Sailing Is Great Exercise, IE Mental Exercise

I have long thought that sailing is a good mental exercise because if you do it right, you spend a lot of time thinking ahead.

For safety's sake you need to plan for the more likely mishaps that can accompany boating, and make sure you have the equipment you need, and emergency plans.
Even if you don't race, you need to plan ahead to find the best way to get where you're going; taking into consideration the weather, water conditions, proximity of land masses large and small, and water traffic.

I sail most often now with my two boys. Usually we take out a 22 footer from our sailing club. However two weeks ago, when we arrived at the club, the 22 footers were all spoken for and we took the next biggest boat, a 27 footer. That was not a problem for me, but I had two young and inexperienced crew with me. All of a sudden I had to think of how I was going to get the boat out of the slip, and back into the slip without hurting my crew or banging the boat up.

Getting out of the slip was easy. I just man-handled it by pushing the boat out of the slip, turning it 90 degrees, pushing off, and jumping on. No problem.

I had the next 3 hours to think of how I was going to get the boat back in the slip with the help of my inexperienced crew.

I finally devised a simple plan. I talked it over with my sons and told them what I would like them to do and asked them if they were OK with it. They were a little surprised that I wanted them to jump off, on to the dock while the boat was moving and tie off the boat when the time came.

I had them practice their launch from the boat in their minds and as much of it for real, without actually leaving the boat. I could tell they were nervous. We had had an uneventful sail, but the breeze was a bit stiff.

So the time finally came for action. I steered the boat into the slip and at my command they leapt in turn, to the dock. Flawlessly. The boat never even "kissed" the slip. Beautiful.

A lot of our adventures can be improved from a safety standpoint and an enjoyment standpoint if we do a little planning, for the obvious, and the not so obvious.