Scaredy Cat or whosthatcrazyguynamedalbiewhogoessailingeveninstorms?!

Ok, so whosthatcrazyguynamedalbiethatgoessailingeveninstorms?! is me of course! But, truth be told, I'm really just a scaredy cat sometimes. The sea can be so powerful that it often sends a shiver of fear running up my spine when the wind starts blowing crazy hard and the sails start whipping and cracking about like cannon fire. Going from a beautiful enjoyable sail last night, the ocean suddenly turned ugly and sent me into 'battle stations'. I went from just sitting and relaxing in the cockpit, to clipping on my life-line, doing acrobatics out to the bow to take down the jib sail (to put up a smaller one, so I wouldn't snap a shroud and lose the mast), and then preparing to batten down all the hatches. All this work is just trivial, however, compared to what happens to you when you have to do everything at top notch speeds to prevent an accident and then things start getting tangled up and you begin to panic and then you crash and then start swimming to shore amidst ten foot breakers...(Sorry, did I just say that? I mean you DO panic but you GET IT TOGETHER and go about each step to get things back in order and save yourself and the boat). So this is how I felt tonight after the wind suddenly came up and 'gave me a run for my money'. I hope you get to feel this someday...especially the part where you beat your fears and your panic and do something important to get everything back in order again! Just make sure you don't go too high above your experience level as things can really go all wrong - and fast. Having said that, happy sailing! :-)