Evanston: lip
Evanston: lip
Yesterday afternoon for no particular reason other than that I have not seen my upper lip for thirty years, I shaved off my mustache.
The last time I did this was while sailing CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE between Bali and Singapore. I noted then that the boat, which had not been moving well, immediately picked up speed proving once again that it always pays to reduce windage aloft.
A scar may be noticed on the left side of my lip in the current photo, which is the right side of my face. It is deep and more prominent with side lighting.
In the late and unlamented days of wire halyards, they ran to reel halyard winches which were usually mounted on the mast. A small lever released the brake. In order to lower a sail slowly and not snarl the wire on the reel, it was necessary to have a handle in the winch. When you wanted to reef the mainsail, impressive pressure was suddenly applied to that handle as the brake was released. With a crew, it was prudent for one person to hold the winch handle with both hands while another released the brake. Solo it was one hand on each.
Although fully aware and prepared, once on EGREGIOUS the locked in winch handle spun out of my hand and hit me in the mouth, fortunately on the downward arc where it only split my lip. Had it been upward the damage would have been much worse. Broken teeth at least and possibly a broken jaw.
Ashore my lip would have required stitches. At sea it got a Band Aid and validated my observation that life is the process of turning baby smooth skin into scar tissue.
I haven’t had wire halyards on boats since EGREGIOUS.
I’m not certain, but I’m probably going to grow my mustache back.
Monday, June 6, 2011