Solo? Decision time

Dear friends and family,

One of the routines every day for me is listening to the weather forecast and making a sailing plan for the next day, or two. With no cell coverage,the only source out here is the VHF radio , which I find pretty accurate and also specific to which Bay you are boating on. I could listen to weather specifically for Matagorda Bay.

So, I listened, wrote down the report so I wouldn’t get mixed up about which day was which forecast and crawled into my bunk expecting to go with the original plan, which was to sail further west, away from my return spot, and keep exploring. But as I was laying there, too tired to read, the longer forecast kept me thinking. And my thoughts felt mixed up and unclear. 

I find myself talking to myself when out on solo tours, whether sailing or bike touring. Then i notice sometimes it is not myself I am talking to but an invisible someone who is with me. This I suppose is a form of Schizophrenia that often shows up with solo adenturers. Mine does not have a name or persona that I can describe, but a patient listener often suggesting ideas I haven’t thought of yet.

I first came across this phenomenon in reading Joshua Slocum’s  SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD, a classic book and one, if you haven’t read yet, maybe you shouldn’t. Readers have been known to abandon their present lifestyle, buy or build a boat and sail it around the world themselves. I personally know a few who have succumbed, so I speak based on real world experience. 

Joshua had a shipmate show up to steer when he was overtired and delirious from fatigue. The sailor, who described himself as a navigator from the Pinta of Columbus, took him through the Straits of Magellan while Slocum rested. 

The psychologists may describe this as hallucination (google it and see) but that might be for those too deeply entrenched in the scientific world. I allow for a wider thinking. ” As long as he is not doing any harm, maybe we should let him be”, might be a professional analysis. 

So, this mate of mine was helping me with decision making as I lay in my eighteen inch tall bunk. 

Here’s the fact pattern:

The wind is forcasted to be very light and from the south for the next couple of days, then turning strong and from the north.  (My route home is to the north) From the high humidity thick fog is also forecasted. If you remember from an earlier post, I experienced it while driving along the coast to visit by truck places I might sail to. Thick. Not something I would want to be out in a small boat.

So, If I sail further away from my starting point, I could enjoy lovely sailing for the couple of days, even if I waited until afternoon after the fog burned off. But then: then I would be trapped with the strong northerlies. These islands do a nice job of shielding the waves, but since they are so low, they hardly shield any winds, so I would be subjected to a BIG challenge.

If I sailed another day further ( away) then my return to Palacios would be a longer journey and if I had to leave after any fog burns off would not have enough time in a light wind to make my destination by dark. Sailing across the Bay in the dark wouldn’t be any fun. And no place to hide halfway. 

So, my little friend suggested, why don’t you call it a day and sail tomorrow the short run of thirteen miles, pretty easy to make it in even a light wind and even possible to have a bail out anchorage halfway from this direction, if the wind gets too light or the fog takes too long to burn off?

“But I am not ready to call it quits yet and maybe if I don’t think too hard about it, it will work itself out” I mentioned to my friend.

“Uh huh” was all I got back, so I knew he was right. I was a little bummed as I wanted to explore a lot more. The Texas sailors reading this will surely think about all the good options to hide out and wait, and that’s okay. I guess I was ready to take advice and return on the safe plan.

Maybe that is the difference of being an elder adventurer, different risk management. Or maybe I have just gotten soft, which is ok too. 

No, I guess I’ll go with risk management🙂. 

“And don’t you dare comment, my little friend”. 

Sending love,

Charley

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