How it began, for me...

Call it a quarter life crisis of sorts, if you like. Sailing has always been a bit of a passion for me with inspiration coming from both my father and my uncles and grandfather on my mom´s side of the family; so, I was more than a little excited to read that Powell needed a crew member for his voyage to Australia. I received the mass-email days after a breakup and during a period which was particularly trying for me with my business partner relationship as well, so I made some last minute arrangements with my roommate, to send out house payments, and my business partner, to keep some ownership of the company when I returned. The days over the Christmas holiday during which the Enchantress was making her way from Turtle Bay to Cabo San Lucas seemed to drag by as I eagerly anticipated the arrival of the crew so I could announce that I was ready to go to the Pacific. With as much support as I could ask for from my family, whom I spent Christmas with in Baton Rouge and changed their post-Christmas travel plans around to see me off from Boone, and more than a little jealousy from my dad, I packed furiously and read packing lists, repacked and finally amassed about 160lbs of books, clothes, gear, electronics and some food. The weight was staggering as I made my way into the departure terminal to check in at Charlotte-Douglas International airport. I dropped my bags at the counter and reached for my passport but I´d left it on the dash of Matt´s 4runner. Amazingly, the woman at the counter agreed to watch my bag for a few minutes so I ran outside in time to see Matt turning up the exit ramp. Fortunately for me, Matt noticed immediately and circled back around to tell me 'you wont be getting very far without these...,' and I went back inside to a smooth check-in. Whew.... The flights went uneventfully and the people I spoke with on the planes and in the DFW airport bar couldn´t believe what I was setting off to do. I barely could either. More later on my arrival in Cabo and the passage to the Galàpagos Islands.