Within Harm’s Way

Ya’ll ready for another sailing story? This one could have killed me.
Here’s what happened.
I DIDN’T LISTEN TO MY INSTINCT and abide by my personal policies of sailing.
It was a warm Summer Saturday. I have been working hard on my blog, keeping social media up to date, designing a website and developing a podcast. I was looking forward to coffee in bed, my normal errands and some beach time with a beach read.

Then my friend Beau called with an offer to go sailing with his race team, an afternoon “pleasure cruise.”
I am fairly regimented when it comes to my time so I asked my normal series of questions when someone proposes a last minute date with me (especially a sail).
1. WHO is the Captain? One of my rules is NOT to sail with anyone I do not know. They have your life in their hands and you want to be somewhat familiar with their skills. In this case, I did not know Captain Billy but Beau did/had raced with him twice before. Hmmm….??
2. What time are we leaving? And how long out? Couple of hours for each, Beau replied. Okay check.
3. Who is going? Beau did not know. Hmmm……well okay check. I do love to be on the water.
So! Very unlike me, I rearranged my day and decided to go sailing with strangers.
We get down to the dock and the entire team was waiting for us. It became apparent that we were out for a practice session. The wind picked up and it was a lovely sail out to Ft. Sumter (the site of the start of the Civil War). All of the crew were super nice and I was enjoying the afternoon.

Captain Billy announces, “Okay guys we are going to practice a windward spinnaker take down and then we will jibe.”
I listened and scooted around the cockpit so I could let the crew take their positions and do their assigned jobs. As the spinnaker came down, I noticed the freighter at the city port-it’s smoke stack was emitting smoke, a sign that the vessel is departing the harbor.
One of the crew said to me, “Caki, go down below and grab the spinnaker through the hatch!”

***At this point I need to mention that a week prior I made a comment to Beau that I would have a hard time racing because the women are always shoved below deck stuffing sails in bags (affectionately called “Sewer Rats”) and that would not work for me***
Do I have ESP?
Tune in next week for the conclusion!

Thank you for reading. If you like this post, show me with a clap or a standing ovation!
I’d love to connect, drop me a line on instagram or email me at cakidiehl@gmail.com!

