Bo called me and half-yelled “You would hate it, but it is AWESOME!!” just before he lost reception. He was 5 miles off the coast of Pensacola and headed for a wet ride to Havana, Cuba.
I don’t think his “official bucket list” had a sailboat race to Cuba listed, but this moment was definitely a bucket list moment for him. I can promise you that Sailing School was nowhere near the top of my bucket list, but while he was en route to Cuba – I was busy tacking and gybe-ing my way across Lake Lanier in the Lanier Sailing Academy’s ASA 101.
The past year or so I have learned to follow instructions pretty well. For those that know me well, this is a BIG deal. I am typically the one giving directions – so if you ask me, I deserve a medal in learning to take directions. (#welcometomarriage)
If you are going to learn to listen to instructions there is no better one to give them than Bo Cordle. Patiently and kindly he would calmly say “can you please pull that green rope a little harder?” for the millionth time. I was typically too busy reading my book or drinking my bev to pay much attention. Some days he even would nicely ask “do you want to play passenger or first mate today?” I was passenger more than I like to admit…the amount I had to learn was overwhelming and it was easier to just ride along and let him do all the work.
The learning curve is treachorously steep when you are an equestrian learning to be a sailor. For example – in the horse world, we want every knot we tie to be a slip knot and come untied quickly in an emergency. You can imagine that my slip knots did not earn me any first mate points in the sailing world. More than once we almost lost something important due to my impressive slip knots. But still – I could follow instructions pretty well! “Pull the green one, Allison!”
It was obvious early on that I had a LOT of learning to do. And for the sake of our newly minted marriage license it might be best if I learned from someone other than Capt. Bo. Enter Lanier Sailing Academy.
Matt and our friends at LSA had been following along the blog and he and Bo exchanged a few emails. Before I knew it, I was signed up for Sailing School!
Stay tuned to hear how I most definitely learned the name of the “green one”!
Oh, how I can relate to this! I love the passenger vs. first mate question. Can’t wait to hear how sailing school went. I bet you’re a pro at knots now 🙂
I am excellent at being a passenger!
Interested to hear how it went for you. I finally hunkered down and took ASA 101 in August. It’s true – it’s totally overwhelming how much there is to learn! And sometimes, our wonderful spouses are just not who we will learn the most from.
I am also curious to see if you are going to take more classes. I’m throwing the idea around, but haven’t yet decided either way.
Glad to see you getting out there and getting your sailing experience!
So proud of you!! Can’t wait to read more! Hug Bo for me! Xo