The Road Not Taken

We expect to make land fall this week. Tomorrow even could be our penultimate day. Richard and Joel are building up the excitement about what it is like to see land for the first time after a month. I am leery. Supposedly one can see these islands from 100 miles away. If this is true we will have an entire 24 hours sailing to look at land before arrival. This reminds me of the bike ride, Marcus and I would reach the welcome sign for a campsite and still have a full hour and and half ride to get to the main gate.

Each evening Joel does his check in with the Puddle Jump Net on VHF. Several boats doing exactly what we are doing check in. They share information like current position, knots, bar., and traffic for other vessels. They also love to make painful remarks like, "We're in the doldrums, but hey it beats the doldrums of working!" Even worse are the all too often banalities uttered from the lexicon of Margaritaville shirts. However, this week the Net has been awesome. We gather round the radio to listen to the saga of Sea Flyer.

Sea Flyer is a Choey Lee Off-Shore 38' sail boat probably from the 1970's. After 7 days at sea she lost 2 of her 5 shrouds (shrouds are really important, Google it, they hold up the mast). Sea Flyer calls this emergency traffic in to the Net. All are concerned, boats offer help. Day 8, Sea Fkyer shares that he is happy with the jury-rig and decided to continue out to sea. Day 9, another shroud is lost. Day 10, Sea Flyer is out of fuel, was motor-sailing the whole time (this means no mast, no motor). Day 10, a Cuban vessel coordinated by the US Coast Guard does a fuel drop. By Joel's calculation Sea FLyer is now out of helicopter range. Day 11, Sea Flyer overheats her engine. Day 12, has it working but taking on water through the prop. Day 13, that's tonight, tune in.

Here is the best part. Everyone on the Net is gossiping about Sea Flyer and it is shared that the other person on the vessel is a stranger. I e-mailed Sea Flyer about boarding the ship last year. This stranger, her name is Delores, was picked instead of me. Santelli is right, horseshoe up my ass."