Extreme Sailing

We tried to go sailing today. My mother & step-father, uncle, grandmother, grampa & me. We had good intentions, really we did. Perhaps though, when we almost crashed into 2 boats trying to get out of the harbour, we should have judged that maybe the wind was a tad strong. Or, when we got out onto the river and the waves were splashing water up over the boat, we could have said that maybe the wind was too strong. Or better yet, as we motored full speed ahead without really gaining any ground, and realized that maybe it was too dangerous to even put the sail up, we should have decided the wind was really too strong. No. We voyaged on. My grandmother was panicked as she's more of a no wind sailing type. I was excited to get my extreme sailing on. It felt great bouncing in the swells. But alas, the rapidly approaching black clouds had other plans for us.... abort. We headed back. I won't deny, that somewhere between the rapid speed we gathered in going with the wind towards the harbour & when the only hope we had of any control, the motor, conked out.... I really thought I'd have a great story for the blog. But grampa had us up & running again just in time to gain enough control of the boat so as to not smash into the rocks, and we motored gracefully into the harbour. A 15 minute attempt at sailing as extreme as it gets in the St. Lawrence River. No sails. No motor. No control. It was a good idea for a bit, really it was.