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Captain Chum
You can call me @ss, but I haven’t earned the title Captain (my sister is a Captain) and it’s subjective whether to precede it with bad or dumb. I use a different name anyway.
I’m not going to attempt a resume but I will say I’ve been on and around this water for a long time. I sail it, surf it, fish it, and paddle it. I don’t know everything and I never will; but I do know myself and my physical limits…and I’m not as young as I look.
On Sunday I was just going for a paddle. That’s all. You saw me crossing from the tip of Lovell’s, in a bee-line, toward the #10 can. That vector is pretty perpendicular to the channel. It was purposely chosen to minimize the amount of paddling through traffic. I was aware of the wind, the tide (current), the time, and the weather forecast. I was very aware of the boats that had passed (Carnival), those that were coming (distant tanker), and those around me (you guys). I wasn’t intentionally ignoring the skipper; but I had a clear objective and I was focused on it.
My wetsuit top was down around my hips to keep a reasonable body temperature. Paddling is a lot of work and part of the energy that goes into that work is lost as heat. Sweating leads to dehydration and other bad things. I wasn’t just working on my sweet tan.
You observed only a tenth of my total trip (the final bit). I admit to taking measured risk; but I wasn’t being reckless.
A risk is a risk because there are consequences. Sometimes people put themselves in risky situations learn something. That being said, accidents do happen. I accept that fact and the implied consequences (and so do Coast Guard recruits, I hope…).
It’s never about looking nature in the eye. It’s primitive coexistence.
Lifejacket, radio, and then what?
These are just my thoughts and are definitely on one side of two extremes. Reason is a compromise somewhere in the middle.
Please don’t run me over this weekend!
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Hybrid Mode
