Learning to Sail on the Bay

My wife bought me sailing lessons for my birthday. I've always loved the water, but I'd never been on a sailboat. In July, I spent three Saturdays at a sailing school on the bay with a group of adults and an instructor named Kenji who was about twenty-two.

We learned on small boats called dinghies, two people in each. The first day, we learned the parts: the mast, the boom, the tiller, the jib. I mixed them up constantly. The boom swung across and hit me in the head, gently, twice. Kenji said everyone gets hit by the boom. "It's how the boat says hello."

By the third Saturday, my partner and I sailed out of the harbor and across the bay on our own. The wind filled the sail and the boat leaned and picked up speed, and the water rushed past just a few inches below my hand. A seal popped up next to us and stared.

I came back to the dock sunburned and grinning. My wife was waiting with a camera. I've signed up for the advanced class.