We try, we really do.
Me, I devoted the bulk of my career to the Clean Water Act. My husband, he’s just cheap. But both of us are highly motivated when it comes to keeping our belongings on the boat. Yet whoosh goes the cockpit cushion off into a gale, and splash goes the plastic clothespin right from my hand.
Its one of those things that boat life does to you – you are confronted with all of your impacts. There is no “away”, and all of life becomes a pack in/pack out scenario. I started keeping a list of our lost items.
The response to losing is to go finding. Esoteric? Maybe. Guilt-driven? Yes.
Now we collect marine debris, (how much and what type depends on several factors) and deal with it. First it was plastic caps on the beach, then it was a torn beach ball in the parking lot.
Blue bandana is full of beach plastic.
Ultimately, I found myself on the bow with the boat hook snaring half-deflated balloons out of the open water.
Worn balloons and the boat hook.
Our list of lost items now has a second column for the things we have found. Can we come out ahead?
The last item that was lost from the boat, one of our best outdoor pillows, went over during our approach to Fairhaven, MA, where we are now. We straight up turned the sailboat around. If you sail you know that’s a pain in the butt and you don’t do that if you are going somewhere. That’s right, dear readers, we are officially performing man overboard drills on our own marine debris.
I guess the best we can hope for is to be both lost and found.
This is a sailboat embroidered onto a found beach ball.
PS. If you are wondering why my Instagram has gone silent, its because I dropped my phone in the water.
