Sailing is a wonderful sport and hobby that, like running, can really help you to forget about the stress of ordinary life. It’s a glorious feeling when you’re out on the water feeling the wind in your face and knowing you can go any direction you want with no obstacles whatsoever.
I’d really like to promote sailing more and encourage more people to get into it, which is why I’m publishing this piece where I’ll be collecting and publishing comments & stories from people into sailing on why they enjoy it. So far, I’ve had 10 great submissions from people on why they enjoy sailing (make a submission here if you’d also like to comment on what you like about sailing) and will keep updating this page as more comments come in.
I certainly enjoyed reading the contributions that have been made to this article so far, and hope you do too. 🙂
|
Sailing is a sport like no other. When you are out on the water (alone or with a crew) there a feeling of peacefulness (most of the time, sometimes there is chaos too. Much like life) and you can appreciate nature's beauty at its fullest. It is also a fun but demanding hobby. To take up sailing you need to have a deep love and most importantly respect for the sea. It can be a dangerous sport if you do not respect the elements. Make sure to start with lessons before you actually rent a dinghy and start sailing. There are many books out there to help you with the basics but nothing compares to experienced and competent sailor showing you the lines while out sailing with you. --Peter, Better Sailing |
|
We see sailing as more than just a hobby or a sport. Sailing is a platform. A platform for adventure, a platform for bringing your favourite people together, a platform to connect with nature and with each other. Sailing can bring you to places that you couldn't reach any other way. Sailing allows - encourages even - the freedom to say ...why don't we just try that bay over there, it looks wonderful. Sometimes that's the right call, sometimes it isnt'. That's sailing. We love this activity so much, we quit our jobs as professional skippers in 2016 and started Sailing Virgins to bring people to sailing. Now we run introductory courses in the Virgin Islands, Croatia and Tahiti. --James Kell, Sailing Virgins |
|
Sailing has been a part of my life since early childhood. I have had a long term relationship due to my father being a sailor in the Florida Keys. For me it is an adventure every time I hit the open water. No matter the size of the boat, the weather, or time of day, I always enjoy my time on the water. It is a quite interesting and interactive hobby that requires focus and practiced skill. For beginners I recommend starting with a Sunfish. They are easy to manage and a blast to operate. I personally have 3 sailboats. I go out every time I get the free chance. In Upstate New York, we do a lot of freshwater sailing. I love spending my time on Lake Champlain, Schroon Lake, And Lake George. It is always a refreshing feeling with the ropes in your hands and sail flowing in the breeze. With the world in a state of panic and social distancing, it is a perfect time to get out there on the water and try it yourself today. I recommend doing some research and watching some YouTube videos on how to sail before you first go out. You want to make sure you know the basics before you hit the water. There may be a few times you tip over, or not catch the wind, but don’t worry. There are many ways to overcome these obstacles.Sailing can be enjoyable for people of any age. I first started sailing at 9 years old. Some of my best childhood memories are sailing with my father in our old Sunfish. My friends soon got into it and it became an amazing time for all of us.It was a great hobby to pick up. There are amazing sail boat races you can become involved in, events, and regattas. The spray of the water on your face, the warmth from the sun on your face, it never gets old. I recommend sailing to anyone, any age, anywhere across the nation. Try sailing today! --Mitchell Roggenbuck, The Itchy Mitchy Show PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/why-sailing-rocks#mitchell |
|
Sailing is a great way to build your confidence in your own abilities, your sense of self worth, and get in touch with your roots. No matter where you come form, go back far enough and you came from sailers.. I personally enjoy small, fast sailing boats, as they are so response and it really feels like you’re riding the edge of the wind. One of my team loves sailing so much he lives on his sailing yacht full time, and works remotely right from the deck. Sailing is a great way to leave your stress in your wake, to meet people with tales taller than their masts, and make a lot of friends. --Morgan Taylor, LetMeBank |
|
I never had a desire to sail, but it was my husband's (boyfriend at the time) dream to get certified to sail. We went on a 10-day sailing trip a couple of years ago where we were both certified as captains. I fell in love with relaxing and having the wind blow in my hair and the sound of the waves. And sleeping on it is divine! Now we own a sailboat and enjoy it often, but if you had told me I would like it a few years ago, I would have thought you were crazy. I just didn't know what I was missing. --Chanda Torrey, GifterWorld.com |
|
Sailing is one of the most rewarding hobbies or sports that you can do because it is never dull. The situation on the water - wind strength, wave height, currents etcetera - is changing all the time and you have to adapt to that. That’s what keeps it interesting. It’s also a technical sport, so even after doing it for years or decades, you’ll find you are still learning new things all the time. And in these environmentally sensitive times, all you are using, once you get on the water, is the power of the wind! --Rick Wallace, Tackle Village |
|
As an amateur sailor with many sea miles behind me, I believe I have something to share about the joys of sailing. I love that moment when - after a busy, stressful week at work - leave the harbor and turn off the engine. It's that moment when it becomes quiet and all you hear are the sounds of the wind in the sails and the boat moving through the waves. Sailing is a great way to let all the stress blow away and to store up energy for a new week. Another point on top of this about spending time with friends. Most people would love to go sailing with you. Inviting your friends to go sailing with you is a great way to spend time together. When I first met the woman who would later become my wife, I first invited her to go sailing with me. The rest - as they say - is history. --David De Haan, Stand Up Paddle Boards Review |
|
I love the emotional cocktail that I get whenever I go sailing, it is a combination of excitement, joy, fear, and accomplishment spiced up with a dash of adrenaline. When you are sailing you are harnessing an invisible power that makes the boat move, it is so surreal even after years of sailing.Sailing doesn’t care if you are short, tall, heavyweight, or lightweight. Sailing is fun no matter who you are. Sailing is a sport you can do for your entire life, my son could sail an Opti as a 5-year-old and I sailed with my grandfather until he was 92 years old! There is a reasonably low risk of injury, a low impact on joints, a small chance of becoming bored with repetitive actions. My usual sales pitch to someone interested in sailing is “Let’s go sailing together!” --Alex Caslow, Red Beard Sailing |
|
I have always loved sailing since I was a kid, I grew up in Richmond, VA and would spend the summers at my grand parents house on the Rappahanock river sailing as much as possible. I bought my first boat at 15 and have basically been trading up ever since. I took a gap year and cruised the Bahamas on a shoe string budget and then went back to VA for college. After college I sailed down to the Virgin Islands with some friends on a 35' sailboat I had and a captains license. I then worked professionally for two years before buying my second hurricane damaged boat to start a charter business of my own. If you have a passion for something its the best feeling in the world to turn it into a career. As far as the prompt goes for what to say to amateur sailors: There is not a better feeling in the world than sailing out of a harbor or port and knowing that you are basically flying across the water on wind power alone. Even though you may only be traveling at 8-10 mph it feels like 80 with the wind in your face and knowing that you could just keep going across the ocean if you wanted to. There are no traffic lights, no curbs, no street lines to follow, you create your own path across the water, there is a sense of freedom with that that cannot be attained with anything else (even power boating as you are limited by your fuel range). The boat also takes on a life of her own once you get sailing, its a beautiful symphony of fiberglass, wood, metal, fabric, lines, blocks and wire all working together to move you forward and you are orchestrating the whole ordeal. Theres also a sense of pride in that. Also in my opinion sailing is the last true adventure as once you are out on the ocean you are all on your own, any problem that arrises you must be able to solve it with the tools and supplies on hand. There is something extremely rewarding about seeing the only view around you of ocean for days at a time and then magically arriving at your next port of call. That would apply not as much to amateur sailing but people interested in making passages. --Tommy Chiffriller, Blue Dream Charters |
|
Sailing is a wonderful and rewarding leisure time activity as well as an exciting sport. Man has always been attracted to water. Perhaps it’s because we can’t live without it. Our bodies are 60% water! We can survive weeks without food but only a few days without water. It seems logical that we would be attracted to this essential compound of life. At the same time, most sailors would agree that they sail for enjoyment, relaxation, and personal satisfaction. Feeling, moving, interacting with the elements of our natural world (environment) is a positive, rewarding, and uplifting experience. Stimuli from all senses are constantly relayed to the brain providing an incredible instantaneous database for feelings and cognitive processes. Water, waves, currents, temperature (water and air), humidity, wind, sky, sun, clouds, fog, stars, and wildlife are seen, heard, felt, and sometimes even smelled and tasted. The beauty and power of nature are awesome and provide an aesthetic and spiritual dimension to the sailing experience. There are also psychological and social benefits inherent in sailing. Understanding and using the forces in nature to sail across the water under varying conditions develops/ reinforces a feeling of confidence and control. Being prepared and knowing how to handle changes in conditions and potential problems builds self-confidence, reinforces self-sufficiency, and positively impacts self-image. Sailing with family and friends (or future friends!) can result in a great deal of positive social interaction and pleasure. Working, playing, and communicating with others while sailing can be a meaningful and valuable way to develop/improve relationships off the water. The sailor can also choose the solitude of sailing solo, as well as the excitement and challenge of competition. The diversity of potential experiences is amazing. At the same time, there is one common element that is a part of all leisure sailing experiences— FUN! The greater your knowledge, and the more extensive your sailing experiences, the more enjoyment you are likely to have. --Thomas P. Martin, author of Sailing is a Breeze |
|
If you’re reading this and wondering whether you will love sailing, then the answer is simple: yes, you will – so give it a go. Almost everyone likes sailing. The freedom, the energy, the sunshine, the boats – what’s not to like? Sailing rocks! Boats come in all shapes and sizes. The most ‘important’ ones are perhaps the smaller single or two-person boats that people use for racing (like in the Olympics), or the dinghy-boats you’ll find at your local sailing club, but, for me, the real beauty and joy of sailing takes on another level once you get into a yacht or catamaran – that’s partly because they’re nice places to sit and relax in in their own right, but also because living on the boat gives a whole new sense of purpose to the sailing: it’s all very well to sail around the marker and back at the local lake, but it’s so much more exciting and exhilarating to sail miles across a sea to arrive at another village or port, and to see what you can find there (to see, to eat, to drink…). Or to sail to a far-off island that you can only arrive at by boat. There’s something so enticing about stepping on board a boat. I started sailing by being invited on a sailing holiday many years ago, and I’ve since been so hooked on the sport that I’m now a fully-qualified Skipper and I run a sailing travel company! At PlainSailing.com, we’re all about getting people out on the water in big fancy yachts and catamarans that they can hire for the week to spend glorious time with their families and friends in the sunshine on a boat exploring the Mediterranean Sea (Greece, Croatia, Italy, France, etc…) – it really is an unbeatable holiday. Sailing has given me so much, and it’s possible that you’ll find it just as exhilarating, just as pleasurable, and just as much fun – so give it a go! --Tommy Tognarelli, PlainSailing.com |