I thought about sailing around to San Diego Bay this weekend, but then remembered that the 170+ fleet for the Baja HaHa, a southerly floating party/cruiser’s rally, is assembled there for tomorrow’s start, and the coastal fog hasn’t burned off for two days, so I biked four miles inland to see ALL IS LOST. I thank Larry for letting me know that it was playing nearby.
I am not going to express my opinion now, although I would very much like to hear yours if you see the film.
I will note that I saw the heading of another review, “What if you had to consider your own death?” As I was by the NY TIMES reviewer’s finding solitude terrifying, I was struck by the insular shallowness of this reviewer’s mind and life.
A paradox is that we are herd animals, yet we are each alone.
Just as one function of cities is to block nature from those who can’t face it, so I think that Internet social networks are attempts to hide from the fact of essential aloneness.
If you are more than a child and haven’t considered your own death, you haven’t been paying attention.
To paraphrase Socrates, the unconsidered death is not worth dying.
If you see ALL IS LOST, please let me know your thoughts.
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GANNET is light enough to be moved by a landing bird.
Sometime Friday night I was awakened by such a slight movement, followed by sounds that I could not identify. Rustling paper? Tearing? Scratching?
It was enough for me to untangle myself from the sleeping bag, push open the forward hatch, sit up and look around, but I saw nothing.
Only in the morning light, when I opened the companionway, did I see that someone, presumably a sea gull, had raided the trash sack I keep in the cockpit and messily spread the contents. Friday’s evening meal was freeze dried New Orleans Rice with Ham and Shrimp. I did not eat it all and placed the resealed pouch in the trash. Obviously the shrimp were perfume to a gull.
Now I’m going to have to either walk the trash up the marina bin after dinner or put it in the dockbox. I don’t think gulls can lift that lid.
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While the admirable young people on the east coast tried to send an autonomous power boat across the Atlantic, a more professional and better funded group on the west coast have opted for sail, which would have been my choice for more than romantic reasons, and with seemingly greater success.
Saildrone left San Francisco for Hawaii on October 1 and as I write has sailed 1710 miles and is 477 from its destination.
You can follow its track here. (I first typed ‘her’)
If you google Saildrone, you will find some short videos, but I haven’t yet come across detailed specifications, such as length, sail area, and weight.
I may have just become obsolete.