The Dangers Of Distraction

ON WHAT CAN GO WRONG WHEN YOU GET JUST A TAD TOO FULL OF YOURSELF.

- Capt. Bill Pike

They say confession is good for the soul. So, in keeping with the apothegm, I am going to let fly a true humdinger—I mean something I am embarrassed by because, heck, I should be embarrassed by it, considering my age and the elevated state of consciousness to which I sometimes suspect I have arisen.

Let’s start with my good friend Bob, a big-time college football coach now retired. Besides being a continuing authority on gridiron happenings, Bob’s a lover of the outdoors, including waterborne activities that entail small boats and bass fishing. So why not introduce the old boy to the wiles of larger vessels, I asked myself. Why not give him a ride in my salty trawler, thereby imparting a whiff of true, bluewater seafaring?

Bob was game. And as we cast our lines off, with the intention of traveling a modest distance across a fair-sized bay to a modest anchorage for a modest lunch—keep introductory experiences manageably modest, I always say—Bob seemed genuinely intrigued, ready to enjoy and even learn.