My inspiration for this trip is my uncle. In his forties he and his wife quit their jobs, pulled their two teenage children out of school, strapped a life vest on the dog, and set sail in the Caribbean.
Visiting them on the boat when I was twelv-ish was an amazing experience. I loved to sail then (still do!) and this was a huge boat with all sort of gadgets and full of nooks and crannies. They even had a M-16 on board which is a sure way to a young boy’s heart (though the idea scares the crap out of me now).
They have no shortage of boat stories. Like the time that Choi-Lee (the dog) fell off the boat. My uncle leaped over board after him, while shouting for the rest of the family to turn the boat around. Not the smartest idea, given that the dog had a life jacket — but my uncle didn’t!
Or the time when the published height of a bridge off by several crucial inches, and the boat got stuck under it. This became a local news story, and the family recruited about twenty people to get on the boat at low tide, pushing it down enough to sail on through.
I seem to have inherited this sailing lust from my uncle — and from my father, who grew up on the water and taught me to sail.
My mother is another story. She hates the open ocean, and is convinced that we are going to sink. Worse, at least from my point of view, she’s convince that I’m going to buy a boat tomorrow and set sail for Sumatra, where I will be killed by pirates. Her idea of my general level of organization and preparedness is a little low.
So selling the boat trip to my parents, and especially the idea that we really have crossed our “t”s and dotted our “i”s, is going to be a challenge a big as actually learning how to do this!
