Questions and suggestions we have been getting about this trip from others:
“Does your wife know about this trip?”
“No alcohol while sailing?” The reply, “That’s right; no alcohol or sex for the duration…” -at that point the conversation usually just ends.
"You need a young fella...and a gun." -thoughtfully considered advice from a cabbie in Toronto.
"I don't think you're gonna sink." -sincere effort at reassurance from a kindergartner.
"What if you run into a whale?" -a different kindergartner expanding my list of worst case scenarios.
"So, have you done much sailing?" -question from someone who clearly doesn't think much of our judgment.
"What do you do if someone falls overboard?" -common question to which I now answer, "Depends on which of us it is."
One of us has a leave of absence agreement that actually contains the clause “If you die”"Has your wife been supportive of this?" -the only really important question, and another source of worst case scenarios.
"When you get back, will you sell the boat and get a new one?" -from the same guy who asked the previous question, probing the limits of the answer to that question.
"I think that's only about 260 feet too short." -response from my boss, a navy veteran after I said Remedios is 41 feet long.
"I'm glad you're doing this." -the same boss 5 months ago.
"I'm just sick about it." -that same boss today.
"I'm glad you have a life raft." -young boy after we took him to see the movie "Oceans" on Earth Day.
Someone told me, in relation to the fact that none of us has sailed across the ocean before “You’d have to go back to BEFORE Christopher Columbus to find three people who know less about sailing across the ocean.”
Via voice mail: “Thanks for the going away party invite, it couldn’t have happened on a worse weekend. But, I’ll see you before you go. At least I think I’ll see you before you go. I’ll make a point of seeing you before you go. I’ll for sure talk to you before you go.”
Thanks, everyone. Pat says that the plans and preparations for the trip are as fun as the trip. Rob and Tom hope not.
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Are you taking your wedding rings?
ReplyDeleteTom here
ReplyDeleteMy goodness, 6:29 AM is awfully early in the morning for you to be stirring this particular pot. This topic is quite fraught with peril and the previous question could be a trap posted by Peggy, Michele, or Mary. Only one of us is actually legally married so that's a complication. Wearing a ring while handling lines and chains and knives and stuff is generally not done. But the question was expressed as taking rings not wearing rings (thanks to Bill Clinton for teaching me how to think carefully before answering questions like this). My answer is that I expect each of us to have a sufficient supply of jewelry on board for the duration of the trip.