Ahoy, We Sail

Canyon--Sailing
The girls lounging
Skipper Scott
Emily & Jane
Dustin & Alice
Captain Canyon

So, I was pondering, lately, on how many opportunities my kids have had to do these amazing things…that I never had or had later in my life. For example, I heard Lily bragging to a friend that she’d ridden on a ferry three times. The first time I was on a ferry was when I was 17 and in New Zealand (or it would still be zero). Anyway, so apparently we are peers in this adventure thing because this past weekend we all went on our first sailing trip on the bay. Papa Scott got a sailboat about a year ago and has been working on it and honing his sailing skills this past year—and we finally got over to see it. Canyon was the real drive behind the adventure, oddly enough, as soon as he realized that Papa’s sailboat was more than a sunfish at del valle, and actually has an anchor and a cabin…well, you can imagine, it was all he could talk about it. Sooo, I called Scott to set up a sail trip and when went. It was a beautiful day and our expectations were to maybe motor around the marina, or even just play on the boat. I was afraid that Canyon might be scared of the open water. Boy, was I ever wrong…he fell in love from the start and was the farthest from being nervous. Neither were Jane and Alice…yes I took a baby and a two-year-old sailing on the bay.

We sailed out by Angel island and enjoyed a view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the foggy city. We sailed with just the jib (is that right Scott?) so that we were a bit slower—a perfect pace for us newbies. The kids had a great time just looking at all the other boats, the seals, and the birds. Alice was a trooper, it’s not easy for a two-year-old to sit in such a small space for such a long time…especially while wearing a life-jacket. Lily and Kaia spent a lot of time in the cabin with the baby, which was really nice for mom and dad.

We went back to the dock and had a fantastically prepared picnic, by Katrina, who was on the first day of a month of eating only locally produced food. The local potato salad: delish. Canyon kept on “checking” the anchor—code for feeling like he was participating in something extremely important on a real boat. He hasn’t stopped talking about it. We can’t wait for our next trip and hope that when people come to visit…they’ll come with us.