The Royal Western Nova Scotia Yacht Club hosts a sailing race on Sunday afternoons. We often see the sail boats as they race up the Annapolis Basin, to a point somewhere in Smith's Cove and back again to their start point in Digby. Today, the mist at the edge of the Basin created a ghostly effect. I could imagine myself transported to a scene like this a century ago. The boats would have been similar in design, and certainly it would have been a mode of transportation in the early 1900s. This was a very popular and prosperous ship building area a century and more ago. That industry has declined to nothing now, but the sailing has continued as a fashion statement reserved for the rich and near-rich. For an area with such an expanse of sail-friendly water, there are surprisingly few sailors. Maybe because so many people make their money out at sea, toiling at the fishing industry, they cannot find joy in sailing. Understandably so, because for many fishermen the sea has no pleasure. So, the members of the yacht club race for pleasure on Sunday afternoons. The race gives me pleasure because I can sit on the porch and enjoy the geometric dynamics visible from this perspective, and watch the beauty of the backdrop behind the boats at the same time.
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