By Rich

Ever had trouble staying alert while on those long overnight watches during a race or a delivery? Here are some games we made up to keep ourselves entertained during the Annapolis to Newport race:

• Try to name every state and each state’s capital. We tried to remember them all by starting in alphabetical order
• The same but for European countries
• The same but for African countries. We didn’t make much progress on this one despite the fact that yours truly took a History of Modern Africa class in college that required memorization of precisely these items. Sigh.
• Does anyone know a language the others don’t? Teach them common daily phrases. We chose Norwegian.

We also made up a new game we called “superlatives.” Although the idea isn’t all that novel and on further reflection a game called “superlatives” almost certainly is already a thing, the game seemed novel through the fog of sleep depravation. We’d ask questions like the following and then go in a circle so that each crew member could give his / her own answer:

• What’s the most scared you’ve ever been in your life?
• What’s the most drunk?
• Name an alcoholic beverage with which you’ve “had a falling out” and tell the story
• What’s the best movie ever made?
• What’s the most beautiful boat ever made?

…and so on. We entertained ourselves for hours, day and night. Try it on your next passage!