10 September 2008

Spinach, A Sailor's Best Friend

Tillerman recently requested suggestions for the best sailing invention ever. I thought through all the usual suspects: auto-pilots, roller furlers, electric winches, crew, galley slaves, and AIS. All of those surely make the act of sailing easier on my spindly little arms. But sailing is still hard work.

I then realized, it's my spindly little arms that are the problem, not the lack of labor-saving inventions. What do I usually do when faced with insurmountable odds? I pop open a can of spinach!



One quick gulp of the green stuff and I can raise any sail, surf any wave, and even avoid those pesky starboard tackers. I can sail in any wind over any chop and through any kelp bed. I can hike for hours, steer a true course, and see oncoming freighters through fog, snow or rain. The highest of high winds, the lee-est of lee shores, and the choppiest of chops are no match for Edward the Sailor Man. Not with a can of spinach in my galley. Spinach, a sailor's best friend.

3 comments:

Zen said...

Arrggggg matey

Carol Anne said...

Spinach was always one of my favorite vegetables. When I was growing up, it was almost always frozen or canned -- only in early summer and late summer/early fall, we could get fresh greens from the garden.

Pat, however, had no experience of frozen or canned vegetables -- his dad was a Texas vegetable baron. Throughout the colder months of the year, Pat's dad supervised the harvesting, packing, and shipping of fresh vegetables from the southern end of Texas to the entire midwestern United States. Broccoli in Akron in November? Tomatoes in Toledo in October? String beans in Detroit in February? Those all came from Pat's dad's vegetable packing business.

After nearly 25 years of marriage, I'm finally beginning to get Pat to accept frozen vegetables -- but I don't think I'll ever get him to accept canned.

See Bee said...

seriously?
so all them popeye stories were true eh?
i thot spinach only helped those who were anaemic