I like to watch fights, because I learn a little. But for the rest of the sports, I don’t like to watch neither to play. I prefer more useful things. If I do something for its own sake, I don’t see how it may be fun. Of course you are not playing with boats only to have fun.

The real joy of sailing is the ability to completely clear your mind. Sailing requires enough “work” to keep you busy. There is a spiritual beauty in turning off the engine and being clever enough to navigate using the forces of nature.

Teamwork? Oh I suppose. Yet I am both a loner and an introvert. I own my own boat and constantly sail single-handed. I’m a fan of doing my own thing on my own schedule. Dropping anchor in a lovely place and staying as long as I wish to sail. You may dictate the funds you want to spend to buy the boat and support the boat. In Anguilla, I met a retired couple that claimed to live on only $6,000 per year. Too frugal for my taste! I have friends that spent over $250,000 on their sailboats, some spending another $100,000 to campaign the boat for racing. That’s just way too silly for my logical mind.

Getting away from the madness of the civilized world, away from traffic, noise and stressed people is a wonderful way to spend time.

One accurate way to describe sailing is hours of boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror. Yes, my sailing log book has a few of those entries about selling my boat. Yet still she remains with me 12 years later.

I once compared my boat ownership with a collegue’s car lease. For the same amount of money, I had an older car, a boat, boat maintenance, and yacht club membership with a social calendar. It’s all about the choices you make.

One summer on my bay, I carefully watched the activity level of the cheap, old sailboats on the inexpensive town moorings. I compared that against the newer, bigger, prettier, and more expensive yacht club boats on the other side of the channel. No surprise at all. The less expensive boats were OUT sailing and being enjoyed all the time. The more expensive boats? Who knows? I just figure that those boats had more systems that required professional mntc and likely needed more crew to handle a day on the water.

Sail Fast! Live Slow!

http://www.iceblinksail.com/index.php

Do what you need to do, Jacob. We only live once…

Frugal and racing will never mix if you are the owner. If you’re crew its fabulous. If you crew with the right owner you’ll often even get a meal out of the deal.

Have a blast Jacob!

But sailing, now that I can work with… (I’ve owned two sailboats thus far. Both were smaller daysailer types, a 15′ Skip Jack one design and the South Coast 21′. Had many a tiny adventure on those.)

Enjoy your sailing. It’s one of those great activities in the world.

Properly coached baseball is like watching a chess game between two masters. Except that you get to watch it on the first beautiful spring day, on the fresh grass, underneath the sunshine, with the cold beverage of your choice.

That’s before you get to the real benefit of spectator sports: community integration and, to (hopefully) bring this back to the subject of your article, easier networking.