I was talking to another sailor the other day and I mentioned that I
did not find sailing to be relaxing at all and he and his wife were
astonished. They told me they both immediately relaxed as soon as the
sails were up. My turn to be astonished, "Huh, relax while sailing,
what's the point then"?
I explained how I thought of sailing as an exercise in problem solving
which made them really puzzled like "Why would you want to solve
problems". I told em "cuz that's what engineers do".

Although I always heard people thought of sailing as relaxing, I just
thouhgt it was a sorta inside joke never thinking some sailors
actually DID relax while sailing. "Relaxation", I gotta admit, I am
just not clear on the concept. IF everything goes well, I figger it
was all a waste of time. However if just one thing goes wrong and you
figure a way around it, then it is a success and you can be happy.

Do you go fishing to relax, NO, you go fishing to outsmart the fish
and if you don't you are frustrated. Golf as relaxation, NO, be
serious.

So, I cannot imagine any "sport" as being relaxing. Reading good
fiction is relaxing. Listening to good music with a good cup of coffee
is relaxing.

Boating to relax, I don't get it.