A to Z Challenge - "N"

N as in "Not on my Watch!"

Despite our electronic gadgets, including radar, it is always practicing good seamanship to have a man on watch, especially at night. Often, it's a woman--especially when a couple is goes cruising. Then, it becomes paramount - and often the relationship (and sometimes the boat) suffers severely through sleep deprivation.

Here is a brief excerpt from AFTER THE CATACLYSM:

   The last thing Jonathan ever expected to happen to him was to drown on a sailboat anchored in a river. He looked at Sam and Maria, snuggled together, their lips moving. It took him a while to figure out that they were praying. He almost envied them their blind Catholic faith.
   “Not on my watch,” he defied Neptune over the rattling, and the creaking, and the howling. His fist hit the table so hard that it startled the others from their terror-gripped stupor.
   “Nobody’s going to die tonight. Not on my watch.”

   He slid from behind the table and handled himself forward on the well-spaced overhead hand-holds. The wheelhouse, he felt, was the only place for him to prevent them from running afoul of danger. This was where he placed his faith. He checked that everything was secured and tight. Glancing back out into the cockpit, he barely made out the shadow of the mizzen mast. It was still upright.
   Breathing a small sigh of relief, he wondered how bad the inevitable storm surge was going to be. Unable to do anything about it at this point, even Jonathan now retreated back into his half-hidden fear caused by sleep deprivation, mixed with an almost unreasonable hope that they would live to see another day. 

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