I only know the day of the week if I notice it on my laptop or phone or as today when Carol emailed that it is Friday and she is looking forward to the weekend. Here in Durban I am seven hours ahead of her, but usually on the same day. In New Zealand I was usually a day ahead.
So it is Friday and it is September and I realized that this journal is ten years old. The very first entry is dated August 31, 2006. This is slightly longer than Samuel Pepys kept his somewhat more famous diary.
In time I am sure that mine will be recognized as a classic, too. Or perhaps not.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
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Gavin, the rigger, came by today. I had bought a new Windex, but he found the one at the masthead needed only to be unbent. However, I don’t really have any place to store a spare, so when he returns to install the Raymarine masthead unit, I’m going to have him replace the old Windex with the new one.
A sailmaker also came by and will return Monday to take the main and jib for minor repairs to be expected after 16,000 miles and put an even deeper reef in the main.
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I have heard from several of my fellow Americans how fortunate I have been not to be exposed to what now passes, or poses, as news.
I have a small Sony radio that receives short wave. On previous voyages I often tuned into the BBC or Voice of America at night. I did not once this year. And even in port with a decent Internet connection, I do not read newspapers online beyond glancing at headlines, and I also only glance at the tech sites I used to view.
They all seem superficial, shallow—as anything must that lives and dies by seeking the biggest possible audience, and jejune.
I went to sea this year and part of me has not come back and possibly never will. For the better.
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Responding to immense popular demand, or at least a couple of emails, I took videos during the passage from Darwin to Durban. I didn’t start until about midway across the Indian Ocean, after the calms off Australia and the severe two weeks of gale and near gale force winds.
Whether any of this is worth sharing, I won’t know until after I return to Evanston next month, but ‘GANNET in the Indian Ocean’ may be coming to a YouTube near you.
Whether any of this is worth sharing, I won’t know until after I return to Evanston next month, but ‘GANNET in the Indian Ocean’ may be coming to a YouTube near you.
