Into #1
Slowly, I became aware that my jaw muscles were aching from grinding my teeth. The wind had been coming on from the South all day. I find that when the weather starts to build my mind becomes anxious about what is coming. That is why I was grinding my teeth. Sailing can truly put you in touch with Mother Nature. The feel of the wind gradually getting stronger on my face. Receiving only the occasional mist of salt spray, now coming over the side hard enough to make you duck. The smell of the salt air and decay of seaweed. The sound of the wind whistling in my ears combined with the growl of waves passing under the bow. It makes me think of sailors past, and how they must have felt plying these waters. I am sure that they felt exactly the same way I do.
Intro #2
With the flick of a couple of switches, I can real-time weather updates, GPS location, and talk to people on land with the VHF radio fifteen miles away. Modern technology has taken some of the romance out of sailing. Years ago sailors had no idea what was just over the horizon. Now you still have cell service and can download e-mails from just over the horizon. Modern fiberglass boat can last for decades with virtually no maintenance, compared to traditional wooden boats that are perpetual maintenance. The one thing that is still the same now as it was one hundred and fifty years ago is...the feel of the salt on your skin, the press of the wind on your face, the pull of the sails and the lift of the sea.
So you're going to give three reasons nothing has changed? Might work, but those support grafs have got to be about Jim M's experience, not about sailing generally.
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