Experience… Confidence… and “Obama”

 

Dear friends,

Yesterday, whilst sailing from Portsmouth to Roseau (Dominica) I found myself caught  in a spiral of thoughts (that is quiet common to happen by the way…) and this time I think “Obama” had to do with it…No, not the current president of the USA, but yes the name of a local “pain killer” dubbed Obama: local rum +array of mysterious herbs and spices, making it, over time, a splendid Caribbean elixir… and so maybe I was still enjoying the   aftermath of the consumption that triggered this train of thought:

After almost 4 years living a board, and having sailed already a fair amount of miles, do I find myself an experienced sailor?

 

 

As the conditions at sea change all the time and are unique, you have to adapt to all these different changes all the time.. sometimes the same wind speed, same angle, and still the boat reacts different. To me experience is related to repetition of the same, and so that is not the case on a sailboat, so the word confident came to mind.. after a while one gets confident in the task at hand (based on previous, similar or not, experiences…). That sometimes can be dangerous, to become over-confident and not paying attention to the unique-ness of an event… Experience creates confidence?

Anyway, curious to learn your take on this issue. Please don’t hesitate to comment.

The plan is to undertake a hike tomorrow,  up to the boiling lake in the mountains near Roseau. I have no experience in this, but confident it will be  a great time.. Stay tuned..

Best regards, keep it real

Pieter