The above is an Excalibur 26, a sister ship to my first boat--for that matter it might be my first boat. She is new to the marina.
I took delivery of mine in January 1967 at Oakland’s Jack London Square and in sailing her around to Berkeley Marina made my first solo sail, which I wrote about in an article titled, “Downsizing”. The article was about my trend toward ever smaller headsails; but since then I’ve downsized boats as well.
In August of 1967 the woman who was then a part of my life and I sailed the Excalibur to San Diego and then lived aboard for a year and a half on the other side of Quivira Basin, before I traded the Excalibur in on an Ericson 35, which a few years later I traded in on an Ericson 37 that I named EGREGIOUS.
Although I don’t want to offend any Excalibur 26 owners, GANNET, though smaller, is superior in every way except interior volume. I couldn’t stand up in the Excalibur, but the woman I was with, who was 5’ 6” tall, could, and I could sit upright without having to be on the cabin sole. More critically, the Excalibur was not built well enough to go to sea.
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This journal served one of its purposes when I found myself wondering when GANNET arrived in San Diego. I knew it was about a year ago, but not the exact date. It was October 15. Carol and I arrived two days earlier.
I’ve often noted that time is an uneven medium.
The year has passed quickly. But GANNET seems to have been here longer.
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The Garmin Quatix shows that I walk at 3.3-3.4 knots, which is 3.8-3.9 mph, and seems right.
I learned that I don’t need to reset the watch for a new time zone.
Upon arrival in San Diego I turned on the GPS function and when the watch found out where it was, the time was reset automatically.
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I thank Gregg for informing me of the “Death Watch”.
Not having a male member of my family survive to age forty for several generations, I didn’t need the watch to appreciate the point it tries to make.
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The seals were quieter last night.
They woke me a few times, but that goes with the territory.
Sometime during the night I heard one breathing as it swam near GANNET.
So I was surprised this morning to find a clump of them at the end of the dock. I couldn’t count how many as I chased them back into the water.
And today I have repeatedly had to chase others. At least five or six times.
One woman uses a paint ball gun.
I’m continuing with the dock cart.
It is too soon to know if I’m making progress.
