There are two liquids that are the sine qua non “waters" of sailboat refit. You would think that they would be fresh and salt. But no. They are a more ineffable kind of water, the kind that is used by God and Mammon.
Wine, the most conspicuous gift of agriculture, and its anthropomorphization in the form of a god whose blood has to be drunk or you simply won’t go to heaven.
And coffee, the universal solvent of business.
Archaeologists have come to the conclusion that humans invented agriculture in the first place so that they could cultivate the crops of inebriation that have to be tended year-round. You have to stay put to get drunk on a regular basis. That is how we got cities. Then bars.
But here at South Park Marina, we are eight feet up on a sailboat, clambering about, reaching and pushing and exerting considerable kinetic energy in one vector -- as we drive to WIN in the game of sailboat refit -- or at least settle for a nice cabin on the Sound -- while the opposing vector has the potential to break your neck. This indicates that the business liquid is to be used instead of the mystical one.
Coffee lets you be you while also being a little extra. It doesn’t take you to heaven — or at least start the journey on a stretcher in the boat yard.
My coffee source of choice is called Resistencia Coffee, just down the block, which doubles as a performing arts venue. Its proprietress, Cote, is, coincidentally also a sailor and will soon be a skipper, too, we hope. It is hard to transmit a flu virus with so much wind.
Here is Cote, whipping me up a brew.
