Purposeful Couch Time

This weekend found the two of us securely snuggled on the couch reading for most of the weekend. So, you are thinking, ,"They just wasted the whole weekend?" Well, you are wrong. Both of us were reading/rereading sailing books. Surprise! Surprise! But we were both purposeful in our book selection. First of all, we needed to get our minds off the 8" of snow that fell over the last few days. Too much cold and snow is not good for a sailor's state of mind. Secondly we wanted to start rereading some of our previous selections so that we could glean the pertinent information for our particular planned destinations. And thirdly, it's time to start taking our learning seriously.

With that in mind, Mike finished off a two part book, A Dream Sets Sail, by Kay Koudele. She tells the story of the adventures she and her husband have when they took off after the kids were out of the house and headed to bluer seas. Brenda is a little behind but is close to finishing as well. It gave us an insider's view of what it can be like to throw the schedule out the window and take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that make themselves available when you take a step off the beaten path at any of the landfalls.

Partway through, Brenda delved into the navigation aspect of sailing. If you want to be sure the boat gets where you want to go, there is plenty to learn. And as is typical of sailing, it has its own language. It helped to start with some of the overviews in the basic reference books and then dig into a more intense, navigation specific book. After perusing our ever expanding library, she chose, The Practical Pilot, by Leonard Eyges. It was written in 1989, but is still relevant. Mike had picked it up at Half Price Books for a little bit of nothing, but the price didn't reflect the depth of information. Brenda will have to use all her reading strategies as she "chunks and chews" her way through.

Mike also reread, Maiden Voyage, by Tania Aebi. This is the one about a girl whose father sends his 17 year old daughter out on a solo circumnavigation with very limited sailing experience. Talk about a steep learning curve! This remains one of our favorite sailing stories.

Although we did accomplish a few chores and repairs over the weekend, we dedicated the majority of our time to our sailing education. We have so much to learn and the months are passing quickly by. Navigation, maintenance, sail trim, provisioning/cooking, boat selection, etc. We'll definitely need more purposeful couch time!

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