Definition of frustrating

Partly cloudy skies, sparkling blue water, steady winds...and no sailing. That is my new definition of frustrating.

All the experts around here keep telling me that the winds are too high to sail, and who am I to argue with the experts? But deep in my heart I have to wonder, if this 40 foot cat can't handle the winds and waves I am seeing out the window, than this thing isn't as seaworthy as Nomad. (Other conversations today have reminded me of another truism in sailing, everybody is an expert, and no two of them agree on anything.)

Ah well, such (I guess) is the life of a sailor. It is surely the life of a pilot. As the old saw goes, "It is much better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground." The big difference here is that they pay me to be in the air, and I am paying them to sit at this dock. Still, rule #1, "Don't get hurt," and rule #2, "Don't hurt the equipment," apply to rented boats as much as airplanes. So I will defer to the wisdom of the graybeard sailors.

I gotta say though, this graybeard pilot would launch into the sky without much concern. Winds gusting to 30 and scattered TRWs are simply not much weather. So it looks like one of the things I need to learn is that boats simply can't handle the weather I am used to seeing in the jet. And if movies can be trusted (ha-ha) that would be the case. I mean, really, how many times has it been reported that some boat is floundering somewhere out in a violent sea, desperate and about to go under, and who is overhead saving the day? Some hard working airplane (or helicopter) driver who is out in the same weather that sunk the boat. I also gotta admit that, where I thinking of heading out on the GSXR, this weather wouldn't be much a deterrent either. So apparently airplanes can handle more weather than motorcycles, and both can handle more weather than boats.

I guess a good place to start learning that is tied securely to a dock in Pensacola, Fl.