Tres Amigos - 221 years of life experience, but can they still sail a sailboat on the ocean?
22 August 2021 | Warrenton, Oregon
Brian Stipak
Yes, 221 years of combined (73+74+74) life experience. But we all know that longevity does not guarantee sagacity. Plus we know that capabilities can diminish with age, and 221 years certainly gives plenty of time for diminishment. Plus look at the reality of what they are: 2 of them are on beta blockers, one had part of the quadriceps muscles removed and a metal rod placed in the femur, two of them have had cancer, one of them had heart failure and had heart surgery, plus more.
So WHAT are these ancient testaments to lost youth trying to do, anyway?
Well, they are all experienced and skilled sailors (or perhaps WERE), but one of them, Gary, has never sailed offshore. For Gary that is on his bucket list. Over several years Brian and Gary have talked about some big possible offshore trips, but those trips never happened. So this year Brian proposed to make an offshore trip together while they still can, and do a short one that they can do now.
So Brian, Gary, and Leslie are now - as I write this - overnighting in Brian's Pacific Seacraft 34 sailboat at the marina in Warrenton, Oregon, only a few miles from the Columbia River Bar. Early in the morning they will depart Warrenton to cross the bar, then turn south for an overnight sail to Newport, Oregon. After a rest day to recover, they intend to beat their way back up the coast, sailing against the prevailing winds and seas. They expect that return to take two nights.
But can they do it? Can three septuagenarians defeat the cruel diminishments and ravages of Father Time and his attendant cruel maladies? Are they just throwing themselves to their demise for the vanity of pretense that they still are what they are no longer, for not willing to admit to their septuagenerian disfunction?
If you want to learn the answer, can these septuagenarians prevail or not, then read my follow-up post. Or perhaps you will read my obituary instead. Either way, you will get your answer.