Freedom On Every Tide: Why You Should Start Sailing Recreationally
No doubt that many things in life can be very tiring. For example, your work had you talking with clients over the past month doing promotions for your products. There could be other work-related things, such as the stress of being with the family. By no means is the family a curse placed upon a parent, but they know that this isn’t easy.
These occurrences have one thing in common: the need to escape and let go of all worries for a moment in time. Of course, responsibilities are essential, but having that moment to destress does remarkable things for us. Nevertheless, though only done once in a while, one considerable activity can do wonders for the soul. One of these activities would be sailing.
It may seem strange to some people, but there is something about placing your vessels onto a body of water to absorb the atmosphere that is so special. Nevertheless, there is more to this activity than the sun and surf gathered.
What Is Sailing?
According to the simplest definition, sailing involves sailing in a ship or a boat. However, a big part of sailing consists of using the wind to move the boat. That is why the stereotypical boat includes a woven canvas or polyester cloth positioned perpendicularly from the boat. The wind is trapped here, and the boat is pushed forward.
Of course, there is more to sailing than simply moving forward. The mast doesn’t hold up the sails to go towards a single direction as there is always a rudder. The vessel may switch its course when paired together, depending on the person sailing.
Essentially, this is the boat’s steering wheel if these vessels were cars on the road. One might as well call them the “cars of the water”.
Why Do People Sail?
With the amount of attention that sailing receives, one would still wonder why these activities are popular for a good amount of people. The truth is that these reasons are the same as any other person would describe other hobbies. Think about activities such as racecar driving or something as homey as wood sculpting. One may include video gaming in the group as they all share some common properties.
Nevertheless, there are things unique to sailing, something that you won’t find anywhere else.
A Great Use of Recreational Time
Though these times decrease as you grow up, downtime is an essential part of our lives. Picture one moment in time where you have done all you could, possibly work-related, and you have a significant amount of time to burn. It could be on a weekend or a company-sponsored vacation day. You will soon “die of boredom” without anything to do at all.
The age-old advice states that you have to keep yourself busy until something important. Some would go as far as to say that you’re missing out on “life”. Thankfully, there are many activities to do to spend your free time, one of them being sailing.
With sailing, there is no sense of idleness in your body. On the contrary, the sights and sounds are almost overwhelming but strangely perfect for anyone with downtime.
Destress Away!
Of course, work-life isn’t as simple as one may think because it can carry an enormous amount of burden. There is some salvation in reaching Friday afternoon as the time to relax has finally arrived. However, some may find that resting and sleeping won’t be enough to sate the need to destress. Sometimes it may be better to find another activity to do, one that unironically takes work off your mind.
Sailing does a lot in this sense as one could consider this a source of “temporary freedom”. Despite only lasting for a short time, the fun you will experience in a day voyage alone is enough to prepare you mentally for another stressful week of work.
The “Freedom” from the Outdoors
Being connected to water and wind, you would be right to think that this is an outdoor activity. However, just like any outdoor activity, you will feel a sense of “freedom” when in the middle of it. In the case of sailing a vessel, this comes from the fact that you feel a strong breeze that both moves and cools you. Strangely, the somewhat violent collision of the waves and vessel feel liberating.
If that doesn’t make anyone feel free, one should consider the wonders of the sunrise and sunset. The various sounds that you will hear throughout your voyage are something else, which is almost unique to this activity.
In essence, its experiences in the outdoors are bountiful, and it seems like the possibilities are endless. These activities will make you forget that you had only a few hours to enjoy the sun and waves. The action itself tells you that you are free to do whatever you want, and nothing can ever stop you.
Why Shouldn’t People Sail?
Nevertheless, one must also understand the other side of the sailing world, specifically why one shouldn’t sail. With this, there are two specific reasons for the hesitance. The first is that this is an undoubtedly expensive hobby to maintain. Note that vessels need a lot of care when placed on the water. Therefore, they also need some maintenance to ensure that the boat is always in prime condition.
The second reason is space as vessels are hard to keep for those with smaller residences. This also means that storing them is a pain, and it seems like there is no getting around these problems. Nonetheless, there is a solution that will make you want to sail.
A Solution?
Fortunately, there is an option to shop for small sailboats, and these are boats that could be disassembled and fit into pieces of luggage. As they could fit in your bags, you could potentially bring these along when flying to places farther away from the nearest lake or beach. These would also be great for those who take day trips for some short voyages. Then, all one needs to do is store them in car trunks and assemble them when required.
In terms of maintenance, there would be little to no problems as xCAT, MiniCat, Grabner, and similar companies have made vessels that are built to last. In case of damages, these don’t take much from owners. Some DIY work would be more than enough to solve these problems.
With these solutions for sailboats or canoes, there is no reason why you shouldn’t sail away and be free.
