Adventures of Popeye

At 12 years old he decided he was going to sail on tall ships. Not that he "wanted to sail on tall ships," but that he was "going to sail on tall ships." You know, like 1800's style brigantines and schooners - a very tiny portion of the world he was determined to be a part of.

At 13 he began learning by doing in a small old-time slice of the world of bygone days where you can still learn through apprenticeship. Every summer since, he's sailed on the Great Lakes as part of a youth sail training program. Every winter he paid his dues sleeping weekends in an icy harbor in Lake Ontario while doing boat maintenance and repair. He worked his way up through the ranks until becoming first mate this past summer aboard "Playfair" of Toronto Brigantine Inc. Some of you know his story. It continues...

This fall he joined the crew of "Pride of Baltimore" and  sailed up the St. Lawrence, past Montreal, Quebec City, and out to the Atlantic Provinces. They continued sailing down the Atlantic coast as a hurricane threatened them as it moved up the coast toward them, its outer fringes pouring 5 inches of rain on them in one day. They danced around it as best they could and headed for safe harbor in New York City.

While at sea, there is no communicating with him. Our kid becomes reduced to a red dot on a maritime map that indicates where his ship is located at any given time. As his parent, that red dot affirms safety and security and the fact that despite any worries, the ship is still afloat. Helplessly, we watched it skirt the hurricane while we awaited the red dot's arrival in New York harbor.

Finally, one day the red dot arrived safely. Phew! Relief! Two days later he called. "We're in port. I can see the Statue of Liberty! Where the World Trade Center used to be is just up the street...  We're at the end of Wall Street!  It's bizarre!"

So there's my son, harbored where Wall St. meets the sea as the stock market plummets and endures a nightmare crash. Bizarre, indeed.

"What's it like there on Wall Street?" I asked.

"A bunch of crazy, angry people," he said.

There's my boy, now an adventuring 19 year old young man, sitting on the edge of America on a tall ship while the golden street turns to rust in an odd play of contrasts.

Two days later they sailed on, and a couple of days after that he called again. "I only have a minute to talk. I just wanted to tell you about the race! We just got into port a couple of hours ago."

They had just completed winning the "Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race." He was geeked and high on adrenaline, talking fast and excited: "We were neck and neck with the schooner Virginia for 14 hours! First we would take the lead and steal their wind and then they would take the lead... We were never more than a boat length apart for 14 hours! We were doing all sorts of sailing tricks - some of 'em kinda risky."

My knee-jerk parent response was: "Why were you guys doing risky tricks?"

"It was a race, Dad!"

"Oh, yeah...."  and once again I was reminded how powerless over the safety of our children, or anyone we love, we ever are.

Barely catching his breath he rushed on: "We were sailing hard when all of a sudden a big gust came up and snapped the main sail of the Virginia. We pulled out ahead of them and won the race!"

I could hear his crew-mates in the background talking excitedly. He was talking with them and then suddenly back to me saying, "I've gotta go. We've got the afternoon off. We're off to explore Portsmouth," and in a flash he was gone again...

I once heard someone say, "With the world the way it is now, if you're not living life on the edge, you're probably taking up too much room." Popeye is one who takes up little room. Sometimes I think some of the lessons learned in his teenage years through sailing and enduring storms, especially  the storm at home of having a suddenly seriously ill father, taught him about living life on the edge and how much each day counts. Really counts. A lot. Squeezing the most juice out of every single day, not taking up too much room, and living on that passionate edge, has carried him through many a storm, out the other side, and onto the next adventure.

As only a seasoned sailor can, he's reassured his fretful Pops many a time saying, "All storms pass, Dad" -- a helpful thing to remember when living life on the edge.