‘Fog Bound' off Lime Key… there is nothing like fog on the ocean as the cold air at dusk sweeps over the warm waters off Long Island. A friend owned small 32' sailboat we blew around the Sound on a few weekends through July and August – a nice day tripper, with a sleeping berth & head [can’t see anyone either side of 300 lbs. getting one cheek in that contraption], as long as the weather and beer held out. Heading back to Larchmont on my last outing, one sobered up quickly as wispy tendrils of cotton fluff came creeping along the deck. Coiling over a windless flat sea they wrapped the mast in haze, just as we sank into a dank grayish cloud of gloom and invisibility. Night was approaching; the sails were nearly flat, with only the sound of a distance bell clanking on a slow rolling buoy and the occasional honk of a fellow sailor trying to get his bearings. It was time to Man-Up, put the beer aside, and get serious. [Well, bless my Navy Training; I did empty the cooler because they can make for a great flotation device should things really get really grim]. Most frightening of all, the sound of breakers rolling out against a shoreline… how far, what direction, is it still safe inching forward or are we going to ground. So many questions made only worse if there were no sounds at all – no wind, no light and no ocean current to provide any clue; nary a pelican heading to perch . Well to keep this short, being a man of few words, [really was funny after the fact when back in Manhattan regaling events over a few beers at the Red Lion], but I put this right up there, this ‘having a near dock experience’, next to a close brush with drowning in +/- 25 foot waves in Waimea Bay, Hawaii [WHAT in God’s earth was I THINKING! - apparently nothing!]. Nearer to GOD this side of earth than I ever care to be again. Fortunately I’m now able to cross ‘nearly dying trying to bring a boat to shore in heavy fog’ off my bucket list…. which is good, as using that bucket to bail out a sinker was a much less attractive option. [Framed]
‘Fog Bound' off Lime Key… there is nothing like fog on the ocean as the cold air at dusk sweeps over the warm waters off Long Island. A friend owned small 32' sailboat we blew around the Sound on a few weekends through July and August – a nice day tripper, with a sleeping berth & head [can’t see anyone either side of 300 lbs. getting one cheek in that contraption], as long as the weather and beer held out. Heading back to Larchmont on my last outing, one sobered up quickly as wispy tendrils of cotton fluff came creeping along the deck. Coiling over a windless flat sea they wrapped the mast in haze, just as we sank into a dank grayish cloud of gloom and invisibility. Night was approaching; the sails were nearly flat, with only the sound of a distance bell clanking on a slow rolling buoy and the occasional honk of a fellow sailor trying to get his bearings. It was time to Man-Up, put the beer aside, and get serious. [Well, bless my Navy Training; I did empty the cooler because they can make for a great flotation device should things really get really grim]. Most frightening of all, the sound of breakers rolling out against a shoreline… how far, what direction, is it still safe inching forward or are we going to ground. So many questions made only worse if there were no sounds at all – no wind, no light and no ocean current to provide any clue; nary a pelican heading to perch . Well to keep this short, being a man of few words, [really was funny after the fact when back in Manhattan regaling events over a few beers at the Red Lion], but I put this right up there, this ‘having a near dock experience’, next to a close brush with drowning in +/- 25 foot waves in Waimea Bay, Hawaii [WHAT in God’s earth was I THINKING! - apparently nothing!]. Nearer to GOD this side of earth than I ever care to be again. Fortunately I’m now able to cross ‘nearly dying trying to bring a boat to shore in heavy fog’ off my bucket list…. which is good, as using that bucket to bail out a sinker was a much less attractive option. [Framed]