Our breathtaking view from our bedroom at Kerry’s house in One Tree Point.
We arrived at Kerry Glen’s house in time for a glass of wine and a nibble, then headed to the local marina where we hopped on a boat with Kerrie’s husband Bob, and 2 of his sailing buddies.
Believe it or not, I used to be terrified of sailboats. When I was a pre-teen, my parents had a 12 foot sunfish sailboat that they used to sail on the lake near our house in Massachusetts, and I refused to get on it. Thankfully, when I was 24, I learned the only way to overcome phobias is to confront them, after conquering paralyzing panic attacks from social anxiety as a teen and young adult.
I faced my fear of sailboats in 2015, when we went on a sailing trip with Phil’s brother and wife, up the coast of Maine. Luckily, the trip started out with us motoring for a couple days since there was so little wind. That slow start helped me get comfortable with being on a boat in the ocean, and then when we put up the sails, I found it was really fun and enjoyed the whole experience.
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You can see from the map below, One Tree Point is an ideal place for someone with an interest in boats to live with it’s picturesque, sheltered harbor, and Kerry’s husband Bob loves to sail.
In the photo below, we are looking directly across the mouth of the harbor at Whangarei heads.
It was a lovely, late-summer evening, with a light wind picking up, making it perfect conditions for sailing.
When I said yes to the invitation to go sailing, I didn’t realize we were actually taking part in a race!
I only learned that, as the boats started lining up at the starting point.
And as the clouds started to roll in, the wind picked up, and we were off!
As the captain manned the rudder, the guys hung out on the rail as counter weight for the sail, in order to go faster.
After making the turn at the marker, the wind intensified and the sky grew darker, threatening rain while the sun sliced through breaks in the clouds, radiating down to the horizon.
It was all very exciting.
Coming in second, the happy crew enjoyed a celebratory beer.
We got off the boat as the first rain drops began to fall,
but I couldn’t leave until I stopped to pet this adorable boat kitty.
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And now for a bit of ocean themed art:
Fanciful Fishes
20.5″ x 6″ fluid acrylics and paint markers on canvas
My next post will be about my last workshop in New Zealand, which turns out to be the last one I taught before the world shut down.
Keep creating,
Judy
ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.
9 responses to “Sailing, takes me away…”
thank you for sharing, enjoy seeing your trips, your classes etc.
you’re welcome Vivian 😁
It’s hard for me to imagine that you would ever have anxiety about anything. Now, knowing that, I’m even more impressed with you!
😄 I’m a very different person now than I was in my early 20’s, I was pretty shy and had a lot of anxiety. Because of fear, I always went last in any activity, not understanding that anxiety would build and become completely overwhelming and paralyzing by doing that. I’m incredibly grateful to have learned that by going first, saying yes, or putting myself out there in some way when I definitely wasn’t feeling comfortable, was the way to get beyond it. You have to consider what’s the worst thing that can happen, and then choose whether you can deal with that. I think our biggest fear that holds us back is that we think we’ll look like a fool amongst our peers, and then we have to decide how much that really matters in the long run. Getting older certainly helps make that easier, lol. Anyways, I’m glad I learned to overcome it young enough to have lived a better life because of it. ❤️
Kudos to you for being aware enough of your issues and to take them in hand. Yes, older is wiser more often than not.
Loving your travel log both your narrative and pics. Also related so well to your dealing with anxiety issues. I was terrified of public speaking and speech was required in college. I was nauseous,shaky body and voice,sweaty palms – the whole bit. The professor encouraged me to go first when speech days arrived cause everyone else was so worried about having to give their speech that they likely weren’t even listening to me. Also going first meant he had no one else to compare me too which was a the professor said was a plus. I made myself do this and eventually overcame my fear. This held me in good stead in my social work/management career from which I am now retired and as my fiber artist career is now evolving, I have no fear to jump in and try something new even when I feel it is a fail. If I don’t try, I don’t learn. Congratulations on all of your successes and thank you for being willing to pass on your knowledge. Still hope to get a workshop with you some day.
thanks so much LeVay for sharing your experience. How lucky you were to have a professor that gave you such sage advice, it has probably helped you in numerous ways over the years. As far as workshops, I’m gathering equipment to start filming content to do online workshops since we could be social distancing for quite a while.
Judy, I read all of your travel postings. I envy your travels. I will never get on a sail boat but I am glad you are able to do so. The picture with the boat in front of all the clouds is great. I think a quilt needs to be made. I am happy for you that you have so many friends down under and you get to go so often. Have a great day.
Hi Nancy,
thanks, nice to hear from you. I’m glad you’re enjoying my travel posts, it’s been fun putting them together and telling the stories that go with the places and events, and it’s been a good pandemic distraction too, while being in the same place over the last several months. 🙂