Respecting the Wind

"So tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" -- Mary Oliver


Saturday I went sailing. It was a warm, overcast day. Six of us--I, some undergrads and an RSOP coordinator--drove to the Duluth Sailing Club dock on Park Point, ready for an afternoon out on Lake Superior. It was an introductory course so I wasn't expecting much. Probably just a "these are the parts of the sail boat" spiel from the instructor and an enjoyable afternoon with my face in the wind.

Turns out, it wasn't much of a lesson. The old man didn't speak loudly enough so all I remember about that were the words "misensail" (actually "mainsail") and the "gib" (actually jib). My companions, Mel and her boyfriend, Laura and Scott the RSOP guy thought the jib was the mainsail and vice versa. Lynn probably knew these words though. She sailed a lot with her grandfather.

So, I was pretty much set to ride out the whole trip. It would have been a bad idea for us to take charge of any essential operation on the sailboat because gusts actually tipped the boat 45 degrees in the water. And that--to me--was scary.

It's something one knows only in an ordinary sense. The wind is a powerful force of nature. But that day on the sailboat, I could not wrap my mind around the thought that the same wind that was caressing my hair was pushing against the sails above us and tipping our boat. It was a very humbling experience. I should probably admit here that I was scared and not the least reassured by Instructor guy when he said it's a normal thing in sailing. Boats do roll and tip. Yeah, roll and tip...and I try to appreciate this fact while clinging to the mast on the side of the boat that's out of the water, willing the boat to please, please don't overturn and abandon us to the cold murky depths of Lake Superior.

Instructor man let us steer the boat one by one. The task was simple enough: keep the boat between the red and green buoys. Let larger boats through. Don't ram into other sailboats coming our way. Oh and yes, keep away from the cement plant to the right. When it was my turn, I had to struggle with a particularly strong gust of wind that tipped the boat six effing times. I nearly freaked out. But the undergrads were supportive :)

We made it back to the dock, all in one piece. Lynn wanted to eat out. But all I wanted to do was take a hot shower and crawl into bed.