My time spent sailing 3700 miles in six months was one of the most profound learning experiences in my life. It was at times amazing and miraculous and at others terrifing and humbling.
Of course I never made it around the world as I had so grandly planned. But I traveled all the Great Lakes, did every slimy Loch (there are forty something of them) in the Erie canal, dropping and rising a total of 1760 feet, traveled the Hudson river, did Hell's gate just below the Statue of Liberty, the Chesapeake Bay, the Inland waterway, and the length of the East Coast.
I was struck by two horrible storms and found that I could cope even with broken bones, soaking wet, freezing cold, and a total lack of sleep in a 40 hour pounding storm. I saw 35 foot waves crash down on me taking the bimini and dodger and all my protection from the elements with them. I learned to cope with boredom when dead in the water and awoke once to the boat being attacked by hungry krill. It is actually a frightening and unearthly sound. Dolphins encouraged me and traveled with me great distances, herons landed on my deck for company and I learned to appreciate intense quiet and only my thoughts and clanging halyards for company.
I was over fifty, under-experienced and way too optimistic about what it involved. But I'm still very glad that I went for it. Everyone should always follow their dreams...... they are the things that keep us vividly alive.