Where there is water, water everywhere there is bound to be sailing and Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico are two extraordinary places for sailing. Whether you have your own very little sailboat or very big sailboat or something in between or whether you charter a boat for yourself or a party of people, the Tampa Bay area can make your trip exactly the way you wish.
Take a cruise with me under the white canvas as we go on assignment and cover the joys of sailing:
The songs run through my mind as quickly as the white flapping canvas above slams into place as my daughter turns the boat. She turns the boat. This sounds so preposterous, my daughter sailing! A 25-foot Capri sailboat, no less. I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't sitting right here ducking quickly under the sails to allow their sudden change.
"Ready to taaaaaack!" She yells again and beams at me in a stately manner as if to say, "Check me out now I'm the captain of this ship!" She takes her new job seriously and speaks to her instructor in some strange jargon. What's this ready to attack stuff? I wonder but not allowing my lack of comprehension to reveal to both teacher and student that I have no clue what they're talking about.
"Okay, let's do a come about." The hull, the main, the mast - I hear words that couldn't possibly relate to a boat. But from the sound of things, my little sailor and her instructor understand each other quite well. I know now to tuck under as fast as possible when they yell the "tack" word to avoid being slammed by the sails overhead. I swear that she was yelling, "Ready to ATTACK", attack her mother, that is! I'll just let them carry on their little lingo and sit back and watch the Tampa shoreline diminish. As the boat gains its freedom, I start to gain mine. The weight of responsibility starts to lift and I hear nothing but the lapping water and the slapping canvas.
Several boats lazily glide by and I realize there is a race going on. I hardly call floating dully by a race. The sailboats look as sleepy and I and then I realize sailboat racing is an oxymoron.
"So what's the point of sailing?" I questioned my instructor who has been bombarded with my questions since we started. In my more-rushed world I needed to find a point to this sailing thing. The point of sailing is that there is no point," he answers with a smile. So much wisdom from someone so young, I thought to myself. Maybe that wisdom comes from many miles on the sea under the sails...
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