Finding Safe Harbor
There is a calmness in the air today as my mind starts to regather its pieces. Although the storm is not over, the winds are changing meaning so too is the weather. Oh how I can physically relate so many experiences in life to events taking place today.
I close my eyes and see the finite streaks for sunlight piercing their way through the black clouds as I battle the huge waves to bring my boat and it’s crew to a safe harbor. That safe harbor was not a normal port, but a small bay accessed by a channel of water. A channel only deep enough to get my boat safely though at high tide.
Planning this escape form this violent and menacing storm took timing and focus, for if either were amiss, then the boat and her crew would most certainly be lost. I needed to fight the waves a few more hours in order for the tide to reach it’s height. The galley on the boat was now being tossed all over and the crew sick with fear. My grip on the wheel was that of an eagle capturing a fish from the lake and each wave that crashed over the bow tried so desperately to knock it from me taking control.
The time had finally come, the water had reached its height and I was exhausted. The challenge I faced was to pilot that 37 foot fishing boat through a storm swept channel laced with rocks the was no wider than 25 feet. Entering into the mouth of this channel was like entering into a fire breathing dragon and the reality was we either made it or we didn’t, there were no other options.
To hold that kind of emotional endurance, to face such a challenge knowing life or death were the outcomes changes a person. The adrenaline serge is monumental, the clarity of mind is at the maximum it has ever been and the courage to overcome this unstoppable.
Time seemed to almost stop as I maneuvered that boat into that turbulent mouth. At one point the port side window kissed the ocean so hard I thought it would shatter as we were tossed violently about. As I pushed the throttle we moved deeper into the channel and the deeper we went the calmer the water started to become. Finally, we had reached a place where we felt somewhat safe, but the storm forced winds were not over, So I instructed the crew to take ropes and doning their dive suits to swim ashore and tie the boat to tress that surrounded this little bay. My thought was we could easily be blown into the rocks even in this calm bay and setting anchor is not reliable enough to offer the security I needed.
Now, with the boat secured on all four corners my crew and myself started to clean up the mess within the galley and wheelhouse. After all was re stored, we made a brilliant pot of coffee and sat calmly playing cards until the storm finally passed a day later.
We all go through storms in life, I of all people understand. But sometimes, we need to battle that storm until the tide is right and you can safely find shelter….And that my friends is the moral of this very true story.