Month: August 2017

Day 2: Fish Creek

/ Outrunning my demons / Leave a comment

DSC_0045 (1)

It was another rough start to the day’s cruise.

Captain Tom, the leader of the cruise, got his tank filled with gas. Problem was that he has a diesel engine. He was telling the story of the time someone almost filled his tank with gas to the young gas station attendant. Wait..what??!? You didn’t want gas? He already put in 3 gallons of gasoline.

We were waiting for Captain Tom to fuel up before heading out when his son-in-law came rushing over asking if we had a siphon. It took awhile to find something to siphon the gas with. I heard the harbor master speak hurriedly to his wife on the phone asking her to find something that could be used. Captain Tom was patient, didn’t swear at the young man, and kept his cool. This fiasco delayed us by a couple of hours, but we weren’t on a schedule.

In the meantime, we shared our horror stories about running and sailing. Quite a few of the sailors are athletes as well.

This morning the winds were ideal with 2 to 3 foot waves. Our destination today is Fish Creek, a tourist town.

I’m not feeling as anxious today, although I am wanting to write something for our vow renewing ceremony. I didn’t get very far. Paul and I will be celebrating our 20th anniversary in a few days. As a ‘writer’, I want to create something meaningfully deep and profound. No pressure! I want to celebrate on the exact day and time we were married 20 years ago, but the weather looks iffy. Paul and I are planning on jumping off the back of Captain Tom’s boat afterwards.

We won’t be celebrating the day with family and close friends, but with complete strangers. To be honest, I wouldn’t invite half of the people that I did to my wedding if I got married again. Granted, some of our guests passed away.. I wouldn’t have the same people in my wedding party. I don’t know if they would even be invited, sadly. Friendships change, people change..The people I consider my best friends now I didn’t even know 20 years ago.

It is hot on the boat today. I was tempted to jump into the water that is over 100 feet deep. The sun beat down on us. Paul tried to make a shelter from the sun out of tarp. I simply took off my shirt (the other boats were far away). I leaned over the side and tried unsuccessfully to dip my toes in the bigger waves. 

The sky grew dark and it looked like we might be hit with storms on the open water. We started the motor, but once again it wasn’t working right. The motor died before making it into the harbor and we almost hit Captain Tom’s boat. I pushed our boat off of his carefully with my foot.

We were so sweltering hot when we got to the marina that we walked to the public beach nearby. The marina was packed with big boats. It seemed very crowded and hard to get to the beach even though it was close by. We could hear thunder in the distance but we didn’t care. The water was cool and refreshing. The storms parted around us.

Later in the evening we walked to a nearby pizza place for supper, but it was over an hour wait so we went somewhere else. Afterwards everyone went to bed early, but I was too upset to sleep.

Alex texted me during supper that he wanted to quit his job. He ended up staying out with his friends until 11 PM and had to get up for work in the morning at 4:30 AM. It had me stressed out.

I talked about it to a few people in the group. Captain Tom said that if you haven’t raised teenagers, then you can’t explain it. But if you have, no explanation is necessary. Captain Tom said when his son was 17 he left home for several weeks and wanted to drop out of school. As an adult, he is a successful business owner. Strangely it made me feel better.

Regardless, I slept poorly that night. Despite my worry, Alex made it to work on time.

 

 

Day 1: Departure

/ Outrunning my demons / Leave a comment

DSC_0056 (1)

Enjoy the journal of our week long sail to Washington Island, Wisconsin.

A total of 5 boats departed on this trip. I’ve known some of the sailing club members for a year and others I just met. This is a story of how strangers became friends through rough waters and sunny skies.

Paul started the journey with a prayer blessing our trip from death, destruction, despair, fierce storms, and mechanical failure. As a group we held hands until the final amen then were on our way. We knew we needed some divine intervention to brave the waters of Death’s Door. Maybe saying mechanical failure was taking the prayer too far…maybe just mechanical issues would have been better…but you know what they say about hindsight.

Our trip was delayed due to mechanical issues on the first day.

Like our sail the week before, we started with warm temperatures and calm winds. Unlike our last sail, it stayed that way. I still felt some trepidation though..like I started where I left off. 

I felt a twinge of sadness, nostalgia perhaps. I felt anxious about leaving Angel in charge at home. Not that as an adult she was not capable.

I feel worried about Alex. He just got his motorcycle license and a motorcycle. The back tire on his motorcycle was bald. We insisted on buying a new tire. I almost had a panic attack following my son to the store off of the highway during rush hour watching him in front of me dipping through traffic. It was actually quite horrifying.

Alex got a flat tire this past week and through that we found out that he needed brakes on his car. He borrowed my car to get to work and ended up getting rear ended on the way home. Oh my, son! Are my bumper stickers okay?? Priorities! I just added my Half Ironman bumper sticker this week after all. He was unhappy that the bumper stickers were okay. He feels embarrassed by my tattooed car. (I did ask if he was okay first).

Anyway, Alex called me that first day. He said that he got a parking ticket by parking overnight on the road at his friend’s house with my car. By the way, you owe the city $25. He usually calls me when there is a problem.

I also worry that he won’t get up at 4:30 AM for work without me there. What is the worst that could happen? Besides death or dismemberment, that is.

Maybe I should just worry about myself. Things could’ve gotten really bad the last time we went out sailing. Or maybe I shouldn’t worry at all. Is that even humanly possible??

We motored most of the way to our first destination. Finally it was a warm sunny day. We had some motor problems close to the harbor. Once we got to the marina, we ordered parts along with another person that sailed with us. The bartender at the tiki bar owned a boat part store on the side. He would bring the parts when he came in for his shift. Perfect!

We spent most of the afternoon in the pool by the tiki bar. Time melted away. We planned to meet as a group for supper between 6 and 6:30. Wait! What time is it anyway?? Already after 6. How did that happen??

After supper, Paul and Mark got out their guitars. We all sang songs until after dark. George requested the song Redneck Mother. I wasn’t really sure if I liked George at first. He seemed kind of blunt in the way that could offend people when they first meet. By the end of the trip, he was one of my favorite characters.

That night I went to bed and slept a whole 7 hours without waking up. That usually doesn’t happen on the first night.