Avast, ye maties! Aargh!

I am one of the leaders for the young men at church, and as such am always looking for opportunities for new things and getting them out of their comfort zone.
Luckily I have a kind and generous brother, and luckily he has a sailboat, as well as lots of other fun things to do at his house in Maryland.  Five of our young men and I traveled to his place for a couple of days this week to coincide with Spring Break.

They took full advantage of the opportunity.  They fell off kayaks.

They fell off jet skis.

They fell off the climbing wall in my brother's barn (don't worry, they were harnessed and belayed).

They fell asleep on the sailboat.

They did fall-away shots playing midnight basketball (all right, all right, enough falling).

The weather was great for sailing, with good wind and weather.

Everyone got a chance to captain the boat,

some with more style than others,

and some more intently, as he refused to be distracted by the ones that had climbed in the dinghy being towed behind.

To add to the adventuruousnessability of the trip, the motor on the little Zodiac dinghy decided to pout, and no, the young men did not actually save my life when I was ferrying them to Shark Tooth Island in heavy chop and winds when it heaved over and they shifted to my side and I fell over backwards over the side and had to grab the transmission in to neutral and they had to pull me back in because the sides were oily slick and there was nothing to hang on to and luckily I had thought ahead and left everything non-waterproof back on the boat.  They did not actually save my life, but they helped a lot.  Not enough to warrant their claims for full tuition at private colleges and to be included in my will, however, that's clear.  And don't let them try to persuade you otherwise.

The dinghy motor problems were solved, and the young men took advantage of the quiet cove anchorage for the night, and practiced their skills in the Zodiac.  They need more practice.  Trust me.

The anchorage afforded a comfortable night, giving time to fake yoga on the pulpit.

As I have said many times before, my brother is one of my heroes, being generous, funny, and always looking for things to learn and adventures to conquer.  He took all of this calmly, even napping a couple of times while my erstwhile sailors threatened our very mortality at the command of the vessel.

The guys enjoyed living aboard the boat for a couple of days.  The accommodations were not this crowded.  This was more like "How many young men does it take to stuff the fo'c's'le of a sailboat?"

It was indeed a great adventure,

with a happy ending.  Something about kissing 'terra firma' or whatever.

We hope that your adventurousness trips turn out as well.
Dave