I'm sailing! I'm sailing!

In the delightful movie, "What about Bob?" Bill Murray plays a neurotic man who struggles to overcome his fear of the world by latching onto his psychiatrist's family vacation, eventually driving his psychiatrist mad. One of my favorite scenes from the movie is when Bob gets on a sailboat; in order to endure his fears, he gets tied to the mast. Celebrating his victory over terror, he cries out, "I'm sailing! I'm sailing!"

Here's a link to the clip: Bill Murray in "What about Bob?"

Well, this last weekend I went sailing. While I don't have the same fears as Bob, it was still an exciting opportunity, especially in Marina Bay.

The university's sailing club had offered a three-hour sailing lesson for faculty and staff, so I took the opportunity to check sailing off my list of life experiences.

It was great. Probably among the best Saturday mornings I've had in Singapore in a while. The background was beautiful as we circled around the bay. We had a great view of merlion, the Marina Bay Sands, and the rest of the marina.

Our student guide taught me to pilot the ship, trim the sails, and handle the jib. It was a blast. We even engaged in a sailing race between two points in the bay. I was piloting our wee ship, and, I'm proud to say that we won. It wasn't even a small margin.

Ahoy! I sail. I'm a sailor. I sail now.