Today, as I was lying on the couch trying to decide if I should take a nap before or after I watched TV, a friend called and invited me sailing! He had the afternoon off and since the weather was good had decided to take the boat out. Would I like to come along? Duh!
I drove out to Fern Ridge Reservoir to meet him and learn the basics of sailing. It was awesome. The sun was out, the sky was blue, there was a breeze, and I had nowhere to be for hours. He taught me a lot of vocabulary that I can't remember at all. The only two that stuck in my mind are the boom, because if you don't pay attention it smacks you in the face, and the tiller, because that was the one thing I was in charge of. The tiller is how you steer the boat; you move it from side to side. Ok, so I'm not exactly Master and Commander yet. Maybe next time I'll get to touch the sails and rope (rigging?).
He also did an excellent job of explaining the physics of why a boat moves forward when you're sailing almost into the wind, but not directly into it, even though you instinctually think you should be going backwards because the wind is pushing against you. It had something to do with lift and creating a vacuum and the shape of airplane wings. When he was all done, I didn't have the heart to tell him that it would have been easier and infinitely more Jen-pleasing to just say, "magic."
Anyway, we sailed around the reservoir for three hours. The weather was spectacular and there's just something about being on the water. It was highly soul-nourishing. I gotta say that today was a great day.
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