On Internet Access, and Other Joys of Boat Life.

Monday, August 27, 2007
2130 hours

Most of the time, my only access to the internet these days is through the ship's computer, which has one of those Verizon cards which works just about anywhere but only gives you a certain number of minutes per month (after which there's a per-minute charge, what is this, 1988?). This obviously limits my access quite a bit. Occasionally some generous land-dwelling soul will allow me to use a home or office computer. This is really really nice. However, it's generally just enough time to catch up on some correspondence, not enough to read anybody's blog. So I have no idea what most of you other bloggers are up to.

However, due to some fancy equipment brought by a generous volunteer, the Lady Washington is currently a wireless hotspot. Here in Tacoma, we are moored next to the Lady. This means that if you take your laptop out on the deck of the Hawaiian Chieftain while the wireless thingy is active, you can actually get a fairly decent connection. (Below decks, not so much; the Chieftain has a steel hull.) This has been really really really nice. Unfortunately, said volunteer will be taking his technology home with him at the end of the month. Also unfortunately, it's cold outside, so I'm writing this in my bunk and will run up on deck to post it when I'm done.

I've been lucky enough to have several friends come out to sail with me on the boats recently. Some even drove long distances to do so. It's fun to show people (meaning, people I know) what it is that I'm doing out here. I mean, not all the hours that I spend punching numbers into the computer and growling, but the other things. Things I don't think twice about anymore, but which would have amazed me a year and a half ago: things like belaying and coiling a line, or knowing which line to go to when the mate calls out commands, and what will happen if I haul on it or let it go. Or going aloft. I do still think twice about going aloft, but my second thought these days is usually "I am so cool right now."

A friend of mine back home, after finding out that I have to wear a costume for this job, said, "Oh, now I get the appeal." This struck me as odd, particularly the implied assumption that the clothes are the best part. For the record, I'm not actually all that jazzed about the 18th-century clothing. It gets in the way of sailing. I'm not an actor, and I'm not a re-enactor. I'm a sailor.

My job as purser is how I pay for the sailing. As purser, I'm in charge of accounting for all the money that is spent and received by the boat. This is a little ironic because I've managed to avoid math classes since midway through high school. In retrospect, that wasn't such a good idea. If I were half as comfortable with numbers as I am with letters (I can alphabetize in my sleep, and probably have), or if I'd ever taken a single accounting class in my life, I'd have been a lot less intimidated by all this paperwork. As it is, it's taken me quite some time to get used to it. One thing I learned the hard way was that I can really only deal effectively with spreadsheets when I'm not tired, hungry, dehydrated, or aching. This means not after sailing. With that and a few other lessons under my belt, I hesitantly claim that I'm actually getting kinda good at this now -- not as good as I'd like to be, but good enough that my hair is no longer in danger of being torn out every time I try to assemble an income report for the seaport office.

So there's sailing, and there's pursing, and there's various chores inbetween, and there's living in a steel box with a cast of genuinely interesting characters, and a dozen new things to learn every day, and taken as a whole this job is challenging and satisfying on every level: physical, mental, emotional, relational, and yes, spiritual too.

With all of that going for me, if my internet cravings are not satiated, well, I guess I can deal.