A dream that stayed with me.
A Chesapeake sailor finds bliss in the wind, water, and friendships that sailing has brought into his life. Meet Rick Lee.
The other night after watching a documentary on finding your bliss, my wife asked me what my life would be like without sailing. It caused me to pause and reflect. “I can’t imagine that now,” I replied. I had experienced sailing and the wind carrying me across the waters when I was younger, and it had always been a dream of mine to learn to sail. I then took up sailing 19 years ago when I turned 50. It has become my passion and joy.
On that milestone birthday, I decided I would put in the effort to learn sailing. I had previously taken some sailing lessons at Belle Haven Marina, in Alexandria, VA, but never followed up with getting out on the water. Then I found the Downtown Sailing Center (DSC) in Baltimore and signed up for the basic keelboat course there.
Perseverance wins the day.
It took a few years to get experience on the water, as my career and life kept me from getting down to the docks. I am an hour away from access to the Bay, so that didn’t help either. However, I knew in my heart I wanted to keep doing this and eventually learn to sail the cruisers that were available at the DSC.
After a couple of years of sailing the J/22s and Sonars I became a keelboat skipper and began to get more involved at DSC. Next, I signed up to become a cruising skipper and with training, practice, and perseverance eventually began to do overnight trips and raftup events regularly. Discovering the Chesapeake Bay with all it has to offer us here locally is just another benefit to learning to sail.
I took the ASA 103 Coastal Cruising class in 2010 and participated with ARC to sail the DelMarVa circumnavigation as a skipper. I continued improving my sailing skills by doing several more DelMarVa circumnavigations in the following years.
Once I committed to developing my sailing resume, I started doing bareboat charters in the Caribbean with my friends in the sailing community. This month we will take our eighth charter in the islands. We will sail in the BVI after having visited Grenada, St. Martin, Antigua, Martinique, St. Lucia, the Grenadines, Guadeloupe, Abacos (Bahamas), and Puerto Rico in past years.
The benefits of joining a sailing club.
This past year I became involved with a new sailing club that opened in the Baltimore Peninsula at Port Covington Marina called Peninsula Sailors, mostly focused on cruising and education.
I love that it is run by volunteers and has a great group of novices to expert sailors willing to share knowledge freely. I also got involved with the maintenance and upkeep of sailboats over the years of volunteering which helps build confidence when things go awry during sailing. There are a lot of social events there that I enjoy as well.
Since I do not live really close to the Bay, I find being in a sailing club is better than owning my own boat and, not to mention, much more affordable.
Advice for someone who wants to learn to sail.
Sailing is a constant learning experience, and it has enriched my life tremendously. It’s never too late in life to learn new skills. I plan to work on my international sailing license (SLC) next so I can charter in the Mediterranean. Don’t be afraid to give sailing a try, you just might fall in love with it like I did! I can’t imagine not having sailing as a part of my life now! The wind, the water, the friendships. This is my bliss. Oh… and my wife!
Read more inspiring stories about sailors who took up sailing as adults.
