No disrespect, Herreshoff...but Pink Boats are LEGIT.

Since, in his own words:

"There are only two colors to paint a boat, black or white, and only a fool would paint a boat black".

Allow me to disagree.  Why?  Because there's a guy named Thomas Watson with a sailboat so pink that Barbie herself would trade her landlubber existence for a life at sea, except Tom isn't into Barbie - he's into helping save lives.  And not even Cap'n Nat himself could hold a candle to that kind of rationale.

How?  Tom will be sailing solo out of Seattle on Darwind October 1st, 2013, around the world and without stopping, in the pursuit to prevent and cure breast cancer and help save the lives of hundreds of thousands of women each year through sailing.  His organization has partnered with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation with an initial goal of raising $1 million to further the cause.

The 28.5' Pearson Triton "Darwind."

Um, okay.  What?  Seriously?  Is there any way, whatsoever, anywhere, in existence, to argue with the supreme awesomeness of this?  Because I seriously doubt it.  In fact, I'm so convinced such an argument does not exist that I am willing to put money on it.  In fact, I think we should ALL put money on it!  Let's do this thing!

I met Tom in San Francisco during the Farr30 World's/Rolex big boat series at the St. Francis Yacht Club during a typical night of Nefarious debauchery & good old-fashioned camaraderie which led to my learning of Tom's crusade and upcoming journey over a fine libation at San Francisco's Marina Lounge (of course - we had to).

Needless to say, I was nothing short of truly inspired.  Every sailor (ok, or at least every sailor as crazy for it as I am) dreams of making a life pursuit out of a love for being on the water, and hearing Tom's story made me realize something else that should have been so obvious as to have struck me with the force of Neffy's boom I've come so fond of avoiding: there IS something better than doing what you love.  It's doing what you love selflessly.  It's finding a purpose which allows your own passion to shine so brightly it only makes sense to positively impact the lives of others, of complete strangers, in the process.  And Tom Watson figured out a way to make just that happen.

Tom & Darwind out for a sail.  That's a happy-sailor-on-the-water smile if I've ever seen one!

So kudos, my new friend: may your journey be a successful one.  If one man's sailing voyage can put one more dollar into the hands of a single doctor, researcher, fundraiser, survivor, patient, therapy, or anyone else sharing the common goal of improving the odds, quality of life, prognoses, or awareness of breast cancer, any cancer, or any other senseless and heinous infliction on our loved ones and our society, you will have contributed more to the cause in a single day on the water than many people will in a lifetime.

So sail on.  Go team Darwind!