Yeah, thinking about it, the sitting still comment was probably not accurate. In my mind, I was thinking sailing is chilling and casually cruising through the water. But, can certainly see there is more to it than that and it can get hairy dealing with the elements and can definitely respect it takes a lot of experience and skill.
Absolutely the racing seems like a lot of work and could easily produce my favorite drug. It also seems very expensive and time consuming.
(Since we are talking about passions/hobbies, just felt like writing this next part to share in case it interests anybody. Would be interested in reading y’all’s version of this)
For me, I like the smell of hot brakes, fuel burning, a seat with no padding while locked in with a harness so you are part of the car, setting up the car, balancing just beyond the cars grip, diabolical qualifying laps where you get out shaking a little and think “holy shit”, laps where all sections come together, breaking into a new second you haven’t seen before, not letting the predictive lap time fuck you up, pit crew telling you what you need on a lap during qualifying and making it happen, beating the people that trained you, the nervousness when gridding up not knowing what kind of shape things will be in when you return, the way your heart pumps when watching the shoulder/elbow for the flag to drop, the initial roar when everyone steps on it, surviving that first turn, reminding yourself to breathe, drink water and lightly grip the steering wheel, the sound two cars make when they are inches apart leaving a corner and the engines sing in harmony, setting up a pass several turns before you intend to pass, defending a corner, perfectly exiting a corner counter steering and there was no more track to use on track out and there is probably a little dust behind you, standing on the brakes because you came in too hot but you made it, forcing an error on the person in front of you because you are pressuring them, flashing your lights at the person you are pressuring, seeing the white flag, the sigh of relief when you pass the checkered flag and let off the gas, the feeling during a cool down lap especially if you won or placed, pulling back into pits in one piece, comparing notes and sharing stories with the other racers afterwards especially if there was a close battle. And, most of all, that 30 minutes to an hour and a half where you can think about nothing else other than what you are doing at that exact second and maybe the next few seconds. It’s the only thing I have found so far that calms me down and clears my head. And, this is from an amateur. Just like golf, the pros are on a different level.