Today’s weather greeted me with light surf and a nice breeze. Still blowing on my nose, but as least it was no longer stagnant like yesterday. Since I was a good distance off shore and I had a late start, I decided to eat lunch in the kayak as I paddled. If the wind was blowing any harder, that would not have been possible.
I though I was dreaming when I first heard it and opened my eyes. Then I heard it again. My Name! Someone somewhere is calling my name. It has to be a coincidence that someone one shore is named Larry, but there it was again and it was coming from shore, it was coming from behind me. I turned around to see a motorboat full of people waving their arms in the air yelling LARRY.
After breakfast, I packed up and launched. I hadn’t even gotten out of the small island bay when I began to think that this is too much. The waves were very large and the strong wind was right on my nose making paddling difficult. I struggled on and before long I got away from the rocky shoreline, but hadn’t been making any forward progress.
Here I am on Valcour Island. I’m running as fast as I can along the rocky shoreline trying not to slip and kill myself. Meanwhile, my hot dinner has been left on the picnic table along with everything I own as I am running as fast as I can from it.
The Weather station was reporting a small craft advisory and the only other boats out on the lake were sailboats under power headed to marinas. I pushed off and Crossed into Canada and then paddled head on into the wind to get to the New York side of the lake. Once I reached the West Shore I turned south and battled the waves and wind.
Learning how to live again after someone or something you love so deeply, has been torn from your life is a difficult to say the least. Some of us never quite recover; never move past that moment. Some have even died themselves immediately after such an event and I’m not taking about suicide, but natural causes, if Heartache is natural.
This past weekend a friend saw a news blip that a portion of the Erie Canal was to be closed (about 30 miles to be exact) just a few days before I am to start paddling it on July 1st. Well, when I set my mind to something, I don’t let little things get in the way and like the water I am drawn to, I chose to push that little obstacle out of my way. How? That’s the fun part.
If there is one constant in my life, it’s Change. It’s actually a constant in everyone’s life, though many resist it with all their might. Me, I love change. I love the idea of sailing because there is constant movement, constant change and yes; change is once again in the air. Today I reveal “The Boat”.