Great expectations

The author’s boat on her mooring in Quissett, Mass. Photo courtesy Marilyn Pond Brigham

Winter 2024

By Marilyn Pond Brigham

Why do sailors, for the most part, seem so optimistic? So many of their stories are characterized by the unexpected: rough seas, high winds, broken gear, and injury. Not necessarily dangerous experiences, per se, but at the very least harrowing, or a bit scary. Inevitably, the sailor goes on to say, “But, other than that, the sailing was great!” Huh?

Why do sailors always say “next season will be better?” Prove it! Does that ever really happen? Does the boat sit fewer days on its mooring, unused? Does nothing break on the boat just after it has fallen out of warranty? Do crew members improve their skills over the passing year? What, exactly, turns out better next season?

For me, a weekend-dependent sailor, few summers in recent memory were more depressing than the summer of 2023. Mostly because of the weather. The weather was too hot, with no wind, or there was too much wind. But mostly it was rain, rain, and more rain. It was hard to eke out good weather to cruise anywhere too far from home.

When we did manage to get on the water this summer – never enough – we had a wonderful time. We felt the warmth of the sun and the softness of the fog, we saw sea life, rainbows, and extraordinary cloud formations. We had magical sails. So yes, of course next season will be better. If that weren’t the case, we’d be forever turning our backs on the possibility of these amazing experiences ever happening again!

Most sailors possess a positive attitude, an adventurous spirit, and a lot of tenacity. They are able to look on the bright side. Regardless of what nature dishes out, they still seem to be able to see the beauty of the sea and sky. They have learned to expect and overcome “boat issues.” Ideally underway. Think how many boats have names like “Courageous,” “Spirit,” “Tenacious,” “Endeavor,” “Resolute” or “Intrepid.” These are people who expect the worst from the git-go and sail anyway!

Maybe sailors were “trained” to be optimists. Just think of the number of sailors who learned to sail – and to love being on the water – on an Optimist pram. Generations of young sailors all over the world have been introduced to sailing and racing on “Optis.” Lots of sailing greats, ocean racers, Olympians and recreational sailors learned to love sailing on an Optimist. Year after year, those Optimists were hauled out for the winter and splashed back down in the spring for another year of optimistic sailing.

Sailing represents a certain freedom that involves movement and the chance to experience new things and places. Sailing leads us to find quietude and a greater appreciation for our own self-reliance. Sailing better connects us to nature. Sailing is beauty.

Maybe being on the water is just in our DNA; we can’t help but want to be on our boats. Despite it all, we want to relax on our boats and read a book, or down a cocktail while watching the sunset, or entertain our friends in the cockpit.

One of my favorite authors, E. B. White, enjoyed sailing and found it to be a compulsion. In “The Sea and the Wind That Blows” he wrote, “The sea became my unspoken challenge: the wind, the tide, the fog, the ledge, the bell, the gull that cried help, the never-ending threat and bluff of weather. Once having permitted the wind to enter the belly of my sail, I was not able to quit the helm . . .”

Many of us have been boating all our lives and have enjoyed the myriad experiences that boating offers. We can’t imagine not having a boat and not being back in our boat again in the spring – whether the previous season was good or bad. We just have to be on the water. Some feel that as long as the boat is in the water, it’s a great day to go boating. Opportunity – for fun, for entertaining, for winning a race, for lazing about – always exists if the boat is in the water. Those whose craft was less than satisfactory over the summer might be considering researching a new boat for the coming season. Not often do we hear, “I’m done with boating/sailing.”

Here we are at the tail end of another New England sailing season. Most sailors have a few choice words about this past season. But every last sailor I have recently chatted with about their 2023 sailing/boating season, despite the cost, the weather, their boat issues – all the various foibles and disappointments – vows to be back on the water as soon as they can next year. That’s optimism.

And, as my favorite West Marine pal says about a sailors’ view of a dismal sailing season, “it beats therapy.”

Marilyn Brigham, along with her co-captain/spouse, Paul, sails Selkie, a Catalina 445, out of Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Mass. She is a lifelong sailor and current member of the Quissett and Cottage Park yacht clubs.