I took the kids sailing the other day. That was not by choice.
It was. The most terrifying experience of camp so far I think. More so than going out on a canoe, more than going out on the row boat, more than climbing up a 20ft pole and then falling backwards into thin air. We're on this tiny sailboat, like the one in the picture. I have 3 girls with me, only one has gone before. I've never gone before, much less manned a boat. I'm scared of water, and as it turns out, 2 of my girls are scared too. It was pretty smooth sailing out our way out to the middle of the lake, then suddenly, the boat began to tip. I had to let go of the steering thing whatever its calling and grab both sides of the boat to steady it so we wouldn't capsize. And that my friends was the last straw for the 3 girls and myself.
Immediately I decide it's time to turn around and go back to shore. So I turn the steery thing and try to get us to turn around. One of the girls is crying and grabbing my legs and another just has her head down on the side of the boat. Meanwhile I'm getting anxious cuz I don't like being so far out more than any of the other girls and I don't want to capsize because I'm not wearing a bathing suit. So I get us halfway turned around and the boat wouldn't go any further it's just stuck being pushed back and forth by the waves while the boom bonks me in the head over and over again. I was losing my patience because I had 3 freaking out kids and I had to try and stay calm myself when I'm freaking out too, try to figure out how to sail a freakin boat when I've never learned, and calm kids who refused to be calmed.
After what felt like forever, but what was probably no more than 10 or 15 minutes, another one of our boats came close by to water ski. The kids were yelling and yelling to the driver but he couldn't hear us. So finally we all decided to yell at once, "JAAACCCK!!!" and he looked over. I asked him if he could call a boat to come get us cuz the kids were freaking out and we couldn't get back to shore. He helped us get turned around a little and how to work the sail (which was still hovering around my head) and we got a little further, but it was just pointless. The girl working the sail was actually doing a great job but we were all just tired and wanted to get back in. Within a few minutes a boat came to come and tow us in. My kids were still freaking out, one saying she was going to scream if we didn't get in right away and I told her she was NOT going to scream because that wouldn't help anything. (This was the same girl grabbing my legs the whole time, while I took her hands and kept putting them back in her lap and telling her to get her hands off of me... seriously. creepy.)
Getting towed in was the best part, we went fast, there were bumps, we didn't flip over, and we were finally back to shore. I told the kids to take off their lifevests and then sit on the sand and play quietly while I walked shakily over to Jordan to tell her about my experience. Definitely the most exhausting thing mentally and physically during camp.
One week left!!
