Challenge, Adventure and Fun on Land and Sea

Challenge, Adventure and Fun on Land and Sea Bob the Boater’s Blog I am a retired clinical psychologist who has spent his professional life treating adults, particularly male veterans, supervising graduate psychology students and doing some formal teaching. Sailing has been my primary recreation and so in my retirement, needing additional income, I developed a website and webstore, www.mountains-and-seas.com, selling boating and camping equipment. In this blog I propose to recount my sailing adventures , reporting on the challenges, the joys and also on the mistakes I’ve made and describing the products in my webstore and their uses. Also I will occasionally report on my few camping experiences. I have been a boater, primarily a sailor, for over thirty years. I have taught sailing and been a leader in local boating groups. Most of my boating has been done on lakes and along the coast, but I have also done a moderate amount of blue water sailing. Sailing has been a challenge, a source alternatively of relaxation, excitement and pleasure. In the late 1960’s I first went sailing in Maine’s Penobscot Bay and I can tell you that the water is cold. Jumping in is a good way to test your heart. If you don’t die of shock, you’re in good shape. While it was not a consideration in our move to Gainesville, Florida, the sailing season there is much longer than it is in Maine. My next sailing experience was on a local lake noted for its shallow water, muck-filled bottom and its alligators and snakes. Staying in the boat on that lake is very important! I was hooked and I’ve subsequently come to believe that sailing can become an addiction, albeit a healthy one. Addiction or not in any case I’ve frequently felt the “need” to go sailing.