Back in 2006 our family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area for my wife’s work. Her boss asked her to run the SF office of their company and wanted her to live there to show the companies commitment to the folks working there. With two young sailors we wanted to be near the water and we were lucky to rent a place from friends Tom and Melissa Purdy in Tiburon.

With no house to work on, and fewer friends close by to hang out with when not selling sails, I had some more time on my hands, it was winter and sailing was pretty slow. I had always dreamed of playing an instrument and downtown Tiburon has a great little guitar shop, Schoenberg Guitars. Their window advertised group lessons I signed myself and my son’s Nevin and Patrick up. We bought inexpensive guitars, smaller ones for the kids. The lessons were great and it was fun (at least for me) to do it together. Our instructor, Joe Miller, was awesome and is an awesome player. We took group lessons and every class required playing the homework of the previous lesson. Peer pressure works. We practiced and got a good introduction to playing music.

After a bit less than a year we moved back to San Diego and our lessons with Joe ended. I tried to find a good teacher like him but no one really stuck. I would play a little bit from time to time and taught myself a few (very few) songs. It was pretty fun but competent I was not.

Fast forward to 2021 and I am now living part of the year on Cape Cod. It’s winter again and driving around I see a sign for a small music school, Washashore Music. I stop and meet Monica Rizzio the owner. Does she teach adults? Yes. Will she take me, yes.

Monica (monicarizzio.com) is uber talented and has recorded multiple albums of here own music (you can find her on most streaming services). Her choice of music for teaching adults is bluegrass. While I had not listened to a lot of bluegrass one of my musical heroes, Jerry Garcia, was known as an excellent bluegrass musician, so no complaints here. Off we went. I started listening to folks like Doc Watson, Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings among others. My musical horizons broadened.

As we started, it was clear there was going to be no magic bullets from Monica. I was not magically going to be a guitar player just by taking lessons from her. It was going to be up to ME. She was there to help me decipher fingerings, timing, crosspicking and many other things I had no clue about. But if I wanted to be able to play I was going to have to practice and the more the better. While always encouraging and willing the help me with any technical questions our lessons often end with a “keep practicing” vibe to them. The message, delivered in a cheerful, positive way is “You’re going to need to work harder at this if you want to be any good.” Now my nights are spent working on “Black Mountain Rag” instead of watching Netflix. To me it’s a good deal.

What’s all this have to do with sailing? Well there are ton of similarities to getting better at sailing (or anything technically challenging) and learning to play music. Some takeaways:

• If you want to get better you must practice.

  • If you want to get really good you need to practice—-ALOT.

• If you don’t like practicing sailing and want to be good, you really need to find another activity. There are lots to choose from.

• To grow and improve you need to practice the stuff you are not good at. It’s no good to sit down at a practice session and run through everything you can play already. Growth happens when we you go outside your boundaries. Same with sailing.

• Use the best equipment you can possibly afford. Yes, you can learn on a “dime store” guitar, but having a decent one that’s easy to play and set up well makes the process rewarding and less frustrating. It removes a huge variable. In sailing choose, a type of competition and a class of boat you can easily afford. The cost to but the boat is just the start. To do well you need good sails, running rigging etc. Sailing is an equipment intensive sport and having good gear (and speed potential that comes with) is essential.

• Don’t give up. Progress is often slow and incremental. You might think you are regressing at times. It’s part of the process. If you really love sailing—hang in there. Improvement will come with dedication. It does not happen all at once.

• Get coaching. A coach or teacher can help you short cut many roadblocks in your progress. A coach is not magic but can help steer you on what your weaknesses and strengths are. A good one can take years off your learning curve.

• For sure, getting organized to practice sailing is more involved than going into the next room and picking up a guitar. However it can be done and better sailors figure out how to make it happen.

• The value of your life does not come from how well you perform in sailing. Sail from a place of love, curiosity and interest. The results will follow.

So, how do you get to Carnegie Hall? It’s an old joke….Practice, Practice, Practice.