How I feel after one year of boat life

Before we even started our trip I was against sailing but now if you asked if I like sailing I would say yes. On nice days sailing is fun. However when the seas are bad sailing is uncomfortable. It does not happen often because we check the weather. I was afraid that this trip would be boring and scary. I was also afraid that there would be no other kids on boats. I was wrong.

Over time I got used to sailing and was not scared anymore. At first I was scared of capsizing and heeling. After sailing over 6,000 miles, I have learned that Sargo can heel over without capsizing. I even got so used to it that I like going fast and heeling over a little. However if we heel more than twenty five degrees I still get nervous. That might not sound like much but at twenty five degrees I would be falling off my seat and sliding on the floor. Sargo can actually heel to eighty five degrees without capsizing. On our longest passage from the US Virgin Islands to the Exuma Islands, Bahamas it was over eight hundred miles and five days and five nights. I was not scared at all the whole time. Sailing can be scary sometimes but as you gain experience it gets better.

Over the past twelve months on Sargo I made many new friends. Whenever there are other kids in an anchorage, it is easy to become friends. Having friends on a boat is different then from on land. On a boat you might be with them for a week and see them three months later in a new place or never see them again. Boat friends are good because you can make new friends in less than an hour. All that we have to have in common is that we live on a boat. When we were quarantined with two other kid boats in the US Virgin Islands, our normal schedule would be school until noon, eat lunch, and then play in the water all afternoon. Leaving my friends was the hardest part of transitioning from land life to boat life, but I found that making friends on a boat is easy and fun.

Living on a boat is not as boring as it sounds. Over the past year aboard Sargo I have become better at occupying myself. For example, if I am bored I might read or listen to my audiobook, build something, tie knots, or just lay there and make reflections with placemats. One of the most exciting things that happened on Sargo was crossing the Stellwagen Bank and seeing whales. It is always exciting when we are surrounded by a pod of dolphins jumping and playing at the bow. While Living on a boat you get to see new places and have new experiences such as spearing a lobster or swimming with sharks. I think boat life is more exciting and less boring than land life.

At the beginning of this trip I was scared of sailing, thought that there would be no other kid boats, and was bored. Now, I still miss my friends and I am bored sometimes, but overall I like sailing. If you like to travel and see new places then I would recommend sailing.

THE END

Dolphins swimming with Sargo in the Gulf Stream