Returning Home

April 15^th

We left this morning at 8:00.  My excitement was replaced by an urgency to return home due to my brother’s declining health.  The morning started with the winds to our backs and waves helping push us home.  We were again three hours on and three hours off.  I took first watch.  At the end of my watch, I had been watching a rain cell on the radar, closing in on us for about 45 minutes.  I hoped it would miss us but it hit us in the last 15 minutes of my watch.  George had prepared for the rain by getting on his foul weather gear.  By my second watch the rain had gone and the sky was clear.  We expected rain through out the trip back.  I was on watch during the 5:00 PM hour, when the sun’s glare on the water looks as if you have a billion diamonds sprinkled on the water. I tried to enjoy the moment.  When you are on a sail boat you need to be prepared for a lot of thinking time.  Those three hours during my watch were at times very hard.  Even when it was time for me to sleep my mind kept rolling. My thoughts kept going back to my brother, Jerry and my childhood.  My brother also loved the water.  That is somewhat of an oddity because my mother could not swim and did not want us to get near water.  Jerry was very active, even when he did not feel well, he loved going to the beach and he and his wife spent every September there. He loved to go to restaurants by boat.  This past year he had bought a pontoon boat. We had talked about going out on it this summer when we returned.

 I had a lot of time for remembering and thinking for we did not see another boat that day until about 5:00 PM and it was about 2 miles away.  I had the ocean to myself. When I got in the cockpit for my 9:00 PM watch I was shocked to see lights every where. There were 11 ships within 12 miles of us.  It looked like the L.A. freeway!  Where did my ocean go?  George said, “the good thing is that they are all going our way”.  This did not comfort me in the least. I was not very happy to be at the helm, during this much traffic but I let him go get some rest anyway.  I had to watch every light to see where it was and where it was going.  The radar was full of little and big red dots.  One was worrying me.  It was staying in the same position and getting closer.  That means we were on a collision course.  Even though it was two miles away I woke George up.  Just as he was looking at the ship it changed it’s course and turned broadside.  The boat I thought was a fishing boat was a cruise ship. When they are headed your way they look smaller than when they turn.  The ship passed on our port and then after passing us he turned across our stern, he had changed course to avoid me.  Cruise ships and bigger vessels sometimes have computer programs that turn the vessel when it gets within one and half miles from another vessel.  This happened again about 15 minutes later. I woke George up again.  We have AIS on the chartplotter but we could not get it to work.  AIS  stands for Automatic Identification System. It will tell you the ships name, speed, course, length, width, weight and the distance it will pass from you if you continue your course.

I wanted to stay on watch that night from 9:00 until 2:00.   I felt bad about waking George up so I wanted him to get some sleep.  I could not really enjoy this passage because I was in constant thoughts and prayers for my brother.  I understood his prognosis was not good.  I just wanted to be home.  I wanted to go fast and George had told me we would be going fast when we got into the Gulf Stream.  We were motoring north and the Gulf Stream pushes us north.  I wanted to stay on watch until we hit the Gulf Stream.  We were going about 7 knots.  George woke up about 1:30 and fussed a little because I didn’t wake him up earlier.  I could not sleep much during my time off but this time I did sleep.  I woke up about 4:30.  I was to go on watch about 4:30 but George told me he wanted to give me some extra time to sleep as well, but we were in the Gulf Stream and I wanted to see how fast we were going.  We were hitting over 9 knots.  I know you power boaters don’t think that is fast but it is for us.  We were just off the Florida coast.  I felt a little easier because I was closer home.  I started my watch and was a little uneasy because of the speed.  The waves had been on our beam most of the trip so it was what I call a rolly polly ride, and I was not used to going that fast in a rolly polly sea.  Our cell phones worked and as we were coming closer to Ft. Pierce Jack called.  Scott had picked him up in St. Simons and he was to help get the boat back up to Brunswick.   I was to get in the car with Scott and we were going to see my brother.  We did not realize it but our sailing skills were to be tested one more time. The inlet to Ft. Peirce was very rough when returned due to an outgoing tide. At the entrance the seas were about six feet tall. We could only make 1.5 knots instead of our normal 6 knots due to all of the current. George was at the helm and was afraid the current was going to take control of the boat and turn it around. We were meeting a sailboat under sail and there seemed to be someone in a red raft. George went between them and saw it was someone on a jet ski. He screamed, “My engine quit, throw me a line.” George knew our boat did not have enough power to fight the current and we would not be able to save him.  We might only make things worse by putting our lives and his in jeopardy.  George had to scream back “I can’t, I’m going to lose my boat but I will call sea tow.” When George called Sea Tow, a power boater called back that he had him in sight and would assist him. Sea Tow came anyway and so did the Coast Guard.

We docked at about 1:30 PM which concluded a 30 hour passage. Customs told us to come by the airport after we had lunch.  Scott and I finally left about 4:00 PM to start our 8 hour trip back home.  George and Jack were to try to go on the outside and get back to Brunswick on Tuesday morning.  This meant that George would have to be on a three hour shift for another 48 hours.  Jack who had just finished a 55 hour run bringing his boat back would have to get back on our boat for another 48 hours.  I told Jack how much I appreciated him helping George get the boat back where I could get home to see my brother a few days sooner. He told me that is what friends are for and with a little smile he said “you would do it for me wouldn’t you”. We both knew the answer to that. Sometimes thank you just does not seem to be enough to say.

I didn’t want my blog to end in such a sad way.  But I also didn’t want to just not mention my brother and our heart break.  We returned to be with him on Sunday.  He was home when we got to his house. He went to back to the hospital later that week and returned home on Thursday evening under Hospice care.  He passed away on Good Friday.  Jerry never wanted his wife or son to call and worry me.  He told me when I saw him that he felt he had shorten our trip.  I told him we had a great trip and that he was more important. This blog was a true blessing because by the time I got home Jerry was too sick for me to relate any of my stories from the trip. But I did not need to because he had been reading my blog and living the trip with me. He did love a good story and he loved going and doing things.  When we were in Ft. Pierce having so much trouble he advised me not worry about the Bahamas just enjoy where I was.  I will follow this advice and live in the moment each day and live life to it’s fullest.

 He was a true brother in all the ways you think of a brother being.  He picked on me, told on me, but he also motivated me and protected me, but most of all loved me and I loved him.  He was still trying to protect me even at the end of his life.  He faced death like a true Christian.  He said he didn’t want any soggy eyes. When I was little I would try to imitate Jerry.  When I die, I pray I will also be like my brother and face death with the confidence, peace and dignity that he did.  He will be sorely missed by all who knew him, especially his sister.

Jerry and his grand daughter, Carlie at my retirement party