As sailors, especially sailors with their own boats, we have a lot of crap--sweaty base layers, salty boots, cans of acetone and other toxic solvent, and a lot of frickin' rope. If you're smart and didn't throw all your sailing budget into offshore safety gear, you might have saved enough to commission the boatyard to strip your boat of its goodies and store them for you for the winter. Or, if you're like me, you stripped everything from your own boat, and then brought all your gear into the home you share with your spouse.
At the end of the 2014 season, my plan was to strip Abilyn of all her gear, and bring it to my Brooklyn apartment so that I could clean and organize every last item before transporting the load to offsite storage. Unfortunately, I lack that thing that some of you have in the suburbs...what's it called...the thing with the flippy door? Oh yeah, a garage.
So what made this possible? Simply put, an extremely, absurdly, obscenely understanding wife. I mean, I used her shower and candle-lined bath to clean about 150 pounds of line, foulies, gear bags, and life vests before overtaking the outdoor common space in our building to dry everything out.
What we sometimes take for granted as sailors is that it's the people at home who support us in our adventures that make our sailing possible--not just our crew, riggers, guys at the boatyard, and local beer distributor. In 2015, I resolve to thank my wife more for supporting all that I do, on and off the water, and welcoming me (and my sailing gear) back into our home after time on the sea. Without my wife, none of what I do (or try to do) would be possible, or worthwhile.
I encourage all you sailors out there to resolve in 2015 to be more appreciative of your wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, and anybody else who puts up with your sailing crap.
Happy New Year!