Jody and I were sailing downwind through Sir Francis Drake Channel with our friends Tom and Sharon on Distant Star, their Hylas 54. It was one of those perfect BVI days. The sun was out, the breeze was a steady 12-15 knots, and we were drifting at about 6-7 knots with only the headsail to pull us down-channel. Then the 150-foot schooner-rigged yacht Arabella appeared off our starboard bow.
That moment was a keeper.
Twenty years ago Jody and I were just finishing a two-week voyage from Hawaii back to our home port in Redondo after cruising the islands and the South Pacific. We were both kicked back on beanbag chairs on the foredeck with “Otto” (our autopilot) handling the steering when we spotted the Channel Islands. All of a sudden I heard Jody say, “Can’t we just turn around and keep sailing?”
That was another keeper.
You never know when a “keeper” will happen. It can be sitting in port enjoying an afternoon with friends at the marina bar, or when you first see the light from underneath the dark clouds of a storm you’ve been sailing thru.
You can’t plan a keeper. They just happen when you least expect them. In the 35 years I lived aboard and sailed I have been pretty lucky. I have had lots of keepers. Sighting Gibraltar the first time and realizing how much I owed to my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Canavan, for making me study and write a report on it when I was abut 10 years old, was one. Another keeper was when I sailed into Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas on my first sail across the equator. In fact, the first time I crossed the equator was one too.
No, you can’t plan these events. They just happen. And they seem to happen a little more frequently when you are “out there” experiencing life on a boat.
I know I am always spouting off about how you just need to “get out there” and I realize it is never that easy. But there is one thing I can say with certainty and that is, once you are out there you will experience some keepers that will stay with you the rest of your life.
I realize how lucky I was to be able to do it. I didn’t plan it, things just seemed to come together until I found myself casting off the dock lines and doing it.
The more I think about it the more I realize how many keepers I have been lucky enough to have: the first time I untied my Cal 28, Rogue, and sailed by myself the 24 miles to Catalina Island, or the day I bought Lost Soul, my 56’ ketch that became my home for almost 20 years. I can still feel the tingling inside as I guided her into the yard, thinking how huge she was.
Your message of the rewards of living alive and free are inspirational, Bob. After refit of my CAL 34, I’m underway to the Bahamas this year. Much gratitude for your shared experience.
THANK YOU!!
I SO ENJOY YOUR STORIES AND YOUR STYLE. GLAD TO BE ON THE RECEIVING END OF THESE
BITCHIN ATTITUDES…….
BEST WISHES,
BONNIE KOGOS, ALSO KNOWN AS THE ENERGIZER BONNIE,
AND THE AUTHOR OF “THE BOAT THAT BRINGS YOU HOME: SET IN THE SULTRY CARIBBEAN SEA”
So perfectly said! One of my memories ; after we sold our Rafkie 37 Reflections in the northwest, we bought a Catalina 22. Trailered up to Anacortes & sailed to Newcastle island. Woke up the next morning to leave & there anchored in the bay was Reflections. Tied up next to them & have a wonderful picture of the big & little! What a blasted we had 😁seeing her again.
Amen, brother!
I think about that a lot…. Thankyou for writing it.
Thanks for sharing those “keeper” moments Bob! I love em .
Cheers, Michael ( Boatless for now)
Past boats:
Beneteau 10R
Pogo 2
Corsair 28
Pacific Seacraft 31
Dana 24
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