Wake Zones
About this episode
The episode recounts a nostalgic experience of delivering a luxury yacht along the Jersey coast, reflecting on relationships and personal fears.
The air tasted like salt and diesel.The Statue of Liberty was coming up on my left.This was the summer before my freshman year. We were delivering a luxury yacht from South Jersey all the way to Old Port Montreal. I was the deckhand. I’m pretty sure the job was just a favor to my stepfather. But maybe not. Like most things in my life, this wonderful opportunity came through relationships. Looking back, I’m not sure how I got so lucky. We brought her up the Jersey coast and around the bend. Just past the tip of Manhattan, the captain had us pull over. Fenders out. Stark white against old wooden pilings. He said he could feel a light shimmer when we were on plane. “On plane” is when the boat comes out of the water and rides on top instead of pushing through. He suggested maybe he’d hit something along the coast. A buoy, maybe. A ding in the prop. “That would do it”, he told me. He handed me a mask and told me to check the props. I looked at him. I looked at the water. And looked back at him. Behind him, the Twin Towers. This was the nineties, and it was the Hudson. I was pretty sure humans weren’t supposed to swim in this anymore. I can still feel the artificially rough deck under…
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