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Thread: A Bit of News

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    166

    Default A Bit of News

    Greeetings,

    Although I’ve been a lurker for the past couple of years, I’ve visited the forum several times every week. Last week, I was diagnosed with stage 4 small cell lung cancer. The prognosis sucks – 6-12 months if the chemo works and less if it doesn’t. I’ve been in a bit of a quandary as to how to best let folks know about this, especially the folks I’ve sailed with in the SSS. I “know” some of you very well but I know you by your boats’ names and how you sail those boats– not very useful for contact purposes.

    It’s important to me that you know what the opportunity to have sailed with you means to me. It’s important that I tell you how much richer it has made my life.
    Some of the people who have learned about this have responded with great sadness. I understand and appreciate that but, while I am also profoundly sad that an expiration date has been stamped on my can, the date is way past what I could ever have imagined given some of the choices I’ve made. It’s important that anyone who is also sad about this knows that my sadness isn’t about dying: my sadness is about not living anymore.

    Ergo is going on the market. She’s a great boat and she’s always taken great care of me. I’d sail her anywhere. In fact, she’d be my boat-of-choice over any other. Like many of the boats in our fleet, she just looks old and not very attractive except to people who sail or want to sail the way we do. I’m going to list her with John Saul at Bearmark Yachts and post that soon.
    I’ve been getting ready, for the past four years, to sell her but thought I’d have more time to reconcile doing that. If not for this development, I’d probably spend the next four years still doing the math. It’s hard reconcile what she’s “worth” and what’s she’s worth to me. It’s really not about the money: it’s about the experience, which, to me is priceless.

    So, a collective “Thank you” to all of you.

    Bill Merrick

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    3,688

    Default

    Wow Bill . . . I post a lot on here (too much) and was hoping someone else would take the lead responding, but I can't wait anymore.

    You are a huge asset to the SSS - Commodore prior to Max, SHTP vet, and actively involved for a long time. IMO you are a "poster boy" for what the SSS is all about - a regular working guy with a regular boat who went out and did some extraordinary things with it, solo. When things didn't go well you weren't afraid to talk about it in stark, plain truth - which made it real for the newer guys like me. More than anyone else's, your encouragement was the reason I sailed back to SF from Hanalei in 2006. Some of that wasn't pleasant and I said I wouldn't do it again, but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

    You're one of my real-life sailing heroes because of those things. I wish you all the best in getting through this. I'm a man of faith and I fully expect to see you on the other side. In the meantime, let me (and all of us) know if there's something we can do for you.
    Last edited by BobJ; 10-26-2012 at 01:43 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    577

    Default

    Bill,

    It was a shock to read your post. You know we're all pulling for you.

    You've been a role model for me as Commodore, with your good humor and laid-back approach to this peculiar sport of ours. It was great to catch up with you a little at the SHTP start in June. And I've always been pleased to see Ergo sitting patiently at the bottom of the ramp when I teach in Sausalito.

    As Bob said, let me - or us - know if there's anything we can help you with. Hang in there!
    Max

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Mateo
    Posts
    124

    Default

    Sucks buddy. We've had great times sailing together and sailing together alone. You are one of my few truly close friends. You know where to find me.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Vancouver British Columbia, Canada
    Posts
    133

    Default

    Bill.

    Thank you for letting us all know - not, certainly, that it is the sort of news we want to get from you - but do know that I will be rooting for you all the way

    You may recall that I got to do the cancer thing a few years ago, in my case with with good results, but the shock that 'it' can pick you out of the crowd is, at first, a very sobering awareness.

    I truly enjoyed sailing the SHTP with you and getting to know you...... I well recall the macrame of string you had for a forestay when you crossed the finish line. Most creative!!

    Do know that my thoughts are with you through it all.

    Bye for now......Jim/Haulback

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    166

    Default

    Ok, this is interesting. I had very mixed feelings about announcing the “news” in so public a forum because of what I thought I might or might not hear. It’s like the TP: there’s the race you think you’re going to have and then there’s the race you actually have. In both cases, it’s probably best not to speculate.
    I was and am horrified by the thought that anyone would feel sorry for me. I love the life I’m living. I love the life I’ve lived, even the parts that really, really sucked. I want to control how people react. I want them to say or not say the things I want to hear. And , really, where’s the fun in that? Would sailing to Hanalei be fun if we knew exactly what was going to happen? Not so much.
    When I hear someone getting into the “man against the sea” riff I pretty much tune out. I’ve been encouraged to fight this cancer. I will, but I think it’s a bit like dealing with a coastal gale. Sail the boat, work till you vomit and when things get really interesting, go below, read a book and see what happens next.
    So, since there have been offers, I do need some help. I’m not likely to make it back to the Bay Area (we moved to Mississippi in July) to get Ergo ready to sell. Even if she were Bristol, she’d never start a bidding war. I hate to ask, but could some of you clean her up so that Sara doesn’t have to deal with that later?
    There’s a pressure washer in the dock box that anyone is welcome to take after you’re done.
    Thanks

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Capitola,CA
    Posts
    3,338

    Default

    Hi Bill,

    Good to hear from you. I remember your "inspection" of WILDFLOWER. SSS is my "yacht club" because of the support of friends as we weather the gales. No shyness here.

    Standing by to help detail ERGO. I need her location. ~skip allan fiveonezerothreeeightfourfouronefivenine

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    224

    Default

    I can help with an Ergo cleanup also. jsgutoff@hotmail.com

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay
    Posts
    227

    Default

    Hey Bill,

    I'm ready to give your sails the once over and make whatever repairs are necessary. Let me know when the work party is scheduled so that I can get some help removing the sails.

    synpetroka at gmail dot com

    Synthia
    Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship. Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip.
    Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship. On your way to a world that others might have missed.
    ~ Blues Image

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    2,095

    Default

    Well, this sucks. I mean, we all wind up here sooner or later...sometimes it comes quickly, sometimes it doesn't but it still sucks.

    I remember snapping a picture of Ergo crossing the line in the SHTP.

    Yeah, let me know when the cleanup party is scheduled for. I absolutely will do my best to make it. I wish I could buy her.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

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