What Learning Spanish Taught me About Boating
A Never Ending Opportunity
I had a vision of myself in a shimmering red sheath, striding along the streets of Barcelona, speaking Spanish to everyone I met. My mastery of the language forged friendships, and I was welcomed into the mysterious and scintillating culture of the Spaniards. A Spanish soundtrack hummed. The beat was real.
To make this dream a reality, I signed up for a Spanish class. Oddly, it didn’t come with a soundtrack. The teacher was from New Jersey and I was wearing flip flops and a sweater because the air conditioning in the classroom was blasting. There was no striding anywhere - no scintillating nothing . . .the beat was real.
One Word at a Time
I was learning vocabulary, one word at a time: table, dog, cat, window, backpack. It took about 15 minutes for me to decide that there would never be a red sheath, no late night philosophizing in my new-found fluency: learning Spanish was going to be IMPOSSIBLE!
I suffered through day one of classes. I observed other students pattering on in Spanish (how did they even get in to the beginner class when they knew so many words?!). My poor brain hurt from thinking so hard.
Not fluent on day two. Still not fluent on day three. On day four I learned a verb. Day five, I found I could put one sentence together which turned out to be, “A dog is a cat / Un perro es un gato.” I had reached a pitiful milestone.
I went back to my original inspirational vision of what “Learning Spanish” looked like, and I redrew it. The red dress was replaced with shorts and a tee shirt. I was in Miami (not Barcelona) and I could efficiently order a cafe con leche. I was content.
Slowly but Surely
And why does this story apply to boating? A lot of women I know don’t take the helm because they think there’s far too much to learn. It’s as if “learning to boat” or “mastering the helm” means we have to be able to navigate to Bimini without a gps, traverse the Intercoastal Waterway, dock at international ports, and battle high seas, fierce storms, and raging currents.
Someone who has never spent any time behind the wheel won’t be an expert today, tomorrow, or next week. But that doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy taking the helm and safely and intelligently tackling a never ending opportunity to learn a new skill - one step at a time.
The Time is Now!
I would encourage any new boater to reframe their long term boating goals into small segments in order to get there. Start small - put the notion of captaining a transatlantic crossing to the side for a minute and focus on what is attainable this summer, this week, or maybe even this afternoon. An easy road to mastery would look something like this:
One Boat - Know your boat - not all boats, just yours. Review and know it bow to stern so you understand the basic systems, the fuel tank, and where the safety gear is.
One Dock - Know how to leave and return to your dock. You don’t have to learn to dock like a pro under every possible weather scenario and in every international port. Learn about your dock, and the easiest way to negotiate it under a variety of circumstances.
One Destination - Learn the route to and from your dock and one place - like a favorite restaurant, sandbar, or anchorage. Go to that single location in a variety of weather situations. Learn the details of anchoring or docking at that location so you can go there comfortably.
What if you started here? With one boat, one dock and one route. What if you got comfortable and then moved on to broadening your circle of ability.
Take the helm! One step at a time.
Email Captain Elizabeth at shesatsea@gmail.com. She would love to hear your success stories and your questions about mastering the helm!