21 March 2006

I love my Boat

I was supposed to go sailing this past Sunday. I got down to the boat, got the sailcover off, hanked on the jib, then went down below to catch my breath. Of course, that got me thinking...catch my breath? Had I just performed an extensive Tai Chi routine or something?

Thinking about it objectively while recovering, I realized that I had caught the dreaded disease that had been plaguing my family all week (confirmed by 48 straight hours of 102 fever after this story is done). So I had a decision to make, to sail or not to sail.

On the "to sail" side....the sails were already rigged, covers were thrown haphazardly down below, and there was a fresh 15 knots or so coming from the West. On the "not to sail" side...that 102 fever can lead to some poor decisions, there was a fresh 15 knots or so coming from the West, and that berth was awfully comfortable.

I weighed this decision for about 30 minutes, popping up the companionway like a prairie dog every 5 minutes or so to check the wind, count the boats going out, and contemplate. Then I continued weighing the decision for about another hour, lessening the frequency of my weather checks as I kept falling asleep. Then I called my wife and said, "I'm going to catch a nap down here, I'll see you at home in a few hours."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wise decision. As skiiers often say, you always break your leg on
the last run of the dayl

EVK4 said...

so true anonymous...I always find my keys at the last place I look but I think that's because I'm not thorough.

Anonymous said...

Falling asleep while sailing in cold weather with cold water is very unhealthy for you. If you want to see a funny post on the flu, go here.