My friends hosted  a rum fuelled sailors send off complete with pirate napkins, a sailboat centre piece, 5 different ways to drink rum and an evening filled with much laughter and nautical story telling.

Our host had prepared a Bon Voyage Cocktail menu that featured rum quite heavily.  Many of us arrived at the party as non rum drinkers  but that would be a hard title to claim after the sailors send off.  

 A friend and former BC Ferries captain spoke about crossing the Atlantic on a ship and encountering 60 knot winds and 30 foot swells.  As he was speaking I was trying to imagine a 30 foot wall of water coming barreling towards us followed by another one and another one and another one as we make our way in our little 40 foot boat.

As you probably already know from fluid dynamics waves travel in sets of 14 with the middle one being the biggest.  Typically in a group of waves the 7th is the biggest.  I imagined myself at the helm in the pitch black, possibly wondering what the hell I had got myself into or possibly thinking, this is fantastic and feeling more alive than ever while counting in the darkness to make sure the 7th wave doesn’t hit us broadside.

…and then we all tried the third rum cocktail and shared more stories of boating adventures and misadventures.  It was a perfect sailors send off including a very fun and thoughtful package that has me prepared for every eventuality under the Sun or moon.

Wisely we all wrapped up and went home before the sea shanties started.