SAILING AS A UNITING FORCE
This is one of the reasons I love sailing so much. It is a force that unites people from all walks of life, from all sectors, countries, religions and any other dividing limitation there is.
I am a woman who is blind and when I sail, I do so mostly with people who are sighted. They are men and women, though I do prefer to sail with women only, because I feel a bit more comfortable around women, but I sail with wonderful men very often. We are all people with apparent physical challenges and those, whose challenges are invisible to all.
When we get on the boat, it is as if nothing matters anymore. I can and have operated the ropes on sails, was at the helm of different boats and yachts and no, I do not crash into anything. We talk about everything, we shared the work of sailing the boat to the best of our ability. It is a must on a boat, to work as a seamless team, so that the boat sails in the optimal way.
Then, when we get the boat sailing well, we talk, we laugh, the friendships start, the tasty food and drinks come out and it is a celebration of life. I am not saying everything is perfect but usually the atmosphere is good and pleasant.
This is a force we can use to bring people together. It does not matter who you are in your everyday life, what you have done or not done, on the boat, you are a part of a team which works together for a common goal and we all have one love, the love of sailing. Most of us have many other loves we bring to sailing. The love for people, nature, the sea and our planet.
So, next time we are on a boat, let us put every other difference aside and celebrate our great love of sailing and our being humans, together on a boat, or, also, on the ship we call planet Earth.