Outside the zone

I went down to the firehouse the other day. Quite a few years have passed since I was a firefighter, but there are still some guys there who I used to work with. They are always quick to offer me a coffee and to shoot the breeze.

They asked me how my winter was. I told them of my sailing adventures in the Gulf of Mexico. One thing that surprised me is that all the guys could not imagine doing such a thing. The thought of sailing out in the ocean kinda scared them.

That surprised me. These are guys who put their lives on the line on a daily basis. Doing a bit of island hopping is a heck of a lot safer than running into a burning building. I know, having done both.

Perhaps is just a matter of getting out of your comfort zone and doing something totally different. We live up here in the mountains of NH, a fair distance from the ocean. A few people occasionally got to the beach in the summer or go fishing on a day charter.

There’s a skill set that has to be acquired to go off boating in the ocean. It’s not hard to learn, but it does take a bit of effort. People tend to do what the people around them do for recreation. We learn from our parents, and if they’ve never sailed, it’s not something one would just fall into.

There is one firefighter there who’d love to go ocean sailing. He’s been sea kayaking off the coast of Maine. It can bet pretty dicey out there on a small boat. He’s been my guest on my boat on a few lake sailing trips. Out of the whole fire department, he’s the only one who’s shown any interest in that sort of adventure.

Maybe it’s because he’s my cousin and we share the same adventure genes.

-Sixbears