Flashback to Summer 2011: This was #78 on the original Melissa’s 100 List. I really wanted to sail because I’ve always loved the ocean, and believe myself to be a sailor in a past life (not really, but seems as good as a reason as any).
“I crossed two goals off the list in St. Maarten, and it felt pretty amazing, because… I did both of them in St. Maarten. It’s probably one of the most beautiful places I’ve been yet and I really hope that I can return one day. I instantly fell in love with it. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the island, imagine a mile or so of just white sand, beach and clear water, with a gorgeous background of mountains and blue skies. There’s a small town just off the beach that’s mostly for tourists, with the classic Caribbean flavor and some Americanized stuff mixed in. While passing through the town, I saw a Starbucks sign down an alley. Fantastic.
The first goal I crossed off was #78. Learn to sail. This had previously been planned for sometime in June, but when my Dad suggested we do the World’s Cup Regatta here as an excursion, I couldn’t pass it up. We couldn’t have asked for a better day to sail- sunny, with a good, consistent breeze. We met up with our group leader, a man from Australia. He started off the day by giving us some background about America’s World Cup. It’s actually a pretty fascinating story, and in the interest of not messing it up, I’ll add the link here. I highly recommend reading up.
We were split into two teams. To our delight, Ricky was chosen as one of the team captains. Thanks to him, we got first dibs on what ship we wanted to sail. He chose the legendary Stars and Stripes sailboat, over the Canada II. The ACTUAL Stars and Stripes boat.
We later found out, after we had all steered it, that it’s insured for over 20 million dollars. Yikes. I don’t think my insurance would cover that. Anyway, we had a pretty young group of people. After I had helped raise the sails (awesome), we were out to sea. The race itself was pretty extraordinary, with us all doing our assigned tasks. There was also some beer on the boat, and the crew took turns taunting the other sailboat. The taunting was strongly encouraged, I may add. My best taunt was definitely the “Who’s driving your boat…Charlie Sheen?”
We ended up losing by less than a foot. It was pretty close, and the Canadian team continued to rub it in until we were all back on land. After a bit, I informed the one Canadian shipmate that since he was wearing a Mets shirt, he had absolutely no authority to talk about winning. So overall, sailing was quite an adventure.”
