The Sky Is The Limit

Anonymous

Do you know how this continent was discovered?

I’m proud to say that Amerigo Vespucci was a great sailor from whose name the term “America” derived.

This is a short story about sailing, my personal experiences and limits which are on your mind.

“To travel on water by the action of wind.” This is just the basic definition of sailing. Not enough to explain it. Let’s try to change the point of view.

First of all, when you are facing the sea it becomes facing your own deepness. When sailing, you learn how to live together peacefully, share limited spaces, feel connected to nature and discover your limits.

Sailing is a particularly great experience to build your self-confidence and teaches us how to respect the differences between us. Because on board, you will not be alone. You will need crew members to share your feelings, the purpose of your trip and sometimes in unexpected circumstances you need to take responsibility for and become a leader.

As usual, we have many reasons to complain about the time that flies quickly. If you are ready to hear this, I will share a mysterious recipe to slow down the time. The solution is taking a place on board as a crew member. When you experience sailing on a boat, you will forget your cell phone which changes face to face communication and lifestyle. You will enjoy your moment.

Sailing is a great opportunity to learn some technical skills. Not only you learn wind directions and changings, navigation, weather forecasting but also surviving in nature too.

The benefits of sailing are endless. Let me tell you my own story, how I took my first step into sailing. I was just a kid, 6-7 years old. My uncle, who is a very talented marine, asked me to join him, when he was fishing in the beautiful Bosphorus, where the continents Europe and Asia are merged in Istanbul. I was always observing him to gain nautical skills. In a short time, I learned how to fish and what to do in difficult circumstances.

After a few years, when I was working as an employee in an ex-company, in 2012. I saw an ad which was about a sailing team which is sponsored by that company. I decided to apply to join as a crew member. Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy. I took courses for six months. Many of the participants were eliminated after those courses. Finally, that big day came. I was accepted to the team.

I never think about the limits which prevent us to be successful. If you have so much passion, you can always handle it. At least you deserve it. I joined more than two hundred sailing races. Some of them were off-shore which were so tough and in difficult conditions. Not only I performed my best but I also had desperate moments.

As an example, I would like to share the most painful moment of my life, when sailing. One day, when I was in a sailing race, my phone was ringing persistently. It was my father on the phone. His voice was so sad. He told me to fly immediately to Bodrum which is a beautiful town on the west coast side of Turkey, on the first plane. After a few minutes, he told me that my mother passed away. My family without me were in a boat trip for a holiday. My mother had a heart attack when she was swimming. The main point is the sea that I belong to, took my mother from me. I always questioned mum’s destiny but I never gave up. I respected nature’s choice.

Sometimes we would like to leave everything behind. We would like to think about the way of life. When these kind of feelings come to you, please remember my story and tell yourself “I will get rid of all the limits on my mind and find the perfect cure in the ocean.”