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tspeed · 02-01-2012, 08:52

I often think of the reasons why people decide to give up a normal land life to go sailing and jumping from place to place. I know for me it was my first experience I had on a boat. I was 10 years old and my grandfather felt it was time to take his 2 grandsons on a voyage. It started in Titusville Florida right after Christmas in 1984 with a journey down the ICW. The journey down to Miami was a slow one taking 10 days but it was my grandfather teaching us the boat and how to sail it so there was no rush. After a week in Miami he decided to just take us sailing through the keys since the weather was no cooperating. So we sailed our way that winter to the keys, being a impatient kid I would often give him grief about always going so slow which years later I have grown to love that slow pace. When I think back on my experience, it not all the little islands I would remember seeing but the moments we would have like learning how to read the nav charts and plots courses (which at that time shocked me that I actually found a purpose for the math I was learning in school), learning the history behind each of the places we had passed, the actually thinking i could jump off the boat and catch that fish with my bare hands that actually turns out to be deeper down than it looked. Back then I was to young to understand what it was my grandfather was teaching me and passing onto me but it was the samethings that was passed onto him. The lessons I learned on that Westerly when I was growing up and the memories I made are the samethings I find myself doing today with my son. Those memories are something I will always cherish and as I pass them onto my son and use the same moments I had with my grandfather with my son. I think back and say to myself, now I understand and ty grandpa for giving me a chance to understand and see the world in a different light. For those of us that are lucky enough to be on a boat and take our friends or family on our little journeys, take the time and remember, these are the moments that will keep in memory for those to come behind us. What was the first boating memories anyone had that has kept them boating and loving the water as I do...