I was seven years old and it was my first regatta, the excitement was high. We were teamed up in couples and I was the first one to go. I clearly remember the waves, they seemed so big, the wind and the dark grey sky announcing rain. For most of the time I was so scared, that I couldn’t really concentrate on the race but on where the hell the jury dinghy was. But as soon as I was safe in it, for my turn was over, the only thing I could think about was… I want to go back on my Optimist! And when my team companion was too scared to continue I was absolutely thrilled to go back in those conditions that scared me so much. I just fell in love with sailing!

This is the way I still feel when I sail, thrilled, alive, purposeful, even sitting in a sailboat on a windless day, under engine, heading somewhere, has the taste of adventure.

And when the wind comes, the engine silent, you might hear the song of wind, sails and rigging, of the water moving under the hull, and the boat is dancing under the sky. 

It’s a magical, almost healing, feeling. Thoughts are free to wander, when sailing is smooth, or they are all here and now, when it becomes tough.

To me sailing is a wonderful opportunity of being curious. scanning the sky in search for a clue, wether it is for wind or for a weather change, keep a careful eye on the sea trying to understand the hints it is giving us, but also gaining a new point of view of land and sea. 

We are so used to the solid, secure, stability of mainland that we take it for granted. We no longer see the beauty of the shade of a tree, the comfort of a shelter from the wind, when we always have it available. 

Going to sea is also this, rediscovering what surrounds us. If we pay attention, we realize that even leaving and returning to the same port, to the known place, shifts the perspective and makes us experience, for a moment, a sort of disorientation that allows us to look at what we thought we knew with new eyes.

Sailing is all about facing new perspective, even on ourself. While sailing you might need to be courageous occasionally, get rid of bad thoughts and make a plan, sometimes it needs to be done fast challenging our ability to make good decisions under pressure. As Patrick Goold says ‘Facing the uncertainty and the technical challenge of sailing can lead to self-knowledge’. And being realistically unsure of my skills, I know that I have still a lot of miles ahead to became bold enough to embark my dream of a solo voyage.