Last Wednesday I went sailing in my Laser. It was as perfect an afternoon's sailing as one could possibly imagine. Ideal weather. Just me and my little boat scooting around Upper Narragansett Bay on an early summer afternoon. Antolin, the sailing potter, summed up the feeling of a day like that much better than I could in his recent post Solace.
I have several sources of precious solace but none better than the solace found on the water, out there where nothing is but the sea, you and the vessel you burden. Yeah, the grand cathedral of creation receiving one more hungry soul. Her face changes all the time but mother ocean is always there for us. Her winds a whisper or a scream, her watery skin calm or agitated, her, always present in all her unabated glory. In her I find solace. Tiller in hand, I ride her surface. Feeling the wave under my vessel, the winds in the sail, the perennial motion of her substance. Absorbed in this environment solace presents itself. I lose myself in the moment, however long the moment lasts.
And yet...
Something is missing...
Captain JP has the answer. Sailors you have been misled.
Why should we put up with despondently drifting in the calm? Why should we take hours to get anywhere? Why do we have to bother with things called "tacks" and "gybes"?
I want to blast around at 20 knots. I want to go places fast. I want to create a huge wake. I want to hear the roar of the engines. I want to go power-boating.
Today my son called us for Mother's Day. He suggested that he and his wife would come and visit us next weekend.
"No, no, no," I said, "We will come and stay with you. I want a ride on your power boat."
And that's the plan.
Next weekend, Tillerman goes over to the dark side.
12 comments:
Motorboats can be fun. Really. And I'm sure the two of you will enjoy yourselves, especially because of the two little ones. Good for you
Baydog. I have two sons.
My eldest son has a wife, two children, a house in Massachusetts, and a Laser.
My younger son has a wife, no children, a house in Connecticut, and a power boat.
It's the one in Connecticut we are visiting next weekend. There will be no "little ones."
Maybe you can arrange it some time down the road. Is that the craft in the picture?
I suspect that son#1+littleones will eventually get together with son#2+powerboat some time this summer. The craft in question is indeed the craft in picture.
The CT kinda gave it away. You've got a good life, don't you?
Tillerman, thanks for the "plug" of my writings. Don't let people take your picture aboard the power boat... ;)
be well
Antolin
How would anyone know who Tillerman was? There's still no way to find out any information about any single person, anywhere. Is there?
Tillerman, duck!
I knew too much frostbite sailing could eventually do irreparable harm to delicate neurons and synapses, but I never expected this.
They say the normal progression from youthful vigor to senility is marked by these stages:
Sailboat
Motorboat
Motorhome
Nursing Home
I just hope your next post isn't about the joys of the Winnebago.
Hey, that's a good idea my friend. I can just see Tillerwoman and me driving all round the country in our RV, towing the powerboat so we can have a good old zoom around on all the lakes we find.
Welcome to the dark side, Tillerman, glad for your company!
Looks like a great boat - a big toy for the grown up boys so to speak.
Have fun :)
Noooooooooooooooooooooo!
Must be an age thing, like buying a sports car and doing a comb over...
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!
No, not The Tillerman! Are you serious about powerboats? I mean, going for a ride a few times a year is fine, but completely switching over...
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