4th of July: Ode to Alfred Noyes

Tuesday, the 4th, dawned warm and sunny, and I headed out with Mischa and Ari.  At last, Ari was on my boat and I got to hear him pronounce it "FABulous!"  I’d been waiting a year to hear that.  They quickly adapted to boat life, despite some queasiness.

We had a brilliant sail around Alcatraz.  There were surprisingly few boats out that day.  I guess they were waiting for evening for the fireworks to go out.  Mischa and Ari were good crew for never having sailed before: I believe they read my shirt and adapted accordingly.

We headed in fairly early due to crew queasiness (but at least there was no puking this time) and were met at the dock by Chris and Ken, who welcomed us on to their boat to picnic away the rest of the day.

Chris and Ari went off to buy supplies at Molly Stones while Mischa, Ken and I put the Indian Summer to bed for the night.  Yes, Anna, I did flush the engine.  Then we sat around on the Nova Gina, eating, talking and perhaps, maybe, there may have been some drinking.

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Mischa and I were both photoing the goings on and beauty of the day.  Chris and Ken were looking really adorable, 3 days after their 20th anniversary party.  Ken curled up to nap right by Chris and I thought it would be a great shot and I could make it better... if only.. I…can … just ….. climb up …. here on the back… stay to ..get …the right….angl..AAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ass over teakettle into the harbor.  With my camera.

Underwater is kind of this color.  Really quite beautiful, and very refreshing.  Apparently I was underwater long enough to make everyone worry.  By the time I got over the shock of "I think I fell in!" and surfaced, Chris had prepared a life ring to throw, and Ari was on the dock waiting to pull me up.  There was quite an argument that went like this: "Give me your hand" "No, save my camera!" "No, get out of the water" "No, save my camera!" Finally, they agreed to take my camera first (even then I knew it was dead but I still had hope) and then hauled me out.  I was laughing too hard to really help pull myself out of the harbor.  Luckily, Ari’s a strong guy.  And Mischa has her priorities in order.  Once she saw that I was okay, she took photos.  When BoatGirl Fell Into the Bay.

Other people sitting on their boats applauded, and later, any time a boat went past, the sailors (even 7 year old ones) would yell at me "Don’t fall off the boat!"

While it was shocking while I fell, and hitting the water, it all seemed quite normal, and as I thought about it later, I realized its because I’ve spent a large portion of my life falling into water, starting with my attempt at age 1 to swim in the large central tank at the Boston Aquarium.  My parents held me back there, but I did manage to fling my shoes in so a diver had to get them.

Then there was the natural whirlpool on Jamestown when I was 7, falling off the Galilee breakwater when I was 9, fording the Pemigewasset River the first week of May, innumerous times off the coast of Maine year round, falling into the Fish River in Namibia with a full pack on my back, and I don’t know how many times I’ve heard myself say," No, really, I can do this" followed by a splash.  Is this normal?