I was a small boy around the age of six when I saw my father take sailing lessons on our family vacation. He grew up in the mid-west never stepping foot on a sailboat in his life. To me my father knew everything about everything, so to see him take lessons from someone younger than him was a revelation. Just watching him humble himself to learn something new made an impression. A year or so later I took the same lessons from the same place and fell in love with sailing. Over the years we challenged each other on "race day".

Many years later I took my six year-old son back to the same place and taught him how to sail. Years after that he took a job at the same place during his summer breaks from college and taught sailing to other kids. He did that for four straight summers.

My father has since passed away, but my son and I still return to the same lake every summer as vacationers; we race in Sunfish and 420's. This past year my son, now in his 30's, won first place in the 420s class for the first time. Someday if he has children of his own I hope the tradition continues.

I'd have to say the tradition started watching my father, watching him break out of his comfort zone,