It’s official. I’m going sailing! I received an invite a few days ago to crew on a sailboat returning from the Bahamas to Annapolis in late December/January. This is an opportunity that just can NOT be turned down. Didn’t I say I was going to take opportunities and do things for me? I did. And I am.
The airline ticket is purchased, and I will be heading down on December 28th. The pain of being economical is that it will be a long day. Four flights. Happily, only one long layover (5hrs, 15mins). Still, I will need to be at the airport at four AM. This is after getting home from work around one or two AM. I think I’ll skip the nap as I might not wake up! I’ll be arriving in George Town (GGT) at 5:20pm, and hoping, seriously, that the boat will be there to meet me (I’m getting tired just thinking of the flight). No complaints, though. The pain of getting there is a small price to pay.
I guess I’m going to have a day or two in the Bahamas to get myself sorted out and maybe do the tourist thing a bit. Then, it is out to sea! The Skipper (Dave) expects it to be five to seven days of offshore sailing to get to Norfolk, VA, followed I guess by a day or two up the Chesapeake to get to Annapolis (I’m not sure how hard he is planning on pushing). I’ve taken off December 28th through January 15th just in case. Hopefully I won’t use all that vacation time; but if I do I can think of worse ways to spend it.
In any case, this trip will present a couple of challenges I suppose:
First, it is going to be my first long offshore sail. I’ve been out of sight of land once or twice; but not very far out of sight, and not for very long. The ocean behaves different out there, I’m told. Even though I usually don’t get seasick, I’m thinking that maybe I should take some Dramamine (or whatever the newest miracle sea sickness drug is) just in case. I hope there are some clear skies, as I’m really looking forward to star gazing far from the glow of city lights.
Second, it is going to be in January. If you haven’t checked a calendar lately I suppose you might not realize that January is winter. Winter equals cold. Well, maybe not in the Bahamas; but certainly as we get further north it will tend to get colder and colder. And while many think of Maryland as being “The South”, I’d like to point out that it isn’t the deep south, and it does get cold here. It snows, even. Brrrrrrr.
Still, I can’t wait. The countdown clock is ticking!!
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