Sail France (or, Why I like sailing) - Part 2 Sailing

The next day, we were all expecting good, hot weather, and a marvelous day of sailing. But instead, the day was freezing cold, with a LOT of wind, and cold breakfast. Wind is an essential part of sailing, but when you are just a beginner, TOO much wind is horrible. Besides that, everyone packed for hot weather, so we were all wearing short and tanktops, so by the end of the session, all of us were cold and wet. The sailing was horrible that day. Nearly all the boats capsized (although I'm proud to say mine's didn't). At lunch (which was cold as well), no one wanted to go back to sailing. But we did anyway. It was much better in the afternoon, since the wind was much smaller. The week after that were full of ups and downs. One of the ups is the fact that we had a little trip to the beach and huge sand dunes. Also, I grew to like sailing a lot. One down: I was paired with a boy one afternoon. We just learned a new skill in sailing, so we were both pretty confused. He was quite a large boy, while I was quite skinny. In the beginning, it was ok, because we were going in a straight line. I was afraid of capsizing because it was cold that day and I didn't want to get wet (plus, I didn't want to ruin my record of not-capsizing). But after some turns and close calls, I began to accept the fact that we were going to capsize and it was only a matter of time before we do. So later, he handed me the tiller extention ( the thing controlling the rudder) while he held on to the mainsheet (the thing attached to the boom which controls the mainsail). We were both really crap at the positions, so we kept turning in circles because it was pretty windy plus we were both bad sailors at the time. So in the end he got frustrated and pushed me off the boat. The boat kept going and I had to swim after it. And while I was climbing back into the boat, I cut my leg with one of the ropes, and the scar is still visible to date. And later on, we capsized so many times I couldn't even count. Other than that, I love sailing.

I love sailing because I love the water and the ocean (though we were sailing in the lake, I always dream of sailing in the sea). I am sick of land and I'm kind of afraid of heights and airplanes being hijacked, so air travel isn't really appealing to me. So I like travelling by water. Also I like the fact that I get to control the boat, deciding how fast it goes and which way it goes. I told my mom this, but she just said, 'wait until you get a car'. And other than that, it is pretty safe, and it feels nice to just glide on the water with the wind pushing me. It produces no pollution at all. That's why I love sailing

Sail France (or, Why I like sailing) - Part 1 The Journey to Bordeaux

In the summer that has just past, I went sailing with my friends. It was part of the British curriculum, stating that every student had to thoroughly learn an outdoor sport before they graduate from year 9. So our school decided on sailing.

2 weeks before school ended, we went to the Bordeaux and stayed there for a week and learned sailing. Everyone expected the weather to be really hot. But in actual fact, it was freezing. Plus, the morning we were leaving, the train had mysteriously 'gone off grid' so we had to wait at the Brussels Gare du Midi for about 2 to 3 hours. By then the teachers were thinking about cancelling the trip. Eventually, we all got so sick of waiting, that we just took whatever train going to France arrived in the station next. Eventually, we landed in the station right outside Paris Disneyland. From there, we stayed for 2 hours, and everyone got a free first-class seats, as an apology from the Eurostar company. Then there was another hour on the bus to the camp. When we finally got to Bordeaux, it was already midnight. Everyone was freezing from the cold, and had no appetite. Plus, the food there sucked. And in our tent, there are about a million little bugs crawling around. Some girl even found a beetle under her bed.

I guess by then, everyone had gotten sick of the trip. They were all annoyed about the travel (though most were quite excited about getting free first-class tickets). But all through the journey, everyone thought that maybe this whole set-down would make the sailing more fun. That night no one could sleep because of the bugs and the excitement of sailing. Every single girl buried themselves in their sleeping bags, save their face, to avoid being attacked by bugs. From my point of view, I was tired and annoyed and wanted to go home. I considered phoning my mom and telling her to get a train back to Brussels. But then I though, heck, go with it. It's only a week.