Catastrophizing

It seems like everyone is catastrophizing these days. Typically framed in a negative light during therapy sessions, catastrophizing isn’t all bad, thinks Mel.  Human evolution seems to favor those of us who are creative enough to come up with all sorts of tragic scenarios and then preload action plans to deal with them. Mel is particularly gifted in this regard, and Greg is particularly gifted at talking Mel down from over-prepping by using annoying tools, such as science and statistics. Nevertheless, keeping with the spirit of the times, Mel recently audited and restocked their inherited ditch bag.

The particular scenario that inspires ditch bag stocking is, of course, the boat being consumed by an unstoppable fireball, perhaps started by a rocket gone off course in a world war, in the middle of the ocean, 3000 miles from land.  A flaming inferno is basically one of the very few scenarios that could sink a Leopard 48, which has these beautiful things in it called “bulkheads” that constrain the calamity and allow it to float on air pockets should it encounter a more limited disaster, such as flipping, or a hull breach.  In the fireball scenario, our dinghy has exploded/melted, and the only things we have are the ditch bag and life raft.

So what’s in our ditch bag?  Well, first, silver sulfadiazine cream.  For all of the burns. Additionally, we have assembled a lot of things recommended in the handy checklist that came with the bag, supplemented a bit by some of cruising guru Carolyn Shearlock’s excellent recommendations.

And, of course, no ditch plan would be complete without a checklist.  This mainly consists of things to gather at the last minute that normally don’t live in the ditchbag.  This is ordered by priority, beginning with “Water” and ending with, “Dry bag with clean underwear”.  This list is informed by experience, as the Burnetts are not unfamiliar with ditching.

Some unanticipated downsides come from disaster prepping. For one, deciding what to purchase stirs up all the stressful logic of buying expensive insurance – you kiss a lot of money goodbye, you do not get something tangible immediately for it in return, and then you hope you never need to cash it in.  Madness! In addition, based on our recent “Top picks for you”, Amazon thinks Mel is about to hide in a rented shack in the mountains and embark on projects in which she might cut off her arm.  So now she has to fight off targeted advertising. Scanning the enticing list, one realizes that most preppers are just getting back to what humanity has done for centuries: live off the land like other creatures of the earth, with the human addition of technology that increases the chances of survival.  Technology such as solar panel phone chargers, apparently…hmmmm…Add to cart.

With the ditch bag stocked, the Burnetts are that much closer to safely crossing the Pacific.  Mel needs this positivity right now, as delightful September has faded into menacing October, her shorts are in the “Off season clothes” dry bag, and her feet are about the same temp as the cold water surrounding her poorly insulated fiberglass boat.  Also, Mel is pissed off that walking through a home store was a futile exercise that made her regret her life choices…for ten seconds. Hand-blown glass pumpkins and a 12-foot skeleton have no place on a boat. Plus, she is having to endure the colder weather of October without some of its comforts, like planting marigolds and firing up the fireplace.  Hmmm, maybe she can get one of those tabletop fireplaces?

Mel thinks she knows how the inferno will happen.