One Minute You're On Top Of The Ocean and The Next

The other day while I was feeling on top of the world, I got that funny feeling. You know the one. The one that asks, ‘what’s coming next?’ I’m always waiting for the ‘other shoe’ to drop. Like the one that follows the statement, “you really are a nice fellow BUT……” At that point my primordial genes kick in…I find that I immediately suck in my stomach and tighten my muscles, the little hair on the back of my neck sticks straight out, I feel my face beginning to turn red as my blood pressure takes off  and I half hold my breath in anticipation for what is about to follow the ‘BUT.’

 

While not affecting me personally I recently I observed this ‘optimism/pessimism’ part of daily life. We where fishing off of Destin, Florida.  The red fish where lining up to take our offerings. It was great fun.  But we had used up our supply of bait fish. So the Charter Captain quickly grabbed a pole and dropped it over the gunnel. Quicker than you can say, ‘here, here little fishy we had a bunch.’ Quick as a flash he grabbed one thrashing off of his line, put it on my hook and I dropped it 40 feet to the bottom of the East Pass leading into Choctawhatchee Bay. Immediately I got a hit and hauled a 25 pounder aboard. From the time that little fish hit the bait line, cleared the surface, to the time the red fish had swallowed it and was hauled to the surface, was less than 2 minutes. I keep thinking about that particular bait fish…one minute fat and sassy, optimistically swimming along with your pals, just feeding off whatever the incoming tide has to offer for your dinner and the next instant you’re, pessimistically, inside the stomach of some bigger fish being hauled back to the surface. Geeez.

 

To sailors it happens all too often. One minute you’re on top of the world and the next minute the world is sitting on you. Steven Callahan, an intelligent and hardworking young man who built a 21 foot sailboat and put to sea. Nothing unique about that, lots of young and not so young,  men have done that. What makes Steven Callahan special was that one minute he was comfortably below, steering his boat from a special seat that gets him out of the wind and blowing spray, chatting on the radio, jotting notes, cooking up a mess of potatoes and onions and the next his whole life is turned upside down, his precious Napoleon Solo is sinking and he grabs his ditch bag and inflates his Avon. He has just embarked on 76 day journey of personal challenge. One minute he’s on top of the ocean and the next he’s headed to the bottom of it!

 

Even big boat sailors face the possibility. On the night of 13 January 2012, the pride of the Italian cruise industry, the Costa Concordia, was cruising along carrying 4,252 souls. One minute it was all rosy and the next minute it was all noisy as she torn a 300 foot long gash on her starboard side. 32 people lost their lives.

 

The Captain, Francesco Schettino, who had been entertaining a  female passenger quickly abandoned her, his ship, his passengers and crew to fend for themselves. He is currently standing trial for manslaughter and has brought disgrace onto the Italian merchant marine.

 

Here’s the point, like my bait fish, happily swimming along one minute, the next taking the bait, being hauled to the surface, put on another hook and dropped 40 feet into the mouth of a red fish….life ain’t always fair. Sailors Steve Callahan and Captain Schettino now know that. Callahan had crossed the ocean solo before. Schettino was at the top of his particular ‘food chain’ and now the whole world is about to put him in chains.

 

So the next time everything is going along wonderfully for you, keep a weather eye to windward because the ‘other shoe’ is always out there; always ready to drop!

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Dick Sorensen doesn’t have to worry about any maritime mis-adventures since he sold his beloved WaterDog. He’s boatless. So the next time you see him, give him a pat on the head and tell him it’s going to be alright. To read more of his ramblings visit his restaurant blog ColumbusChow.Blogspot.com.