I raced in a double-handed race on Saturday and will eventually write about that thrilling drift-fest. But before I do that I have to write about what happened once Brian and I got back to the marina.
When we had left some 5 hours earlier, Chris was on his boat re-rigging after having it just splashed from its return trip from Hawaii. He had a list of chores to do, most apparent being putting his boom back on. When we pulled up (and executed a fairly flawless landing), the boom still wasn't on and he was just sort of looking at things. I immediately sensed that he didn't really want to be doing what he was supposed to so we chatted for a bit. After some needling about his lack of progress during our absence, he put the boom back on while we sorted the boat out. I looked over and he still didn't seem into it so I invited him over to enjoy a warm beer.
And that was the moment that it just felt like the perfect sailing day; three of us hanging out down below, warm Heinekens in hand, talking sailing, life and other stuff. The act of sailing is fantastic but it's the friendships that revolve around sailing that give it that third dimension, the reason to go and spend time on and around the water. I look forward to getting to the marina and always check two things first: 1) that Lady Bug is still floating, and 2) if Chris is there.
The community of people on A dock is pretty good despite the splintering dilapidated condition of our home away from home. There's a core of about 5 boats that sail pretty often; we don't have the dock parties that I've heard about elsewhere but it's always nice to know that you can talk sailing even on those days you don't actually sail.
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"I look forward to getting to the marina and always check two things first: 1) that Lady Bug is still floating, and 2) if Chris is there."
That's hilarious: a few weeks ago I had some guests aboard and one of them got lost on the way. So as I was giving him directions on the phone I spied his car from far off so I said, "you're going to bear right right there and then take a left at that stop sign." He was surprised I could see him, but I explained that I could look diagonally across the creek and see the boat from the road.
And I told him that I always check to see if I can see the boat as I drive to the dock to see if 1) the mast is still standing, 2) the boat is still floating, and 3) to see if my Uncle Jack's boat/car is in.
They were surprised to hear that I considered it a possibility that the mast could fall down or that the boat could sink - I mean, I don't but I do, you know what I mean? Sometimes when I am around the boat I feel like I am Jack Nicholson's character who OCD: check this, check that, try to leave the cabin dry (don't walk back down after rinsing the boat), etc...
And I look for Jack for the same reason - same thing for the boatyard, too. Sitting around not doing work.
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