Make Sure You go to Bars

My lovely wife is one of a kind. She has some advice for my solo sailing trip this fall. She wants me to make sure I go bars. Not just any bars, of course, but bars along the waterfront. Now most wives would not encourage their husbands to do that. My lovely wife is not like most women.

Her thinking is that sailors like to have a few drinks, especially after a long day on the water. By going to bars I'll have a chance to talk to others who spend time out on the water. They will have a pretty good idea on what the current conditions are like. If there are uncharted hazards in the waterway, they are going to know about them. Maybe they learned the hard way, but running aground on an unmarked shoal. After a few drinks they will want to talk about it. Bars can be a good source of that valuable commodity, local knowledge.

In my day to day life, I rarely go to bars. Maybe my lovely wife and I will occasionally meet up with friends in a bar. Rarely will I ever go to one alone. If by myself I'm more likely to go to a coffee shop. However, that's probably not where most boaters are going to be. Besides, most coffe shop people tend to stick to themselves. In bars, people have a few drinks and loosen up.

So I guess I'm going to have to budget more for beer. Hey, anything to make my lovely wife more comfortable about my trip.

-Sixbears