When I first started sailing as a kid on Mulungushi Dam, in what is now Zambia, racing was not enjoyable. Gunkholing was what enticed me, sailing into little coves and seeing what was there, exploring in “forbidden” areas was what appealed.
Gunkholing at it’s best
The thought of racing and having to beat someone was pointless, why bother, much better things to do than to waste good exploring time trying to prove who could win what.
As a consequence I never did worry to learn how to get the fastest speed out of a sailing boat, happy to just relax on a boat and explore.
Then I started sailing at sea, the horizon was always beckoning, calling to new, unseen, (for me at least), places. Half the fun was the dreaming of where to go and how to get there.
When my hobby turned into my career, things changed a bit. Delivering boats mean you need to get the boat and crew there in one piece in as fast a time possible. The weather and the boat, of course, conspire to rob you of the ability to do this without a struggle. It becomes a battle of wits and knowledge on your side and a boat, whose sole purpose it to think of things to do to you next, (at least that is what it feels like), and the weather, which never reads the weather report and so does not know what it is supposed to do, on the other side.
Confronted with a pending storm, in what you have discovered is not such a seaworthy boat, all the racing skills now become a necessity as racing the weather into the nearest port becomes a necessity, far more important than winning a race against humans. Comfort and safety are at stake now.
So I learned to get the best out of a sailing yacht, not to prove I could set sails better than my fellow sailors, but because many times, lives depended on our ablity to get the most out of the boat and the crew. Being able to race the weather will prevent you having to survive it.
Survival mode, funny how photo’s “shrink” the waves
My advice to prospective cruisers…go racing for a season, preferably on someone elses boat, not because you enjoy it but because one day it might just save you.
memesailing 
Hi Meme and Mike,
Suze stumbled across your website and we thought we’d say hi! We met you up the river from Falmouth a couple of years ago – we were aboard our Shuttleworth catamaran Aleph and we weathered a gale together on a mid-river pontoon.
We’re in Gibraltar now waiting for a window to head out of the Mediterranean and down to the Canaries via Mohammedia in Morocco.
Great website! Hope you are both good.
Mark & Suze
Hi Mark and Suze,
Thanks for the hi, how are you both, and where are you now? Hope you got out across the pond.
We are both well
Mike and Meme
Hi Meme & Mike. I tried to find an email contact but none of your links seemed to work? Regards Steve