What am I doing to myself?

I love little boats and sailing. And ‘suddenly’ I heard ‘everywhere’ that the exam for your small boating license is getting harder next year. And that you have to take a practical exam. Something that actually seems like a good idea to me when you consider the average beautiful day and the struggle in the lock at Loenen, but if I could skip it, that seemed like a better idea.

In Italy, we sometimes rent a little boat, but because Italians love official documents, stamps, and signatures, you are completely nowhere without a valid ‘patente nautica’ and thus you only get the slowest little boat with a wind force that hovers somewhere between 0 and 1. So after such a lovely day that left me wanting more, I suddenly signed up my dear beloved and myself for the small boating license course and boom, we immediately booked the exam afterwards. We have since completed the course (it took some getting used to, a day in the classroom, but it was great fun) and the exam hangs over my head like a huge thundercloud at wind force 8 (recognizable by the crests on the waves that start to break, as you can read on page 38 of the course book).

I dream about mooring and backflipping, I have arguments (well, arguments, arguments, words) about which way the back of the ship turns when you put a right-turning propeller in reverse and what the shortest turning circle is when you have a right-turning propeller. I also know that you should not use a fire blanket for a pan fire and that if you want to charge two parallel batteries, you need to set the switch to 12 volts. For series-connected batteries, you set the current to 24 volts, that should be clear.

I feel a bit like when I, in a fit of mental obscurity and bewilderment, said ‘yes’ to participate in The Smartest Person  and woke up months later soaked in sweat. Fortunately, my exam is on Thursday. Not fortunate in the sense that I am only on page 180 of the course book, but fortunate that I am almost done with it. Adeline On the left, the exam has already been passed and is just moving on to the Greek course because she liked it, that creaking little brain. So who knows, I might smoothly move on to the Maritime Radio course, just to name a side street.

You hear it. And think of me on Thursday at 1:00 PM.