Twilight whittled its way into a clear moon lit night.. The stars shined like droplets of silver above our small fiberglass world. Tink reached down into the cabin and pulled out an aged bottle of wine from Spain.. My cork opener was one of those that you always see on the Godfather series.. The curley cork puller snaps out from the middle while the lip holder comes out the end.. A small knife in the back to cut away the shiny foil which protects the intoxicating goodness.

I cut away the foil and began twisting into the soft cork material until I could put the lip puller over the edge. With a mighty yank! well perhaps several mighty yanks and a single drip of sweat later.. I heard that iconic “Pop!” sound that to me symbolizes the pure essences of wine.

Only the best for us novice dubious duo. I poured the light clear yellowish contents into two transparent dixie sized plastic cups. “Cheers to a good trip so far”…

The clink of two plastic cups as they hit rustled a chuckle from the both of us.. Half “roughing it easy” and half “roughing it cheaply” … twas the life of us young sailors.

We sat amongst the stars in the boat’s cockpit.. In real honesty.. it was perfect! Why have a huge cabin when sitting out under those stars feels great? In front of our view was the mighty Columbia.. I could imagine in my mind’s eye Lewis and Clark drifting down it.. If only he had a sailboat & a Coleman stove! Perhaps even a map.. I wonder what Lewis and Clark would say if they knew the maps of the Columbia river sell for $40? I’m sure even Lewis himself would resist buying one, yet there it sat on our little wooden table propped up by a cherry branch cane.

Marvelous… absolutely grand… that is until we heard in the faint distance the rumble of a motor approaching our dock. First the motor sound then a light.. The hunter crew scurried over like school children to watch as one their own in a gigantic forty-one foot Hunter boat equipped with all the party gear you need to really “get down, get down, get down tonight!” In the immediate it caused our vessal to rock to & fro. Our grand scenery of the Columbia now was blocked by 10-12 Yachties pulling in this beast of a boat… They pulled in the lines hand over fist.. It looked like a group of Hawaiian fisherman with khaki shorts and hibiscus flower dresses pulling in a big Mahi Mahi to shore.. Or perhaps their great Captain Cook had arrived and all the groupies wanted to know of his exploration. All we knew was that now our silence was interrupted by a flurry of retired, rich, hunter sailors… If only I could bring you the smell of river & cologne..

It was time to smile and be friendly… A quick way to rid our boat of the crowds was just to turn off my lantern, but as they stuck around just the feeling of having people stand and chat and mingle wasn’t so bad for neither of us who were just enjoying a cup of wine.

minutes turned to hours and soon it was time we retire to the V-Berth. Our sleeping bags covered the front and preparations were made to have our first night. I laid down and perhaps due to a medley of tiredness, soreness, and exhaustion I just drifted away… Tink shared with me another story.. Apparently one side of our boat isn’t so equal to the other. Come late into the night I was instructed to take the lesser of one side.. Being a gentle man.. I suppose my duty is to always take the brunt of the bad side of every situation.. I agreed and laid down to find that this side was slanted.. 

Sleeping on a slanted bed is worse then putting a bag of peas under a pillow. From the moment I laid there I couldn’t sleep. Every time the boat moved I awoke. My eyes selfishly kept looking at the peace my partner was having on her side. One is never to have such thoughts, but the ordeal, as I will call it, will be addressed before the next time I lay there.

Morning came finally, and I tried every which way to squeeze the last drop of sleep I could before I had to meet yet another great day. Both us got up.. but I’m sure only one of us was actually “rested.” We both headed up the path to the head. By this time it was like a mini pilgrimage… Down the docks.. up the ramp.. up the stairs.. repeat backwards.

Breakfast this morning was oatmeal.. I insisted on instant, while Tink insisted on old fashion.. Lets just say that once Tink finished boiling.. I was done… And of course I picked the packet she wanted to eat 🙂 It was a typical morning.. I pondered how we were going to get out of the docks. Something was going to need to happen.. but I really didn’t think just what skills of mine were going to be tested that fateful day.

To be continued…

~J out

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