01/24/2025 ICW Day 24 : A Frayed Knot

Waylaid. I didn’t even know how to spell that word properly before this trip, but it is a word that is frequently on my mind lately.

We knew that today’s weather would be questionable, but we were anxious to get back on the water after spending 5 nights indoors. We started from the beach, unassuming, but as soon as we got past the dock, it became apparent that the frigid North wind was going to blow any fun out of the day. For the previous 3 weeks, I had tromped around with bare feet, happily taking cold water showers. Today, my bare feet were ice cold and we were wearing the wetsuits for the first time on the trip.

I asked Janet if we could land on an atoll and put some plastic bags on my feet. But when we landed, we considered the options. Should we continue? I’m afraid not.

Instead, it seemed like a better idea to just spend another night. We were only just over a mile from where we had started sailing.

But that is how it goes sometimes, and when you consider all of the alternative scenarios in life, this still sounds pretty good. For example, we met “Bob” this morning. He was walking a dog and like so many other people, he couldn’t resist the ice breaker that is our little boat.

Eventually we learned that he is a volunteer dog walker for the “no kill dog shelter” we had walked past several times on our way to the grocery store. He was walking a pit bull. He explained:

“This is a ‘bait dog’ - when they have dog fights, these are the dogs they throw in to get things started.”

“Isn’t that illegal here,” I asked.

“Well, it is supposed to be! These dogs come to the shelter, and guess what, one just got adopted last week! They’re a huge liability, though… you need to have LOTS of land around you with one of these puppies.”

I liked Bob and couldn’t help but notice how well behaved the Pit Bull on the other end of his leash was.

“They give me the bait dogs because they think I can control them, but honestly, I can’t.”

He encouraged us to sail all the way to Annapolis because “it’s the sailing capital of the world.” He had a passion for sailing himself… and now that I too have that passion, I can see how it makes you feel; even if you get squashed by weather day after day.

Given the choice, though, I’d rather be waiting out weather than be reincarnated as a “bait dog” waiting to get adopted. 🐶