June 18, 2015
I’m not really afraid of dying out here, nor of serious injury. I am terrified of discomfort.
A lot of people don’t seem to have what I consider an adequate fear of discomfort (or I guess I might have too much). First off: discomfort is uncomfortable, but secondly, it’s expensive. The conditions that make me uncomfortable also tend to break expensive gear—after all, there’s no such thing as inexpensive gear on a boat!
My perhaps-more-than-adequate fear of discomfort keeps me in port during marginal weather windows, prompts me to use a professional weather router like Bob McDavitt, and, if I manage to avoid enough discomfort, even keeps my marriage intact!
“Why are you talking about this all of the sudden? Are you uncomfortable?”
No, we’re fine. In fact, as I write this, we’re comfortably tied up in a slip in Noumea, safely out of the weather. However, we’re looking at weather windows to sail to Fiji, watching boats come and go in weather we’d never venture out into of our own free will. I guess they have a greater tolerance for discomfort, an inadequate fear of it, or lots of cash to replace the broken stuff.
