| e sloops where I got my basic keelboat lessons, | | | | me. |
| my neck developed a crick from constantly | | | | It isn't easy to do that. Weather forecasts can be |
| craning back to see what the Windex on top of | | | | addictive. But forecasts are largely useless for the |
| the mast was doing. When I straightened out my | | | | sheltered bays where I sail. If there's a small craft |
| neck, my eyes would fasten on the digital | | | | advisory for Long Island Sound, for example, I've |
| readouts of the knot meter and depth finder. It | | | | found that doesn't necessarily mean conditions in |
| seemed as though sailing involved so much time | | | | the bays will be rough or even unpleasant. |
| monitoring different instruments and gauges that | | | | Forecasts are useful for very large areas, but not |
| there was no time to appreciate the ride. | | | | for the smaller area of the bays. To know what |
| What did sailors do before the invention of | | | | conditions are like in the bays, you have to be |
| onboard electronics and gadgets? One thing, I | | | | there. |
| learned, was that they sailed with both ears. | | | | But the complexity of the environment can trick |
| When the sensation of the wind was equal on | | | | you. One day, for example, the forecasts called |
| both ears, you were directly facing the wind. | | | | for winds above 15 knots. Looking at the water |
| Sounds simple and obvious. But my senses were | | | | from the dock, however, I didn't see any |
| completely dulled to the clues the environment | | | | whitecaps which a 15-knot wind usually kicks up. I |
| constantly provides about its condition. Without | | | | judged the wind was probably 10 knots or less. |
| gauges, I had no way of knowing the speed and | | | | But once I had poked the boat out from the |
| direction of the wind and the boat, or the depth | | | | protection of the marina, it was clear the winds |
| of the water and the strength of the currents in | | | | were as strong, or stronger, than forecast. What |
| it. | | | | I had failed to take into account was that the |
| My catboat Kirsten doesn't have any gauges, not | | | | wind and the tide were moving in the same |
| even a Windex, which wouldn't work anyway | | | | direction, so the water was flat. |
| because of the turbulence created by the | | | | I began to read the signs. That line of small |
| gaff-rigged sail. | | | | breaking waves marks a shoal. The patch of |
| As much as today's technology aids | | | | glassy water ahead indicates a place where, for |
| communication and knowledge, it also atrophies | | | | some unknown reason, there is no wind. A dark |
| our abilities to learn directly from the physical | | | | patch of ripples shows the path of a gust of wind. |
| world. One of the greatest appeals of sailing is | | | | The tilt of a buoy tells the strength of the tide. |
| that you are dealing with the elemental forces of | | | | Basic observations, but the relationships between |
| nature, and your ability to sail well depends upon | | | | all these forces are ultimately too complex for |
| your ability to sense and respond to changing | | | | words, and they change too quickly for reasoning |
| conditions in the wind and water. | | | | out all the meanings. This is the great challenge of |
| When I was younger and worked outdoors at a | | | | sailing. Even when the course is one that has been |
| marina, I knew, even if I couldn't express why I | | | | sailed hundreds of times, it is never the same. |
| knew, what kind of weather to expect with a far | | | | Experience can train your senses to know what is |
| greater accuracy than any forecast could give. To | | | | happening most of the time, but there will always |
| become a good sailor and to enjoy sailing to its | | | | be surprises, and the learning can never be |
| fullest, I needed to wake up my senses and let | | | | complete. |
| them learn again how to read the world around | | | | |