About five years ago, I attended the Strictly Sail convention on Navy Pier in Chicago. It's a wonderful activity for sailors held at the end of January or the start of February when one can't sail in our climate. Sailors gather to see the newest boats, tools, clothing, equipments, sails.....anything you might need to sail a boat.
Along with the exhibition floor, they offer dozens of one hour seminars on all sorts of subjects. Occasionally we would attend different classes, but frequently we sat through seminars together. One that I attended that year was about sailing in the Pacific. It seems that atolls are ringed with coral reefs, and there is usually only one area where you can cross through the reef to moor.
For years, Dear Husband has expressed the wish to sail the ocean. Up to that point, his experience had been limited to sailing Lake Michigan. I was concerned that he might try to rent a boat and sail the Pacific without enough preparation to make ME comfortable about his safety.
The company which gave the seminar provides sailors the opportunity to sign on for a sail to learn the ropes. You pay for a berth and board, and you work as crew while you are on the boat. They sailed from Alaska to Tahiti, and it seemed to me that DH NEEDED a chance like this to find out if ocean sailing was what he expected. So I encouraged him.
He didn't want to go to Tahiti, so he found a broker who handled a boat further west. The broker turned out to be a jerk, but the boat and it's captain were a good choice. DH signed on for a three week sail out of New Caledonia, and up the Vanuatu chain of islands.
DH flew from O'Hare airport to L.A., and on to Fiji, and from there to New Caledonia. He was supposed to meet the Captain in a dark bar. Mark was there waiting for him, with the news that the others had backed out of the trip, and for the first leg it would be just DH and Mark (the captain.)
I probably would have chickened out at that point, but DH boarded the boat and they took off. Since he was the swabby, he got stuck with the midnight shift. I suppose Mark felt that it would be the easiest way to get accustomed to sailing. DH enjoyed having the boat to himself, and was fine until the winds shifted.
Our boat is 32 feet long, and it is all manually run. This boat had electronics for trimming the sails, furling, and navigating, and DH had never used a set up like that. He was confident he could figure it out, and began pushing buttons. A while later, he woke Mark, to have him put them back on course. Mark's comment was "You really DID push every button!" No harm was done, and it gave Mark a measure of DH's determination to figure things out.
The change of wind brought HUGE seas, and that was the only time DH had any trouble holding down his meals. The rest of the trip was calm in comparison. In Vanuatu, one more person joined them, but she was mainly along for the ride, and left the sailing to the guys. They stopped and visited with natives, and gave out T-shirts and caps in exchange for gifts.
They rounded an island with an active volcano. Dear Husband learned how to approach an island with a reef, and also learned that you have to wait for conditions to be right to sail out again. He caught a Wahoo almost as long as he is tall, and they had fish for several meals.
When it was time to return, the plane out of Vanuatu was late, and arrived in Fiji just as his plane to L.A. was leaving. It was tough duty, but he had two extra days to spend in the Pacific. He took a tour to the island that was used to film "Cast Away," and sailed on the boat that was used in a TV show from the sixties: "Adventure in Paradise."
I suppose, secretly, that I hoped the experience would put him off sailing the oceans. Instead, I created a monster. He loved it! I've asked if he plans to sail around the world when he retires. He said probably not, but he'd like to do coastal sailing. I'll be the one waving him off as he flies out to the coast! lol
He offered to attach a barge to the boat to hold the cat and the sewing studio and the china and crystal, but I begged off.
Comments (2)
Have you ever consulted anyone about the your penchant for creating monsters? What a trip your Dear Husband must have had. How in the world did he manage to be away from the business for that long? Wow! (I can't imagine that you don't want your own barge.)
Posted by Cop Car | May 31, 2005 9:20 PM
Posted on May 31, 2005 21:20
Dear Husband didn't take vacations, and his partner regularly took two weeks every summer. When DH made up his mind to go, he had tons of vacation days coming and his partner and I covered for him. The Prez did the jobsite work and I did the payroll.
NO barge for me, thank you very much! Wave action is wave action, in a barge or on a sailboat.
Posted by buffy | May 31, 2005 9:41 PM
Posted on May 31, 2005 21:41