To be honest, I can’t even remember a time in my life when I didn’t love the water. Whether it was swimming, sailing or just being close to it. I couldn’t get enough of it. I found it to be the place where i was most relaxed, yet fun and exciting too! My love of sailing, and the water is in my blood.
Water Therapy
From all of my time on the water, i can totally see why people take to the water to heal, both mentally and physically. For me, being around water was my outlet. The sound of the water lapping up at the front of the boat. The wind whistling through the sails. The sea spray lightly coating my face. Or being in the water swimming, thinking about nothing other than the feel of the water rushing past my skin. It was all so relaxing, and yet energising at the same time.
I recently came across the book Sailaday OK by Richard Lannowe Hall. Recovery from addictions through marine based adventure psychotherapy. It’s such an inspiring story of how Richard over came his personal demons through his love of the water. He was even awarded the British Empire Medal for his services to adventure therapy! So he really does know his stuff when it comes to this topic. Richard goes in to such detail about his journey with addictions and how he over came them. Thankfully i’ve never been in that position myself, but i can imagine how being on or around the water could help in so many ways. I guess this must be why there are so many sleep apps that have the sound of water, or waves crashing to help you relax.
Then there’s actually being on the water, especially if you’re sailing yourself. Having so much to think about right there and then. Taking your mind off your troubles while you try not to capsize, or get hit by the boom, or hit another boat. Or worse still, be taken out to sea by a rip tide! Being able to put 100% focus and attention on to the task at hand. It’s such a great book and well worth a read if you feel you need some guidance in this area.
Fear Of The Water
Weirdly, although I love the water, I’m also really afraid of it too. I hate deep water and although I love to sail on large lakes and even the sea. I hate the thought of what’s underneath me and the fact I can’t see it. When I was little, the pool we used to go to had these under water windows (at the very bottom of the pool) for the pool technicians to be able to check the water.
However, being young and very imaginative, we started to believe that’s where they kept the killer whales they let out when the swimmers had left the pool?! This was always in the back of my mind while I was in the pool. I often tried to swim down to look in through the windows to check all was OK! I can’t believe I still remember this from so long ago. It’s probably what started off my fear of the water. It did make me swim so much faster though as i didn’t want them to catch me!
What Came First?
I can’t really remember what came first, swimming or sailing. Both have been in my life since before I can remember. Sailing was introduced to me because both of my parents were keen sailers and swimming kinda came along with that. We were always jumping in the lakes and splashing around. I’ve often been told I’ve always been a water baby. Ever since I was dropped in the deep end without any kind of float!
Water Baby
Both swimming and sailing took over my life. From swimming 4 times a week with the local club and attending swimming competitions and events on Saturday evenings. Sailing most weekends, either at the club or at competitions around the UK. It was a really busy time of my life so I didn’t get to hang out with friends and do childish things that often. Perhaps why I love being a kid now! I never minded being so busy as I loved both so much and to be honest, didn’t really know any different.
It wasn’t my parents pushing me into either, I was the one making them drive me all over the country to go to events. Many of which would last the entire weekend and involve getting up at 5am on a Saturday morning to drive the length of the country. Dragging my dad along every time, so he didn’t get much free time at weekends either! I’m such a daddy’s girl now. I think this came from how amazing he was and being with him so much more. Giving up his life to help me achieve my dreams and goals.
One thing I remember was he would make us a stack of marmite on toast for the journey. However, by the time we were hungry the toast was stone cold. Even now, I still prefer to eat my toast cold. When the butter has started to harden again and the bread is all chewy – yum!
Swimming
Through basically spending my life either swimming or sailing, I got pretty good at both. I ended up becoming the National Swimming Champion for breaststroke and freestyle. To this day, one of my proudest moments. I loved being with the team, cheering each other on in our events and the general team spirit.
I loved the buzz of getting that nervous feeling before your event. The butterflies churning in my stomach as I fiddled with my goggles and got myself into position on the diving block. Then the overwhelming competitive-ness that engulfed me as the gun went off for the start of the race. Even thinking about it now takes me back to those amazing moments. Putting everything you’ve got into those few minutes & seconds. Trying to beat the other swimmers in your race. Followed by either deep annoyance at being beaten. Or an immense feeling of excitement and joy when you realise you’ve won!
My Love Of Sailing
Sailing was pretty much the same in terms of the feeling it gave me every time I set out to race. Whether it was a club race or a national event out at sea somewhere. OK, so the national competitions were a little more nerve wracking but I loved it all the same.
Every Sunday consisted of the day being spent down at the lake. No matter the weather or how strong the wind was. I sailed a little dinghy called an Optimist which is a dinghy with one sail that a child would normally learn to sail in. You can race in this type of boat until you are 17 years old, before having to change to a bigger boat. Over the years I think I had about 3 or 4 different types of Optimist (or Oppy as we called them). My favourite being one handed down to me by none other than Olympic Silver Medalist Saskia Clark. At this point my racing went from strength to strength and at the National Championships in 1996 I qualified to become part of the British National Sailing Squad!
The National Squad is made up of the top sailors in the UK. We would then go on to sail in events like the Junior Olympics and competitions around the world representing Britain. It was such an honour to be representing my country! I couldn’t believe I had made it, and in my very last year before I was too old to sail an Optimist anymore. This along with my swimming achievements are up there with the best things I have ever achieved in my life, and am still so proud to have done it.
(Im the one in the yellow cap in the second lane from the far side.)
The Here & Now
Long story short, since then I still swim about 3 or 4 days a week and do sail sometimes. However, sailing is so time consuming and life kinda gets in the way. I love to swim for fun and keep fit and can always be found in the pool or in the sea while on holiday. Sailing isn’t quite as easy or available to do on holiday. However, I have been on a few different boats while on holiday and would love to go on a sailing holiday one day. I just have to convince my husband of this!
I actually didn’t realise it was so easy to book a sailing holiday either. In fact if you use the Mark Warner website, it’s as easy as booking a ‘normal’ holiday. With these types of holidays, you don’t have to be a confident sailer as you can hire fully qualified RYA (Royal Yachting Association) instructors. Plus, it’s not just sailing. You can also hire kayaks, windsurf boards, wakeboards and even go scuba diving! If you’re a water baby like me, or an adrenaline junkie, this would be an awesome holiday to book!
What is your favourite watersport and why do you love it so much?
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