My name is.....

Like my photo? I liked the juxtaposition with my other self-portrait as a cracker. Sure some of you were calling me hardtack, or sea biscuit, or pilots bread. But most of you were calling me a cracker. I personally preferred "Salty" as in Saltine, or maybe as in "old salt" as if I knew my way around a boat. Now is the stern the front of the boat? Or the back? And do my "sea legs" take longer to get beneath me because mine are twice as long as my loyal Corgi, Max?

But really I want to talk about my "attempt" at anonymity. Why? Because yesterday I realized that the photo I posted of the yacht says the name right on the back of it, clearly visible in the blow-up. My mother and friend outed me in a record breaking 3 minutes flat. And most embarrassingly, after a tongue-in-cheek scolding of said mother and friend about their carelessness, I then, unwittingly, posted a photo of my seasickness meds that, at first, had my entire name clearly visible on the label.

Why the attempt to go incognito? I think I fantasized about the life of a renegade chef-writer, cooking at sea, writing it all down for posterity while gazing firmly at my own navel. Think of the edginess, the attitude, the joy ride in the blatant lack of professionalism. I imagined great freedom from accountability that could come with no real identity.

I think it's probably possible to do this on the web. But clearly, all signs for me point to no. So here we go. Blog, take 2. This time, let's step out of the closet intentionally. Max is still Max. But Chef's other name is Becky. And Becky lives in Seattle. And one day Becky took a job working as a chef for a company called Grand Banks. And this year Grand Banks turns 50. And hence, the reason for the flotilla of 20 Grand Banks owners signing up for the tour of a lifetime.

I still think Chef is a more fun name and I'll use other fun names to protect the innocent as we travel together up to Alaska. But from here on out I'll be straight with you (so to speak).