Mooredale Toronto Sailing Club: cheap and addictive

“Take pro football – a pretty complex sport, right? But every game is played on the same size field, in the same amount of time, against the same number of players, week after week, all over the country. Now imagine, just for a minute, that every field was different in size; that, in fact, the boundaries continually changed during the game. Furthermore, the playing surface moved along under the feet of the players and varied in speed and direction throughout the game. In addition, some areas of the field were soggy, others icy, and still others sandy, with irregular one-foot-high ridges running all over. The game would still be the intricate offense vs. defense with the high premium on excellent individual performance. But there would be only 2 guys per team: no specialist teams, no offensive unit separate from the defensive unit, no punt return team, and no guy to come out just to kick the extra point. In fact, there would be no substitutes, no trainers, and no coaches high up in the grandstands looking down on the game, analyzing the upcoming defensive formations and quickly radioing down the correct play or the offense to use. […] In addition, […] there would be no referees passing instant judgments on rule infractions. Rather. The infractions would be noted down and after the game, those involved would appear before a panel of austere and knowledgeable judges, who may or may not have watched the game. Imagine Mean Joe Green accusing Dick Butkus of holding him. Both gentlemen would have the opportunity to state what happened, question each other to determine the exact place and nature of the alleged infraction, and call witnesses to aid in their case if …

When you really stop to think about it, sailing is possibly the most complex sport in the world. I’ve listed below in no particular order, some of the many traits the sport requires of its top competitors: the five sense must be acute and sensitive to everything going on around them. Some even definitively claim that the top sailors possess a sixth sense, give to them at birth, located in their lower back region;

• pinpoint accurate judgment and timing to place your boat where you want it, when you want it, and how you want it;
• the difficult ability to make quick decisions (which are also correct) under the constant pressure of ever- changing variables and talented competitors;
• sufficient intellect to be able to rationally assess all the variables of a situation and apply them offensively anddefensively to the race;
• each individual competitor to deal psychologically with some difficult emotions – disappoinment, frustration, ager, greed. We also have to deal with our egos and, perhaps most important, our relationships with other in the boat and in the race"
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