01/19/2025 ICW Day 19 : If you want a rainbow, you are gonna have to put up with the rain

Everything got dry yesterday… only problem was that we got greedy with the drying and left stuff on the clothesline - only to find everything DRIPPING wet this morning. Yesterday was a nice 8 hour respite from being wet.

In the middle of the night, Janet called out, “BRIAN! Did you just call me?” I had been fast asleep, so I assured her that I hadn’t planned on calling out her name, but maybe I talked in my sleep? Janet was already back asleep before I could work out what had happened with her. Meanwhile, I was up for an hour, fretting about every noise I hear on our little clandestine island. Was someone on the island? No, just us.

We expected a tailwind, but received our wind on the beam instead. That was good enough for us. The amazing thing about sailing is that you want wind. Almost any direction is acceptable except an “on the nose” headwind. After 3 weeks on the boat, Janet walks around confidently on the surface, and rarely screams anymore when the boat heels over during a gust. This has given me the confidence to push the boat a little harder. In spite of that, the gusts were so strong today that this is the first time I furled the sail for my sake, not hers.

When cycling, I tend to think of wind as this monotonous flow of air against me, but in sailing, you quickly realize how fickle this enigmatic force can be. In the span of a minute, you can have a blow so strong that you think your mast might break… only to find yourself completely becalmed and having to work up a sweat by pedaling.

Honestly, I love it. On the water, your mind is constantly engaged, playing this game with the wind. One moment, you’re trying to extract every ounce of energy you can from it. The next, you’re trying to sluff off excess power as quickly as possible. There is no time to be bored or depressed at the fact that even the inside your bellybutton is soaking wet.

Janet had discovered a well rated hotel near the water on Booking. I made a reservation online, but almost canceled it because the public boat ramp was a mile walk away and the listing did not mention that they had laundry.

Since sailing was fast today, we took the chance and sailed to right in front of the hotel. Guess what? They have their own beach/dock! We spent the necessary time to disassemble and fold the boat, load it onto our cart, and ride it over to the hotel, only a few hundred feet away. We rejoiced in the serendipity of it all.

It’s been a hard 3 weeks, but I enjoy these types of challenges. I don’t like challenges because they are hard or suffering, but because I feel like whenever we are faced with adversity, we get a little bit more skilled overcoming problems. This makes us better at handling life in general. Cuz let’s face it, “real” life eventually hands out a lot of challenges. ….

3.5 days of rest before we jump back in!