Sailing Away

Sailing can be described as what the astronauts described the moon (A Beautiful Desolation) I was once alone about 18 miles out from any shoreline in a light fog, When you look around and there is nothing but water and the most silence you can imagine, So quiet you can hear your heartbeat.. and water lapping the freeboard of your sailboat, And i have been out when a horrible squall would blow the boat so far over on its side that you would literally be standing on the side of the inside cockpit.. The wind was blowing so hard it was like sand blasting your face as you used your arm to block the rain from putting your eyes out.. and the wind was like a tornado. The sails were whipping so hard they sounded like rapid machine gun fire cracking like bull whips.. And waves busting over the bow with the spray so strong as to knock you off your feet. Your body getting so heavy with water because the rain was heavier than the speed of the water running off of you. The wind Screaming in a high pitched sound as it passed thru the stainless steel rigging..Your life jacket sitting in the cockpit long gone by miles and altitude as the wind ripped it from the boat..The darkness of the sky and the grey of the waves ,visibility of about 2 feet with rain so thick you wonder if there is still oxygen in the air.. Hanging on for dear life as the boat falls from the face of one wave and plunges bow first into another as you wonder will the boat pop out of this wave.. while all of this is happening in nano seconds .but seems like what Gordon Lightfoot sang about in the Edmund Fitzgerald when he said the waves turn the minutes to hours.. it really happens like this. You start having thoughts.. "will they ever find my body".. " will they find my boat" Me and my brother was sailing once when a squall hit us.. He told me " Oh i have been in some bad storms but WOW!..(shaking his head)
Anyway.... I was sitting on the porch the other day peering across San Antonio Bay thinking about how nice a day it would be to be sailing.. I looked across to a very faint point of land and saw a little house with a screened in porch.. I know this porch very well as i have sailed to it many times.. It belongs to s sailing friend of mine.. His porch is small with a couple chairs a table that always has a couple hand tools on it.. I suspect that he just leaves the tools there to make me think he is working on something but i know better as a layer of dusty salt is getting to be 1/2 inch thick.. there is also a hanging chair with a marine radio hanging on the ceiling above it..I sometimes sail over to Dans just to drink a beverage and chat.. There is a protocol to sailing to "Dans Tiki Hut" as i call it..Because of prevailing winds You must sail past the long Pier that jets out 200 Feet into the bay< Make a hard figure 8 and "Come about" So the wind gently blows you into the dock piers and instantly drop your sails.. Then you take your cell phone "since the dock is 200 feet long" And you call Dan and say "Hey Dan do you have any beverages available for a transient sailor?.. If he says no.. Then I say " " Was just passing thru and thought i would call and say Hi.. Well Goodbye!!.. If he says Yes..Then I tell him " I have sailed a long way just to see how your doing".. He will meet me about half way out the pier by the time i have tied up and secured the sails.. We will then relax with a beverage and sit and talk. He will tell me about a boat he has a line on.. And i will tell him about my adventures .. Since it was a beautiful day and there was not a chance in a million that a squall would appear on the horizon we decided to go for a sail in my little dolphin17 open cockpit sailboat...I actually ascertained this boat from Dan years ago . " What a Beautiful day for sailing i told him" As we approached a little island i call Zio's Reef.. Do you see those clouds forming over to the northeast he said.. I see them but they are moving to the west and are going to completely miss us. I said. I am glad you know Wes He said. So we ate our sandwiches and drank a coke, Then complained about the trash that had washed up on the beach. We then hoisted the sails and took of for another reef.. After a few minutes Dan Said " Do you think we should head for land in case the squall decides to head for us?. I told Dan ( as a gust of wind about blew me over) That if it would make him feel better i would head for**HEY DAN!! Look out for that big wave about to hit us!!.. A large black cloud with a Large black rain shaft Was on top of us.. Were did it come from?..Its forming above us Dan said. We didn't have time to reef the sail but we did drop the jib.. Just as Dan was stowing the Jib a hard gust of wind hit us almost turning us over.. the rain started pouring and the wind blowing and the waves building.. I said Dan i hope we can make it to land.. The problem was land was directly ahead of us and so was the wind.. So we would have to vi er off course and head for land further away.. Dan agreed and began securing lines When WHAM! a Huge Wave and wind gust hit us..It sounded like we were in in the side by a pickup truck.. knocking the main sheet out of my hand and taking the boom straight off the port side.. Dan Was perriasly hanging off the side of the boat to grab the main as is secures to the boom and i was relieving pressure off the rudder and trying to turn into the wind to take the heal off the boat..The rain was pouring so hard we could bearly see each other 3ft away..lighting was striking around us as Super loud thunder clashes were about to break our eardrums..the waves hitting our Stern quarters and spinning us sideways.. The wind healing us over to 40 degrees The waves now hitting us in the faces..I could feel my anxieties growing as i saw Dan with a smile on his face.. WHAT are you smiling about at a time like this.. he said " I am impressed at your handling of this boat.. You do it like a real pro".. I could feel the need for a larger hat size as i told him"We Ain't There Yet!!.. But his smiling was a relief.. as i knew we would be OK.. We landed on a beach a couple miles away and secured the boat with anchores and lines and decided to walk home in the pouring blowing rain... Our boonie hats hanging like wet diapers over our heads...As We walked down the road Dan told me the very same thing i was thinking.." What a Beautiful Day"