Around the world…
Late Tuesday afternoon, a rather nice cabin sailboat motored up the coast from the south and moored just off to the south of our condo. I couldn’t make out the name of the boat, but I could make out that she was registered in London…and I doubted that was London, KY. Katy commented that the boat “messed up our view” of the ocean, but I retorted that it actually improved the view, as it seemed to be a fairly nice boat.
Yesterday I went down to the beach at about 10:30 and noticed that the rubber inflatable runabout that had been stowed on the stern of the sailboat was missing. Looking to my right, I saw the runabout on the beach about 300 yards away. Curious, I headed down the beach to see what was up.
It turns out that the boat was owned by a 20something Brit that was making his way around the Atlantic…really…all the way around the Atlantic. He had bought the boat in France earlier this year, sailed south around Spain, made his way across the straight of Gibraltar and then cruised down the west coast of Africa. He then crossed the Atlantic making landfall at Rio de Janeiro, then cruised up the east coast of South America and made his way through the Caribbean chain to end up off the coast of Florida.
Why here do you ask? Simple. He uses a Mac…which was in need of repair. It turns out that there is a Mac repair shop about 3 blocks away, so stopping here allows him to walk to the shop to have his Mac fixed. Another beach friend, who also happens to be British, commented that he’d come a very long way just to get his computer repaired.
I didn’t get to find out more, or for that matter even his name, as he was trying to launch the runabout into some rather big surf. My British friend and I got him over the rocks and on his way safely.
I spent the rest of the afternoon wondering what my life would have been like if I had the courage to simply strike out on a trip that might take a year or more at that age. This one is going to require further introspection.
Stay tuned.