Lack of Reserves

 Myrtle Beach, SC
33 50.986 N 078 39.573 W

Well, we're still on the ICW and it looks like we'll be there another few days.  Sigh.   The reason is weather.  Yesterday it was fierce winds against us.  Today and tomorrow it is temperature.  Nighttime temperatures will be in the 30s and I am not willing to be out at sea in an open cockpit all night in those conditions.

The deeper reason is a lot harder, even painful, to talk about.  I'm afraid this body is getting old and not able to do things it once could. (Get your mind out of the gutter. That part still works fine.)  I realized this summer that I should not drive a car after dark.  I notice that I'm becoming more and more of a klutz.  I make mistakes.  More mistakes than in the past.  I noticed it in 2012 up on Lake Champlain.  It bothered me enough that I thought a winter's hiatus in New Bern might improve things.  It didn't.

More important, I don't have the reserves of strength and stamina that I once did.   I know that once out at sea, sleep deprivation is inevitable.  Add to that bad weather and near-freezing temperatures and one needs to draw on one's reserves.  If the reserves are inadequate, both judgement and performance go to hell, and I would not be a safe captain.  That's what is spooking me.  

Interestingly, Libby feels safer at sea than in the ICW.  There are not many things to run in to or risks of going aground.  But Libby does not have the burden of the captain's role.  

Many friends and acquaintances think us very adventuresome and brave to live the life we do.  We're only human and we like to bask in the flattery, so we are in no hurry to disabuse them of their illusions.  In reality, we are very cautions.  As my skills go down, I'll have to adjust the boundaries of what we will and won't do appropriately just to maintain a constant margin of caution.  That hurts.

There may be remedies, and we will explore them. Some things that come to mind are formal check lists, limiting offshore passages to daytime only, and perhaps always taking on extra crew for offshore passages.  Any or all of those things impinge on the freedom we once had.

Today's interesting sight.  The top level of those boats appear to be flying in the sky.