Opua: Torqeedoed; gennakered; words; gone

        That GANNET is almost an engineless boat is shown by my only this afternoon dragging the Torqeedo and the outboard bracket from beneath the cockpit and mounting them on the stern to see if the engine works.  It did.  Instantly.  Good Torqeedo.  

        The battery was at 46%.  I don’t recall if I charged it after last use last year.  I probably didn’t.  I brought the battery back inside and am doing so now.

———

        While ashore this morning I made the deposit on a 35 square meter/377 square feet North Sails G1 gennaker.  Although a G1 is a close and beam reaching sail and therefore cut flatter, this will be 5 square meters/54 square feet bigger than my present reaching/running gennaker, and might serve well enough broad reaching to enable GANNET to remain a three sail boat.

        I doubt the sail will be completed before I fly back to Evanston on May 19.  All the more to look forward to when I return later in the year.

———

        Some have observed that GANNET’s boom is tilted up while she is in port, rather than parallel to the deck as on most boats.  I agree that parallel looks better.  GANNET’s boom is tilted so I can duck under it.

        Last evening I noticed that moving from side to side was to move to two completely different skies.   

        The photo above and this one were taken seconds apart.

        And here is what was in the middle.

        This was taken earlier in The Great Cabin. 

        You can see the Yellowbrick’s new home.  The compass control box for the trial tiller pilot in the upper right.  The new orange JetBoil beside which dinner of Backpacker Pantry Santa Fe Chicken and Rice is steeping.

———

        Some words and phrases have always charmed me.  Among them is ‘gibbous moon’.  I looked up at one last night.

        Some words do not charm me.  As long time readers know, I find ‘blog’ ugly.  Also ‘selfie’.  The full name of this site is:  self-portrait in the present sea.  ‘Selfie in the present sea’ isn’t quite the same.

———

       

        In Lisbon, Portugal, Luis and friends worked hard on SCALLY, his new-to-him Morgan 31, removing wiring, unsticking a stuck jib furling gear, and preparing to unstep the mast.

        Work as joy.

------

        San Diego has come to Opua.  And I don’t just mean me.  Opua’s weather is San Diego-like.  Sunny.  Even slightly warmer than San Diego this week.  And light wind.

        I plan to sail somewhere tomorrow and anchor.  I doubt there will be enough wind to make it around to Whangamumu, so probably I’ll go to the Lagoon at Roberton Island or Paradise Bay at Urupukapuka.

       I’ll be away two or three days.