Hanging By a Vine

At three months sober and still very much addicted to self-will, I quit my job, said some abrupt but heartfelt so-longs to my worried family, stashed all my worldly possessions in my sponsor Big Dave's spare closet, and with his advice and warnings still in my ears, set out for Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to go fishing in the Bering Sea. That was two and a half months ago. Maintaining my sobriety was easy for the first two months at sea. One hundred-and-ten-hour weeks of grueling and dangerous work created a voracious need for sleep and drove out most thoughts of drink, and the ever-violent Bering Sea kept my conscious contact with God very much alive. But two weeks ago my boat docked in Sendai, Japan, for repairs, and I have been facing a much graver danger than any storm--me!