Sailing Takes Me Away To Where I'm Not Wanting To Go
Mother's Day is soon approaching. Thoughts of my mom and I against the world came to mind.
When I was 12, I saw myself as a strong, smart, independent pre-teen. We lived on a barrier island and owned some sailboats. My mom and I thought we'd figured it out one day and decided to take the small catamaran out by ourselves. She probably would have succeeded without a teenager on board to argue with her every decision.
We did really well going out into the Apalachicola Bay and had a great afternoon. No men, no beer, just us. We have always been a good team. All good things must come to an end and we decided to head back in. I never did figure out how tacking and gyving worked going back and forth using the wind to get back to our inlet. I understood the science behind it but couldn't get the wind to agree. We didn't have a motor.
We ended up stuck at a neighbor's dock and no one was home. Many homeowners only came to the island during the winter. Snow birds is the term we used. It's too hot here during the summer for snow birds. They fly North.
We couldn't yell loud enough to get my step-dad's attention so I jumped onto the dock and ran to the house. He came back to rescue us. It was fun while it lasted. We never took a chance alone again.