Friends Sylvia and Barry had room on the Iolani today for crew. I filled them in on the particulars:
- I swim well when conscious
- I don’t know the names of anything, since the last time I crewed was with a German-speaking group
- I go where I’m told and wait there to do the thing I’ve been told to do
So Barry wisely put me in charge of the mizzen mast (the second, rearmost mast on this type of boat), which serves as a wind rudder of sorts for making the boat go straight and fast, and which–today, at least–only carried one sail. Barry doesn’t talk much, but the things he says make you want to listen. “When we tack, pull on this. It’s what keeps the mast from breaking off.”
Today I had the sense of being in San Francisco, with San Francisco geography (Berkeley Hills, Bay Bridge, Golden Gate, Sutro Tower, Headlands), but without San Francisco bustle. That’s the thing, I think: moving fifteen tons of lead, wood and fiberglass from Sausalito to Alcatraz and back without experiencing traffic.
