Solo Crossing: A Sailing Romance Story by M. L. Buchman

Author:M. L. Buchman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Buchmann Bookworks, Inc.

5

Crossing out of the storm toward Hawaii

For the three days of the storm Ron hadn’t been able to keep down anything more solid than a fruit drink. It wasn’t seasickness. His gut was simply wound in such a hard knot that it couldn’t take in anything new.

The sea anchor, resisting the storm, had kept his drift in check. In those three days Brise had covered the same distance she would normally sail in eight hours.

Made it through. Safe past the storm.

After an hour spent fighting the sea anchor back aboard, he’d collapsed in simple exhaustion. For six hours straight the boat bobbed and weaved on the confused seas left behind by the storm, while he slept as if he had died in the storm.

This time he did wake up on the floor of cockpit where the motion of an unruly wave had tossed him.

Getting underway again, he began the four-thousand-kilometer haul on to Hawaii as the sky cleared and the seas settled. His course now lay well south of most shipping lanes. All the big boats had the power and urgency to ignore the best currents and winds as they simply powered along the shortest-distance great circle routes from Asia to America and back. Out here between Mexico and Hawaii, there were few intruders besides the recreational sailors.

He’d slept twenty of the next twenty-four hours and came out of it feeling half human and utterly famished.

He’d weathered his first major storm at sea, a big one. On his own. It had been utterly terrifying at times, but also good. Well…survivable.

Sure, I can solo around the world. I’m good enough. No prob!

Talk about a fall from smugness. Brutal fucking storm.

He’d survived it as he would survive the collapse of his career. This was good. Maybe a fresh start was what he needed. Time away to…do…something.

For the next ten days he had plenty to keep him busy. Drying out and repacking the sea anchor. Two of the rigging lines had taken bad chafing during the storm. As he replaced them, he was able to figure out why. One he was able to fix himself, the other one he’d need to hit a marine supply store in Hawaii so that it wouldn’t happen again.

He’d thought his life’s possessions had been well stowed below. Half had been. Half had ended up flung about the cabin. As he’d waded through the mess to sort it out, he wondered why he’d thought most of it was so important.

Embrace the new life! Alice fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Well, he’d climb back out before he got lost again.

He began a give-away pile on the settee.

The table stood in the middle of the cabin, less than a foot wide with both leaves folded down. Raised, it reached the curved settee for four to sit at one side and the straight bench for three to sit on the other. He’d spent most nights on the latter, a single-wide berth he could pitch into still fully clothed not three steps from the base of the ladder to the cockpit.

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