NOT THAT IT WAS LOVE

Meeting the girl of his dreams, they sail off into the sunset

NOT THAT IT WAS LOVE -----PART ONE OF FOUR PARTS-----

She was a tiny little girl, about 5'2", 110 lbs, long brown hair with lots of natural waves , great gray eyes and a smile that lit up my life.
I was interviewing girls to crew my 30' Catalina sailboat. Don`t think I am peculiar for that. Women are the greatest sailors on the sea, in my humble opinion. Most of these girls were students at U.C. Berkeley, had developed a love for sailing and just wanted to keep their hand in. If you stop sailing you tend to get soft and these kids did not want softness.
In case you had`nt heard, next to bull riding, sailing will beat the hell out of the toughest man or woman like you would`nt believe.
I had found three very capable , experienced young women, but Lisa was totally without experience. I should`nt have signed her, but she had some quality I could`nt resist. Maybe it was the fact that I thought she liked me a little more than the others. Hers was not the dime store smile, she had a warmth about her that made your chest ache and you wanted to comfort and protect her. That is a kick, because for all of her diminutive size, she was tough as a little wild cat.
We pulled out of the marina in Alameda for a trial run, while the others were trimming sails, manning the tiller and other chores, I sat amidships
in order to better view the action. Lisa sat beside me and very close. Several times I asked her to perform chores on the boat and finally had to
explain the function of the boat and crew. No one could be treated special. Each crew-person had a job and they had to work as a team.
She found a way and I had no resources to object, you see I had fallen hopelessly in love with Lisa almost from first glance. Or, was it lust ?
I guess only time would tell.
Why am I telling you this story anyway ? Because , nearly four years later I have stumbled on to the reincarnation of Lisa, here on MySpace.
Sad, glad, you will have to decide. You see, when I saw the picture of this girl on MySpace, that old ache started and I knew immediately what it was.
Be careful of her , I told myself, you are in grave danger.
You may have noticed that I said , "a reincarnation of Lisa", which would
suggest the only love I have ever known , had died. We continue.
Lisa was no tramp, although you may think she acted like one, she was an
"A" student at the University in a major that I could not even pronounce, she came from a fine Mid-Western family, unmarried, unspoiled, but you may have guessed, we spoiled each other for any other man or woman.
From the very beginning , although we had never had this problem in our lives before , we could`nt keep our hands off each other. At every opportunity aboard the boat, we held hands, I would caress her cheek, she would absent mindedly trail a finger over my abs. You know how it was !
If it was pure lust, there was no way to know, no grabbing, no insinuations, we just loved one another, the only mutual understanding of this kind I have ever known.
After several coastal trips with full crew, Lisa pointed out that we could handle the boat , just the two of us.
The two of us handling a 30' foot boat was no great achievement , what turned out difficult , for two people from religious backgrounds, straight reputations and the will to do the right thing, was to keep from ruining our fabulous friendship by an early sexual coupling. When I fell asleep I would wake to find Lisa kissing my arm, soon it was hot, wet lips that never tired of each other. We fell asleep locked in a soulful kiss. We anchored off Angel Island and before we could get the anchor out we found ourselves in the cockpit cushions. At other times outside the gate, in a broad reach in heavy winds, under full sail, we would loose ourselves in the cabin. We never tired , we consumed each other and in all this feverish , passionate love making, I loved her desperately and she returned my love with fervor.
I just knew that life would be meaningless without Lisa and yet we , each of us were as independent and individual as two people could be.
We had talked to people who had made the run to Cabo San Lucas, "the Baja run" and we were excited with the idea.
We started making plans to catch a North wind on the trip to
Baja, then after sightseeing and laying around the boat for a couple of weeks , start the broad reach to Kaoai , in the Islands. The return trip from Cabo, via the coast route is a nerve wracking and dirty trip, close hauled against Northers all of the way, but to Hawaii , we could count on about 2200 miles of strong winds as we sailed West by North, then
coming back to San Francisco, would be another broad reach.
Our relationship, it was understood by now, was going to culminate in marriage, neither of us saw anything in the future without the other.
Finally plans culminated in setting sail South down the Coast.
Two weeks of blissful sun and the paradise we knew in each other, we had supplied our boat again and set out for the Hawaiian Islands. The third day, about 250 miles West of Baja , California , on a relatively calm day, swells of twenty feet and a warm Norther, we fell asleep on the forward deck, as usual, with Lisa wrapped in my arms, her sweet face pressed to my chest, rocked by the Ocean and caressed by the warm breeze. Lisa mumbled something about the head
(the bath room), the sun was getting low on the horizon, a slight chill on the air, I went to find Lisa. She was gone !
No sign of her on the boat. I immediately put out a Mayday
call and several boats and ships responded, circling the last
twenty five miles we had sailed. No trace of Lisa was ever
found.

Reviews

[Iota]

Thank God for face book and reconnecting :) I normally don't read stories but I found this one easy to read as it flowed along nicely with just enough details and images without making it boring. Plus I love first person reads. I thought Lisa was going to break his heart but the fact she vanishes gives me the mystery I need to keep reading. Nice job.

[Kaela]

I am really attuned to this piece. The emotions, the fervor, the passion. I've felt them all. For the first time ever I identify with a piece that I have not written myself.

[Eagle Cruagh]

NOTICE:
tHIS IS WHERE ALL THE ISLAND STORIES BEGINS.
#2 is VISITATION
#3 is THE ROSE
#4 is 6000 MILES UNDER THE STARS

[Marie Harrison]

What? You can't do that to me! I want to know more. What a captivating story. I enjoyed the details of the story. I like to sail too. Very fun read.

[Broken Girl]

Very sad, very deep. Not sure rather to smile at the happiness, or cry over the sadness. Emotional. Great write!

[emmajoy]

You know, I think I read this before and am very surprised there's not comment from me.

Your writing is sad, exciting, interesting, mesmerising in this .. you've constructed or described two quite similar people.. that is psychologically, in spite of physical differences and brought them together in a very special relationship. At a certain point I could see and feel great and wonderful things happening into a future together.. then .. gone. A tragedy within a few sentences, heartbreaking ..

As to your descriptions of the area you sailed in .. they're exceptional, you must know it well .. your words seem to embrace the atmosphere of it.

This is a wonderful story, has everything but the ending leaves me so sad ..

[Katseye]

I liked this very much, and I don't normally go for the romance type stories. I find I want to know more. What happened to lisa, and who is this girl on facebook, and what happens between them?

[Norma M Sutton]

Very nice. This has a dreaming/longing quality to it that is hard to write about and get across as such. Good job.

[A.Lee]

This is really interesting. It leave me wondering what happens next. How did she disappear? I love the way you painted Lisa's picture. Stories are hard to get comments on, but I found this one to be really intriguing.

[Ephialtes Jones]

It is interesting. The scales within the hearts and minds of men are often not tilted hard enough to judge until loss is placed on one side or the other. Get the feeling that Lisa became far more important after she vanished. Sadness rings out. I really liked Lisa's flawed character. Knowing that she was imperfect gave even more gravity to the loss. Gave her a fuller essence.

Well written.