Decks Awash
On my living room wall I have a print by Canadian maritime artist John Stobart that I inherited from my father. Stobart specializes in the Age of Sail, and the print, “Decks Awash,” is of a square-rigged ship with a full press of sail, heeled over in a hell of a blow. It’s my favorite, and I enjoy it immensely. However, I was also always glad it wasn’t me on that deck, until a short while ago when all that changed.
A good friend, Alex, had just finished competing in St. Augustine Race Week where he’d snagged third place on his newly purchased and repaired J/29. Now he needed some extra hands for the trip home to Jacksonville, a run I had made many times through the well-marked inlets and up the St. Johns River. That afternoon I told my family I would be back by dinner the
