A lot of times sailing feels very dramatic and action packed for me. Whether in light air or heavy wind, sailing alone or on pleasure sails with friends, there can be so much energy, chatter, thinking, music and movement that the experience is electric. I love and feed off of this energy, but there are times when I seek something different. Yesterday I headed out for a solo sail, and without even realizing it, Haunani and I collaborated on creating just that. We created an air of pure quiet. It was not a quiet devoid of energy or power (for those things seemed almost magnified to me in a new way). Unlike my last sail, I played no music, and turned my phone off. I sat quietly observing the wind, sails and instruments. I practiced trimming my sails in the light breeze and instead of getting frustrated right away that I was not making the boat move better, I patiently waited for the feedback I needed to learn the subtle ways of my beautiful boat. It was as if I was really listening to her and feeling her, instead of getting caught up in a flurry of my own activity and internal dialog. Everything seemed to slow down a few notches, and in this space, I could feel something very different happening. I was learning new things and feeling my way into them rather than muscling my way through them. A special friend of mine recently inspired this change . In observing his quietly confident and mindful ways in the world, I have somehow taken them in and tried them on. All I can say is that it feels really good, and I think it is already making me a better and more in tune sailor.

Haunani and I glided into our slip under the cover of darkness, and I silently and lovingly tended to the ritual of putting her away for the night. It was a beautiful end to a lovely day. As always, I bid her farewell with a deep thank you for taking such good care of me. It was somehow different than usual though, for as I walked away last night with no fanfare or conversation, I felt like a changed person. It will be interesting to see how the next sail feels!

the requisite selfie (or "boat phote" as my siblings teasingly call them) :-)