The Choice of Boat

Bread pudding out of old sticky buns.

The thing about change is that it is never quite as scary as the fear of change. When our new captain came aboard yesterday, no trumpeters hailed his arrival. No carronades went off. In fact, the whole changeover was fairly innocuous. 

So far the man still has the round edges of a Disney character, with his perfect good looks and muscular build, a deep but light-hearted voice and the eyebrow that goes up when he makes a joke. Though I was gone provisioning during the sail, with the Partridges, when I got back I learned that he had hauled in the 300-lb. anchor by himself. Then, after the sail yesterday, when his sunglasses fell off into the sea, he put on a wetsuit and jumped in after them, saying, "Where my sunglasses go, I must follow."

I am toying with calling him Captain Dashing, but the foc's'le is outvoting me. (Hey, but this is my story, right?) 

Shortly before Captain Dashing's arrival, I was talking to Captain Flash about the fact that in my previous jobs, I chose to work for a person, a boss, and that when I chose to work on the Marlin, I was choosing to work with her. That's why I called to ask her questions about her management style. But she was my boss for barely a month. It's a strange feeling to be attached to a contract, and not a leader.

"Yeah, in this industry your shipmates and your captain are changing all the time," she said. "You can't choose where to work because of those factors, what you're choosing is the boat."

Bread pudding out of old sticky buns.

Our Marblehead Sponsors
I found out yesterday that the Partridges are the reason we received such a big welcome in this town. Their son once worked on the Marlin and now works on the Argo. Mr. Partridge did a lot of PR ahead of time, which just goes to show you: advertising works. Yesterday they took me provisioning and I stocked up big-time for our venture into foreign waters. I spent $750 to be exact. At least 50 pounds of protein went into the freezer, along with a few special items - like scallops and shrimp - because I had some cushion in my budget. (I also managed to get us a quart of maple syrup and a lamb roast!) Mrs. Partridge bought us avocados and Mr. Partridge got me a harness to rope me in if we encounter high seas.

Fear of the Cold
At muster he said he hoped we were prepared for the cold. Our trip to Nova Scotia is just 48 hours away. As I type this, I have gloves on. I'm in my sleeping bag with a wool blanket over me, and I am still wearing my west marine jacket and jeans because it's too cold to change. It's too cold to type. And we're heading north 300 miles. Am I prepared for this? Hell, no. 

I look at my friend CB's photos from her hike up Denali, of her and a friend sitting on ice cube chairs playing scrabble. Apparently temperatures reached 30 below! Then I tell myself, Buff up you wimp! But man I can't wait to get to Toledo.

New Beginnings
After yesterday's headline, you may be asking the question, so, did nothing really change? Maybe nothing changed; maybe everything. Did the Near Miss with the Rapture change you? Did you wake up the next morning thinking, "Hey, I'm still here! and/or I don't see any fireballs... hey, maybe I should do something great with this big life extension I just got."

It feels like we got a new start. The crew is readjusting, reassimilating. The growing pains are almost over. I think we will be something new, soon... not exactly what we were, but probably not that far off.


Sunday's Menu
Breakfast
Bread pudding made with the leftover sticky buns awesome!) And cantaloupe
Lunch
Pork stirfry, with shrimp (mostly for Eve)
Bread
Warm spinach salad with bacon, hard-boiled eggs and mushrooms
Dinner
Soft tacos with ready-baked chicken from Costco
Dessert
Banana bread