Wednesday, March 25, 2009
1230 HOURS
To my west is a great expanse of blue ocean. Off to my east is Clearwater Beach. As I recall, there have been a couple of bashes held there in past years. I lived a block away from Clearwater Beach when I first moved to Florida. I was single then, as it was before I met my late wife ..... and much, much younger. Back then there weren't near the crowds and traffic that congest the area today. In those days, the talk of the town was the expanding takeover of Clearwater by Scientologists buying up prime real estate. The beach looks to be filled with people and I see a couple of parasails floating up above. Floridians at play.
For the last couple of hours I've been sailing between a close and beam reach, between 60 to 90 degrees to the wind. I've quickly learned that it is the easiest of sailing points and it gives me confidence in handling.
The thing about sailing is, while the distance from point a to point b might be 10 miles, you can travel half again that distance to reach your destination. It takes time... and patience. Not yet being a master of the wind, for me it takes allot more time and allot more patience. But I wouldn't have it any other way. At this stage in life, I have no real schedules to keep, aside from taking classes, so in a sense, time is on my side.
My goal... eventually is cruising. Sailing to Aruba and then to Puerto Rico. Initially, I hoped to do that this year. But the more I sail and the more experience I get... the more I know I'm not ready. So I've reset that goal to sometime next year. Better safe than sorry. Instead, depending on this year's hurricane activity, I will circumnavigate Florida; rounding the keys and head up the east coast. I figure I can gain much needed confidence that way.
Oops. I need to come about... gotta go. See ya
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