Above is a photo of sailing sensation Emma Sanderson, helping on a test ride with Hilary Lister, who is piloting her own boat, despite being a quadriplegic. Hilary ended up crossing the channel, actually , using her breath on tubes to steer the rudder and the sails.

I went sailing yesterday with my friend Tink . You know there’s not a lot of women who own boats or skipper them themselves, then you go to a few docks and realize there really aren’t women who own boats or skipper them, themselves. Tink has a funny story of working on her mast one day and a guy stops and looks at her. “Is this your boat?” “Yes.” “And you sail it?” “Yes.” “Can I marry you?” Ha ha.

In doing some armchair sailing, a.k.a., blog reading, I found a few sites that linked to Emma Sanderson, who has an amazing CV in itself, regardless of being a woman. She is the one that sailed around the world. She’s been sailing since she was a kid.

I’m thinking more and more about kayaking, either from Sausalito or somewhere near Fisherman’s Wharf, and getting out on a small one-person boat to practice some sailing moves. The bright new thing about sailing yesterday is that I was scurrying around the boat as first mate, and didn’t feel the heeling that much, and also felt more balanced while doing all the sail raising and lowering, line knots, stuff like that. I did make Tink steer clear of The Slot, this channel between Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge, where tankers were regularly passing through, and I could see some boats seriously heeling- and, heck- I’d been there before and knew what it was like. Luckily she humored me and we didn’t venture out there.