The sea does not reward those who are too anxious!
Having been self-employed for most of my adult life, I haven’t had too many actual job interviews. I have read though that a common question asked of job applicants is “what is your greatest weakness,” or something to that effect. My answer: I am not great at waiting.
The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach – waiting for a gift from the sea. — Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Unfortunately, waiting is a biggy when it comes to cruising, especially if you want to sail in good weather. Instead of typing this post, what we had planned to be doing right now is sailing towards St. John. And we made all of our preparations to do so too.
- We provisioned the boat.
- We filled the water tanks.
- We had the boat bottom scrubbed.
- I completed all of our engine checks.
- We rigged our jacklines and got our lifejackets and tethers out of storage.
- We got our new fishing gear ready.
- We moved the life raft from its locker to under the salon table (that’s where we keep it during offshore passages for easy deployment).
- We returned items that we had borrowed.
- We picked up packages that we had delivered.
- Rebecca prepared a number of meals for us to eat while sailing.
- We cleared out of customs.
- We said all of our goodbyes.
And after doing all that, we decided last night not to leave. Why? Weather.
While the gradient wind forecast and sea state still looks to be generally OK, there is a bit of a tropical disturbance east of the island chain that is reportedly causing quite a number of squalls. While Invest 95L, named just yesterday, wouldn’t have likely come close to our actual sailing path, there was a good chance that our passage would have more drama than we wanted. When friends start emailing us weather forecasts, we do pay attention.
Our new fishing lures. If you were a hungry fish, which one would you want to eat?
Unless things change, which they very well could, the weather should be much more pleasant if we depart a bit later this week. And I really want for this to be pleasant passage! Unfortunately, that means that we have to wait, and like I said, I’m not so good at waiting.
Very wise, and I would deploy the squid 🙂
I think we’ll put them both out.
I too prefer not to wait, but have found that most countries do not look at time the same way!
I would go for the pink lure because the blue one looks like a
Pencil. Let us know which one works better!
The cedar plug was stolen by a big fish! 🙁
The one with the eyes. Of, patience is a virtue (so they say). Plus, you are on island time.
We actually never caught anything with that particular pink squid.
Very Wise Mike and Rebecca!
If you don’t like waiting….your probably not fishing.
Safe Travels
Joe
We were doing a LOT of waiting while underway. 🙂
Being a novice at the Customs thing, I was wondering what are the ramifications of clearing out and then delaying your departure? Are you forced to stay on the boat at anchor, and not go ashore for anything? Inquiring minds want to know, for future reference…
And yes, if I were a hungry fish, I would prefer the squid.
In most countries, especially in the Eastern Caribbean, as long as you are on the boat, you are fine.
Practically speaking, as long as you aren’t calling attention to yourself, you would also be fine if you had to go to shore and pick something up, but … the consequences can be pretty extreme if you are required to show that you are allowed to be in country – think fines, jail and boat confiscation (varies by country/immigration officer). In my 3+ years of island cruising, I was never asked to “show my papers”.
The fact is that going to shore is breaking the law. You might get away with it but the price of getting caught could be high. If you were ever involved in an accident/incident, the truth would come out.
What we caught most on that same passage was sorgasso weed. To the point where we would not fish. It’s all over, even here in St Thomas. But, we did catch a little mahi-mahi between Aves and St. Croix. Made three delicious meal for LaDonna and me.
Regarding your passage and the weather, looks to me from the latest GRIB that you would have the same problem as we did, lack of wind rather than too much. It was amazingly pleasant. We were rarely totally becalmed, generally moving some, hatches open, doing projects, reading (I cannot read in a choppy sea).
We caught a LOT of weed ourselves!
Frequently sailors join rallys, because inside somewhere they feel there is safety in numbers.
The last DELMARVA rally (I’ve done this tour ~ 8 times with family, but never in a group) saw 5 days with over 20 knots on the nose, one day of fog, 1 day of motoring in no wind, and 1 day of good sailing. The curse of a schedule.
I dislike waiting too, so I try hard to be somewhere with enough to do when ducking weather.
And sometimes we make mistakes. Mostly, they result in tall tales and nothing breaks. Mostly.
We were fortunate this time around. Super easy passage.