One of the great things about the cruising life is that it is so easy to approach, meet, converse and connect with other cruisers. It is not always so easy to connect with locals - the holy grail of cruising - but that is another subject entirely.

I find cruising, in this regard, similar to those first few months as a freshman in college. All that was necessary to begin a conversation with anyone was to cue up the list of standard questions:

Where are you from?
What dorm are you in?
What's your major?
What fraternity (or sorority) are you going to pledge?
Do you want to get high? (I never used that one but don't doubt that it was common)

In cruising there is a similar litany of questions but, unlike college, there is no statute of limitations. Ten years of cruising and I can still begin any conversation with things like:

Nice (say brand of boat here)! Have you had her long?
Did you bring the boat from (enter hailing port here)?
How long have you been cruising?
Where have you been?
Where are you going?
Where is the (market, laundromat, dinghy dock, chandlery, trash dumpster)?
Would you like to come over to Kelly Rae for cocktail hour tonight?
What is your/your spouse's name (Asked mostly as an afterthought when they have already agreed to cocktail hour)?

However, while you can start any conversation this way, sooner or later you must segue into something substantive. This is particularly true when your guests actually do arrive for cocktail hour.

This is where anchors, anchoring technique, anchor gear, anchor chain and/or rope rode and all the other nuances of the anchoring art come in. No cruiser's gathering of any type or duration can be considered complete or successful without long conversations on these issues. And, anchoring as a subject is always a safe one - unlike sex, religion or politics - not just to discuss but on which to evangelize, pontificate or preach, to express fanatical views and opinions or, conversely, just to timidly admit weaknesses and failings.

Does this sound horrible to contemplate? It's not! And that is because all of this expounding of fact and opinion is accompanied by anchorage stories intended to "prove" the speaker's point. Anchorage stories are always the best stories and incredibly diverse. There are stories about nights when we dragged, they dragged or all of us dragged. Stories about lost anchors, found anchors, saved boats, lost boats (those are not as fun) and even found boats. My own repertoire includes the time that the crewless boat anchored behind KR magically energized its electric windlass, raising her anchor, and tried to make a clean getaway (she was roped and tied up before escaping) or the time that the captain of the two-time dragging French boat was asked whether she was likely to drag again that night (The answer - complete with classic French full-body shrug, "Who can tell?") or the charter boat being captained by the head of a Bay Area sailing school which got loose in the anchorage and draped its dinghy painter around KR's bow - dinghy to port and big boat to starboard (that one was ironic!). I have a lot more stories as well - as does every cruiser - active or now land-bound. Stories that are worth telling and worth telling often.

All this raises the question - What do "normal" people talk about?

I really need to know!

With KR tied to a friend's dock - a friend from my Denver pre-cruising life - there is a need (and desire) for engaging conversation and it can't include anchoring. Land bound people don't relate well to stories of all night anchor watches. Then there will be the holidays in Colorado with extensive family time - all of whom being equally unable to engage in discussing the nuances of anchor design and performance. Thankfully, cruising friends Ken and Marilyn of Dream Ketch'r will be joining me at the cabin for a few days - a few days when there will be another, far more interesting, subject in common to discuss than Donald Trump. With anchoring as a potential topic conversational pressure will be blissfully relieved.

I've rattled on about talking about anchoring but haven't actually talked about anchoring. You might reasonably ask: "So, What's yours?" Thanks for asking. I would love to expound on the subject at length - but will save it all for cocktail hours to come. As a teaser, I will soon be replacing my aging CQR, which has been my primary anchor for the last 10 years, with a new Spade anchor.

That one bit of cruiser conversational esoterica alone will set me up with fodder for months of cocktail hours.

Best to all.

PS I would have included a picture with this post if it could possibly have shown something other than gray, cloudy, rainy and incredibly humid weather. What in the world is going on with Florida weather this year? By the time I get back from Colorado, I am expecting a significant crop of unique and interesting organisms to be ready for harvest from KR's interior. Might be good eating, though.

PPS OK, So I wasn't going to post a pic but then little Micah assumed this pose, a pose which so exactly reflects my own weather dampened attitude that I simply could not resist sharing it.