Bodies of water are frequent metaphors in poetry, perhaps due to their unfathomable depths, unknowable sprawl, and unattainable porpoises. Get a little closer to the world's wettest enigmas with today's Groupon to the Center for Wooden Boats: for $187, you get SailNOW! adult sailing lessons, one hour of rowing, and a one year individual membership to this hands-on "living museum" located on South Lake Union (a $375 value). Membership includes a personal membership card, as well as the satisfaction of supporting a homegrown not-for-profit and cultural establishment, with the following additional benefits:

• 20%–40% off rowboat and sailboat rentals
• 10% off in the gift shop
• Up to $250 off workshops and classes
• Invitations to members-only events
• A copy of the quarterly newsletter, Shavings, sent to your home or email
• Discounts at local retailers and service providers

The Center for Wooden Boats is an off-the-beaten-horse establishment—part museum, part boat-rental facility, part workshop, and part school. Casting off on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., your five consecutive weeks of SailNOW! classes kick off with a turf-affixed shore school, where nautical novices will learn the fundamentals of sailing theory and terminology, before moving on to subsequent classes, which are held on the water. The two-hour lessons allow students to try their hands at commandeering a variety of classic boats, with as much as 12-hours of lesson time logged over the entire session, ensuring beginner buccaneers are fully prepared for life on the non-eel infested waters of Lake Union. The included hour of rowboat rental takes place inside one to four-person vessels, depending on the boat, so invite up to three of your friends (they don't need to be members) to coolly coast atop the blue hues of the lake. The last boat rentals are available around one hour before dusk or 6:45 p.m. in the summer. A basic demonstration of sailing skills is required before sailboat rentals are issued.

If you already have boating experience, take those skills out of the dock and deploy them by using this Groupon as a refresher course. If you're new to the world of aquatic activities, today's deal is an ideal way to gain hands-on experience. Some join the CWB for a chance to learn new skills, others to stave off boredom, and that one guy did it with hopes of spotting a mermaid; whatever the motivation, a membership to the CWB will be sure to satisfy caged nautical yearnings.

Reviews

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer highly recommends the Center for Wooden Boats. Three Judy's Book users give it a 4.7-star average, Yelpers give it 4.5 stars, and three Insider Pages users give it four:

• Wagner's passion for boats -- and his wife's passion for creating a place for wooden-boat fanatics to congregate -- has transformed the south end of Lake Union into a picnic-perfect maritime park that transports visitors into the living past while ushering them into a very promising future. On any day of the week, the center is a beehive of wide-eyed, first-time visitors, enthusiastic volunteers who seem to have overdosed on happy pills, and bubbly staff members clad in worn khaki shorts and oil-stained T-shirts. – Liza Tewell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer