spinnaker!
80. When we stay on the boat overnight, our cat can’t wake us up at 3:30 in the morning.
81. By the time this list is posted we will be prospective members of the yacht club.
82. By the time this list is posted we will be installing our new boom. Or painting it.
83. The women at the yacht club are readers! Sweet soul sisters for this First Mate! I couldn’t be more blessed by this surprise!
84. There are many “firsts” like breaking my first boom! Another “First”!
85. We’ve met at least three people who have retired by age 50 and live the ‘simple life’ aboard in the Caribbean! We are so jealous! I mean, really, do you think that my retirement money/IRA/Medicare will be worth anything in 25 years?
86. If I were to be even more romantic I would learn to sing and play guitar so that I can live more of the ‘life’!
87. SPF 70 and polarized sun glasses are a godsend!
88. Bloggers write for a season in their lives, like the year of an internship or the year that they searched for optimal health and performance. When their season is over they usually stop writing. I wonder how long our blogging season will be?
89. We have reconsidered our desire for a Rottweiler; they are not very good water dogs. Hmm?
90. Cool iphone apps exist for navigation, sailing, compass, speed, etc!
91. See one, do one, teach one. It is true for almost everything!
92. Smile lines, crow’s feet, sun damage, leather necks… ah, the hazards of facing the elements!
93. We don’t have to do it, but we want to do it.
94. Blogging helps us organize our thoughts and reflections about sailing and what we can possibly improve in the future.
95. We are so blessed to be living this dream!
96. A portable Coleman camping toilet is a perfectly good option. There is no shame in that.
97. What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner. –Colette
98. If you have the means, we highly recommend getting a boat and taking up sailing!
99. If the U.S. falls into chaos, we have an exit strategy!
100. We don’t need as much as we have, and less is even more than we think.