MONDAY, the Post published an entertaining article about John Atkisson, a local government retiree who did two singlehanded Atlantic crossings. Even though the article recognizes up front that this isn’t really something very extraordinary, I think it did a good job summing up the attraction to the lifestyle. My favorite quote:
Explains Atkisson: “Wasn’t it Pliny the Elder who said, ‘If a man requires occupation, let him acquire a vessel’”
(Thanks to Drew for passing this on to me!)
WE finally dragged our friends Drew and Diane out onto the boat for a sail on Saturday. It was a gorgeous, warm October day – we feel incredibly lucky to be getting in such good sailing recently.
Winds were from the south, so we had a minimum of tacking to get out nearly to the main bay. Traffic is much lighter now, but we did get to see a couple of tankers navigating a cross-bay race. Despite the relative lack of chatter, we were highly amused by one exchange on the VHF between an irate sailor and a non-responsive motorboat captain, who had come within 10 feet of the sailboat at high speed and swamped it. Apparently, water came gushing in the windows.
I want this boat.I understand this guy’s anger. Motorboats don’t understand that a boat under sail is particularly susceptible to the effects of their large wakes. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a rough ride and lose all forward momentum. If you’re unlucky, the wake can knock around the boat so violently that it injures people, and a large wake can actually swamp a sailboat and sink it. It can be very scary. On one of our first big trips, Memorial Day 2006, we had three power boats rush past us on either side, and nearly capsized from the immense wakes left by the drunk wankers.
But motorboaters generally don’t even know about this. So if you’re ever out on a big power boat and notice that the driver is getting a wee bit close to sailboats, kindly let them know that they should give sailors a wide berth.
After a gentle sail, we anchored in the Rhode in our usual spot, dropped the hook and got in a nice swim in the still-warm water. I caught a few fish before dinner, but we didn’t eat them as we had a lovely spread of garlic-ginger grilled pork, grilled zucchini and Asian cole-slaw, followed by steamed crabs for dessert. (Yes, it’s odd, but we had caught a couple beauties and wanted to eat them while still fresh.)
Drew has posted a great slideshow of the day on his site, and, on his request, here’s the recipe for the Asian cole slaw.
Asian Cole Slaw
half a head of red cabbage, shredded
2 large carrots, shredded
3 stalks celery, sliced
handful of peanuts
handful of chopped scallions
Dressing (measurements are, as usual, entirely approximate)
Mix in a jar and shake; pour over slaw at last minute (also good as a zucchini marinade):
juice of 2 limes
juice of 1 orange
3 T fish sauce
1 t soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 T sesame oil
2-3 shallots, minced
2 T black sesame seeds
2 T chopped fresh cilantro
a couple pinches crushed red pepper
THE other day, I posted about finding a tagged crab worth fifty dollars. I duly reported the crab, and last week I received a postal order in the mail, along with a brochure describing the research.
Philip and I decided to splurge on dinner out – nothing fancy, just burgers and a couple of beers. I think I’m getting old, though. Since when do two burgers and a couple beers apiece cost fifty bucks??
WE did almost no sailing in July and August. It wasn’t just the utter and complete lack of wind on the glassy bay, the stifling 99 degree heat, or the hot water full of nasty, stinging, evil jellyfish. Oh, no. It was also the fact that after the multiple disasters of our July trip, from Pip’s smooshed hand to the hundreds of dollars spent on a tow and haul and subsequent packing gland problem (which sounds like a dread sexually transmitted disease), not to mention the fact that there was either no friggin’ wind or a gale blowing, we just kinda lost our sailing mojo. Actually, it was more like we developed a burning aversion to AllThingsBoat.
We did go out in late July and August. We just didn’t sail. We anchored, fished, grilled and swam, at least when the evil jellies weren’t too bad. I started to worry if we had burned out on sailing, a very scary thought when you consider that we’re planning to pack it all in someday and sail around the world.
Then, came September.
Oh, glorious Chesapeake Bay September with your bright blue skies, balmy temperatures and WIND. Ten to fifteen knots, steady. It felt glorious to sail, and even better to get our sailing mojo back.
So when yesterday dawned, crisp and sunny, we planned as usual to head out to the boat around eleven with a friend. Who cancelled. Which got me thinking, “Why, on God’s green earth, would I want to go sailing today, when I am AMAZINGLY hung over??” I then conducted an inner tug-of-war:
“But it’s gorgeous, and sailing is fun!”
“Yeah, and you feel like someone’s stirring muriatic acid in your stomach and your head is throbbing from mixing champagne and French 75 cocktails last night, you dumbass!” (Albeit a dumbass with superb taste in alcohol.)
“But you won’t have much longer to sail; the boat is coming out of the water in a month, remember??”
“Gwaghhhh. Feel. Like. Death. Warmed. Over.”
Ultimately, two aspirin, lots of water and a long nap won out over sailing. But I am content in my knowledge that the mojo is BACK, and next weekend we’ll be headed out again.