Personnel Change

Lindsay came to me from The landing School in Maine, a mecca of sorts for boat people, where she was just finishing a program in Marine Systems. She has a boating background, and now the academic training. What she wants is to learn what it is really like, and to get out there and start doing it. She saw that she could sail back from Bermuda with me. . . . . and . . . .she caught an airplane to Bermuda and she came aboard last week. Something I really want is to pass on some of the knowledge and experience that I have gained over years on the water, and to share with someone else the adventures, big and small, that I experience. She wants to get experience, and to know what the adventure is all about. We made a good match. For the past week I have been putting her in situations where she was learning about the boat, me, the marine arts, and the boating community. She has become competent and independent in the dinghy. She is an excellent person to have on board. She is also observant, wants to learn, and comfortable to share close quarters with. She is from Minnesota, and commented once that she was shy and not an outgoing person. So she came on board. I took her to the Rally to the Cup social gatherings and encouraged her to get to know the other people here. She is not shy anymore, at least not with boat people. What she has discovered- - - is other women. That realization, and those friendships with other sailing women, has changed her goals and expectations.
Today she is with a woman crew aboard Avocation, and this evening having dinner with two other women in the fleet. And what she has realized is that she does not have to suffer the discomfort, hardship and indignities of being jammed into a small boat with a man she doesn't know, but she can be on a more comfortable boat, and in the company of an experienced woman. So Lindsay is not going to sail back to the US with me, she is following her own direction, and sailing for Antigua. Fair well and good sailing Lindsay. I have lost someone with whom I can share an adventure, but she has gained a new life.
Bill Doar
s/v Advent II