I posted a couple of days ago about a Viking-style overnight voyage which I was going to be taking part in. The plan has changed a bit; I won’t be attending. After thinking things over a bit more, I decided that I’m not experienced enough for it.
A few different bits of information:
- I’ve not been on Blackbird for quite a while. I don’t have an exact date in mind, but it’s been at least 6 months, and most likely quite a bit longer.
- I only recently learned how to swim. I’m definitely not a good swimmer, by any stretch of the imagination. A few months back on a camping trip, I lost my balance and fell off of a kayak. We were out on a very small, shallow lake. I panicked, floundering about like a drowning hobbit. When I think about how I would react if we capsized our boat on the Ohio, the picture is not pretty.
Taking these bits of information into consideration, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be part of a 3 man crew going down the Ohio river during the tail-end of October.
I hadn’t really thought of any of this until my mom, wife, and a friend all brought it up. Basically, the general consensus was, “This voyage is a bad idea. There needs to be more practice / experience / planning before you guys go on the Ohio river, particularly in late fall. The Ohio can be a really, really bad river. The weather can change instantly, and you can find yourself in big trouble.”
As they brought things up, my feelings about the voyage kind of did a U-turn. When the voyage had first been brought up, it sounded like a great time. Drop the boat into the Ohio and head off, just like the Vikings! I was suffering from what I have come to call Viking euphoria. The excitement over the voyage led me to not really think much. I was just giddy over the prospect of going on an overnight voyage. This euphoria blocked me from looking at some of the hard facts.
Cas mentioned this in her Sunday Roast:
One word sprang to mind when reading of Josh’s plans to sail a viking boat on the Ohio – why? Followed by a secondary thought that this boy is insane. Which was followed by “good, that’s perfect behaviour for one of my Minions.”
Humor aside, I think me going down the Ohio in late October in a small Viking faering is insane. As noted by my friend Grania, it’s just too big of a jump from what we’ve done before. While I’m probably being a worry-wart, there are just too many major “what if’s” that I feel haven’t been planned for adequately. That’s on top of the fact that I just don’t think I’m experienced enough for such an endeavor. Not yet. It’s not something that’s totally out of the question; I think in time, I’d be confident enough to do it. But that time hasn’t come around yet. I feel a bit bad, like I let the other 2 guys down; but as one of them noted, it’s a personal decision, based on risk vs. reward. I currently think the risk is a bit too high.
I’m not sure if the other two guys are going to try and still go; it’d certainly be doable, but probably more difficult than it would be with 3 crew members. However, on the up side, they’d have far more storage room.
In other, happier news, I’ll be attending a small Viking event this coming weekend. Some classes, some boating (on a lake, not the Ohio River!), and all around Viking fun. I won’t promise any pictures, because I probably won’t be dragging along my digital camera, but I’m sure there’ll be a story or two to tell, anyway.
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