Superman

Teresa Carey Words 13 Comments

When I was on the high school track team, during warm-ups we did an exercise called “Superman” perhaps because we became super strong from the exercise, or because if we donned a red cape and propped a fan in front of us we would be a flock of Supermans “flying” across the gym floor. Imagine fifty teenagers lying on their belly with arms and legs extended toward the sky and wriggling about like an overturned beetle struggling to right itself. Its supposed to strengthen your back, but I can think of better ways to strengthen my back. I think my back got quite a bit stronger when I weighed my two anchors this morning. But before weighing anchors, I was wriggling like an overturned beetle.

The engine “room” aboard Daphne isn’t a room at all. It isn’t even a crawl space. If it were a crawl space, I would be on my hands and knees changing the oil, but instead I was on my belly, arms stretched out in front of me. One hand holding the bottle of oil, the other holding the funnel. My tummy was supported by the lowest step of the companionway, which left my legs, extending as high into the air as possible to keep me balanced in such a way preventing me from tipping back and spilling the oil down my arm.

After I poured the oil into engine I retrieved my mirror from the head. Again on my belly, with one hand holding the mirror in the small space above the engine, the other hand held the oil fill cap and fished around to find the hole. “Lets see, in the mirror everything is opposite. Port is starboard, and fore is aft…” When I finally closed the cap, I looked back and saw a red cape on my shoulders. “Good,” I thought, “I’ll need that superhuman strength when I weigh the anchors.”

Hurricane Ida sent several days of winds and pelting rain in my direction. I waited for two days, hiding from the elements in my little cabin. On the third day it was forcasted to subside. Worried that two days would turn into too many more, I decided that I would leave the following day, regardless. So, awake at 0500, with the oil changed, boots, bibs, and foul weather jacket on, I began weighing the anchors.

Comments 13

  1. Rick Barlow

    Verse 1

    Anchors Aweigh, my boys
    Anchors Aweigh
    Farewell to college joys
    We sail at break of day, day, day, day
    Through our last night ashore
    Drink to the foam
    Until we meet once more
    Here’s wishing you a happy voyage home!

    Bridge

    Heave a ho there! sailor
    Ev’rybody drink up while you may
    Heave a ho there! sailor
    For you’re gonna sail at break of day
    Drink a-way, Drink a-way,
    For you sail at break of day, Hey!

    The USN Academy…go figure?
    I like the “drinkin'” focus though…

  2. Ricardo

    Great to see you underway Teresa.I know why as a teenager I was required crew on my parents yacht,yes I was the “Anchor Wallah” but tell me where did you depart from and what is your destination.How does Dory like his travels ?

  3. Post
    Author
    Teresa

    Ricardo,
    Dory doesn’t seem to mind. He hasn’t complained yet. He likes it best when birds and bugs land on Daphne. He is very good at stalking, now I just have to teach him to pounce!
    I left New England in October and am headed South. I know where that is when I get there!

  4. Rick Patton

    Hi Teresa, Like the picture. You look a little cold with those red cheeks. Are you proceeding on the ICW or open water?

    Rick Patton

  5. Post
    Author
    Teresa

    Rick, I have gone in the ICW and open ocean. I just finished a 36hr passage on open waters. Its great! But the ICW is very helpful, especially when the winds are not favorable.

  6. Christina

    Being a non-boat woman, I don’t know if weighing the anchors truly means determining the amount an anchor weighs or even why you would need to weigh the anchors. Can you educate me on weighing the anchors?

  7. SailingSimplicity

    Christina,
    Weighing the anchor is nautical terminology for simply bringing the anchor up from the sea floor onto the boat. It can be easy or difficult depending on how hard the anchor is stuck into the sea floor. On this particular day, I had two anchors set because the winds were so strong. And, because of the strong winds, there was more windage on the boat therefore more pressure on the anchors, which in turn dug deeper into the sea floor and were VERY stuck. It took me over an hour to get both anchors aboard.
    Teresa

  8. SailingSimplicity

    Adriftatsea,
    I have a 35lb Bruce with 120ft of chain, and a 35lb Plow with 20ft of chain and 200ft of rhode. Both have been excellent so far. I also have a Danforth stowed in a locker that I haven’t used yet.
    Teresa

  9. Christina

    Teresa,
    I used my new found knowledge about weighing an anchor in a poem. I’m taking a creative writing class and we had to write a poem and I threw in weighing the anchor. Its not a great poem but here it is.

    The Storm

    In the middle of a storm
    We watch the waves form

    We shouldn’t come in
    Unless we know we can win

    Instead we should drop anchor; Wait it out
    Except the rain pelts cause cracks of doubt

    Time passes and the light becomes dim
    If we go in now would it be on a whim?

    Weigh the anchor
    Boy, what a chore

    We surge across the lake
    And my body starts to shake

    As the boat tosses and pitches
    We land in between the wave ditches

    Adreline surges
    And fear emerges

    I’m not a sailor
    Yet we get the boat on the trailer.

    It took multiple tries
    While the waves continued to rise

    Once up on land, out comes the sun
    Making us question what we had done

    We shouldn’t have come in
    Since we didn’t feel we did win

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