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LOG ENTRY DATE: December 22, 2003 I'm not sure if it's proper to be writing a log this far from the boat, or even if anyone will read it, since so many people have welcomed me home, and then folded me mentally back in to the normal routine of day-to-day life. Nonetheless, it seems that coming home may be as important a part as a the voyage, so I wanted to jot a few notes about it. Tom and I left Chase tied stern-to to the docks at the Antigua Yacht Club on Sunday, December 15. I was lucky enough to get to Boston before the big snow storm, but Tom wasn't. He spent the next 24 hours chasing cancelled flights to Boston from a variety of airports on the east coast. . . one has to think that sailing around the Atlantic is actually a far less complex travel endeavor than flying around it! However, despite my arriving without delay, I did manage to subject myself to the "full immersion" technique of returning: a stop at the Maine Mall on the way home provided the social side of that, and waking up at 0530 the next morning to shovel 10 inches of snow provided the environmental aspect. All in all, though, it's nice to be home. I missed all my friends, and I missed my family. And, even though I kept my finger on the pulse at work, it's not the same as being there—for better or for worse. In fact, it's good to be back in the office, and to experience new challenges—I think I missed that as well. I even missed the weather, somewhat—the cool crispness to the air is something I haven't felt since I left in the spring. But, I do miss the life that comes from being unattached to a single place, and where you can heave up the anchor and go on to visit the next. I miss the boat pulling herself along on a beam reach in the middle of the ocean with nothing in sight but the hypnotic waves and the birds that rise and fall with the sea's mysterious but compelling rhythm. I miss the challenge of knowing that the small world we inhabit on Chase is entirely dependent on how well we treat her, how closely we listen for changes in her heartbeat, and how well we stay ahead of problems that arise on her—it's not exaggerating to say that our lives might well depend on it. And, I miss sharing the experience of traveling with my friends. It's my hope that I can do this again, in some form or another. My mind jumps to sailing adventures that could take place in South America or Newfoundland, or land-based excursions that Katie and I could share. But, since I know I can't do it immediately, I'll just keep those fires banked with the embers glowing, ready to be fanned into life when the time is appropriate. Until then, I'll look forward to being on Chase again this spring in the Caribbean, and to perhaps bringing her home in May. Those will be events carefully book-ended by specific dates, though, so it won't be the same as the carefree days of sail we experienced over the last seven months. But, I'm not complaining—I was lucky enough to do something most people never get a chance to do—and here I am thinking about how I can make it happen again! In the meantime, I'll enjoy what we have here in Maine. In fact, one of the things that struck me the most when we were traveling was the reaction so many sailors had once they learned where we were from. . . they all said: "that's where we want to sail someday!" So, despite how far away we flung ourselves, it turns out that much of the world actually wanted to go where we came from. . . I'll try to remember that when I get itchy for the taste of a foreign port! |
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