I like boats. Not just any boats though, just sailboats. I guess I don't really like the boats, but I like sailing in them. The boats give me bruises and scrapes and are kinda hard to steer, but the sailing is a whole different world. It's a science—every last movement on the water is a part of the great equation that keeps my feet in the boat and my wetsuit from needing to doing its job. I like riding the waves, catching a glimpse of the occasional dolphin, and most of all, the physics of the boat. I hate the cold water, the fact that you can’t stay out on the lake after the sun goes down, and I hate that split second when I realize I’m about to capsize and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it but jump in before I fall. But cold water means wetsuits, and problem solved. The darkness that takes me off of the water is prefaced with a sunset that I could get lost in. And falling out of the boat means a good chance to take a swim. Even the things I hate, I love.

What do swimming in the ocean at four in the morning, 8-hour car trips every weekend with endless singing, new kinds of grapes from road-side markets, and a few of the best people I’ve ever met all have in common? Its all part of the sailing.