Taste Death, Live Life...

WHY do I go sailing in storm conditions when no one else is on the water?

So I can 'Taste Death, Live Life...'

That's how me and my brother have put it as long as I can remember.

Taste Death, Live Life.

Pretty sure he came up with it, or one of our crazy friends, Sam-geet or Steve-clot or maybe it was Sphincter; one of us anyway.

Always try to choose the most dynamic shots. Naturally, t'would have been boss to have brought our go-pro with us; that would've been some dynamism bro'. We forgot it though. We were too focused on getting out on the water as soon as possible, so the two above will have to do. The first one is us reaching for home at the end of our ride and the second one is the moment we 'docked', which amounted to blasting into the bay, jumping off and grabbing onto the boat before she hit the shore.

Here's how it happened...

I actually got out of bed before the rest of my family (while on vacation) last Wednesday morning to go and check the wind, 'cause I could hear it whistling in the pines above our bunkie. Got down to the dock, sure thing; big wind. That's what I call it, "BIG wind". It's about the best thing I can say about a day, other than that my wife's gonna' be there, ideally in a bikini. If I get a day with big wind, on a body of water, with my catamaran AND my wife there, ideally scantily-clad, I'm winning.

So I race back into the cottage and text my brother who was staying at a place 15 minutes away. "Bro. Big wind. Real big." I hit send and don't have to wait more than a minute or two. "Be right there..." comes the reply, and I know it's ON.

And, wouldn't you know it, in the cottage next to us, on his family compound is my buddy Mike who happens to be up for the same week we are and who also happens (along with my brother Jess and my friend Jones) to be one of the guys I've sailed most with over the past 15 years. Like the other dudes I mentioned, Mike knows what to do without me saying a thing. I can just focus on keeping us alive (working the tiller and mainsheet like they're live beasts) while he, and Jess, hang their 250lb-plus bodies off the side of the boat by airplane wire (trapeze) hooked to harnesses that cinch their privates up tighter than a, well, I shouldn't say.

Did I mention they do this while we're hurtling over the water at 30+ mph on a SAILBOAT?

That's right.

The only other boat on the water was a windsurfer and he wasn't going much faster than us, and he was wearing a crash helmet. That's how serious the conditions were.

About 20 minutes into it we started noticing cottagers out on their docks with binoculars, watching us. "GUYS!!" I shouted, "We're the best show on two hulls!"

We basically got far enough out into the bay, beating upwind which is NOT a Hobie 16's strong suit, until we had enough sea room to just blast reach from cove to cove for about an hour and a half. It was all out, unadulterated fury, terror and exhilaration rolled into one.

At the end of each blast across the bay we'd tuck into a cove and just lay there on the tramps, howling, screaming and laughing at what had just happened, then we'd turn around and do it again.

Suddenly, in the middle of blasting along at speeds a seadoo can barely match, I hear my brother shout, "That's it, reach for home Todd..." And, without a word of protest, I bore off and we started downhill sledding for home.

Why?

'Cause we'd hit our limit. He knew it. I knew it. See, there's a point in extreme sailing (as in life) where you realize you've pushed it as far as you can and, after that point, you're going to start breaking down. When you're sailing in 'expert' conditions you can't afford a breakdown, 'cause that usually means injury, or in this case, death--if you're unlucky or careless or just too tired to do what's needed if/when events take a turn. It's all fun and games 'till it 'aint fun no more.

Know your limits.

We know ours, we've sailed enough to know.

Have you lived enough to know yours?

See, it's possible you need a little more excitement in your life, a little more risk. There's a chance you're just 'continuing' (in the words of C.S Lewis) and that you could be doing much more with the life you've been given.

Sure, it might be stormy out there, but--if you have the tools, the training, the experience and the moxy, you can change a storm into an opportunity.

Just make sure you've got some friends to take along with you and that, together, you know when to call it a day.

Then, get out there and 'Taste Death, Live Life...'

T