Breaking Bad fans will recognize the words spoken near the end of the final episode by Walter White, under-achieving high school chemistry teacher, family man and cancer victim, turned killer and genius meth cook. He is speaking about his life of crime. But the words could be true of running marathons, playing the viola, painting, sailing, singing in a band, writing a poem, playing baseball and many other endeavors.
I think that next time I am asked why I sail, I will say, “I like it. I am good at it. And I feel alive.”
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Two sailing friends, neither of whom I have ever met in person, have boats named SAGA. Doryman is in the Pacific Northwest. Markus, a continent, an ocean and another continent away, in Estonia.
Unfortunately the mast of Markus’s SAGA was broken a few months ago by a crane operator and, while awaiting the replacement, he has stepped what is left of his old mast and still managed to go sailing. Admirable.
Doryman has just sailed his SAGA, an open boat, to an annual small boat rendezvous at Sucia Island near the Canadian/U.S. border and has posted several photos of lovely small boats. You can find some here and many more, including a Drascombe Longboat, at his Flickr site.
Until the copper on the hull repairs turns green, she looks like a work of Cubist art.
Dave looks good and the water even better.
I do like small boats.
Still speaking of which I finished FOUR MONTHS IN A SNEAK-BOX over the weekend and have a caveat.
It is a short book, only 133 pages. When Nathaniel Bishop writes about his time on the water, the book is good; but there are three or four digressions that are mere padding that I skipped. Included in these is a chapter on New Orleans and several pages about the life cycle of the mosquito.
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I thank Larry for a link to a publicity piece about the ENERGY OBSERVER, a $5.25 million “self-fueling” ship that is setting off on a six year emission-free voyage around the world.
Perhaps someone ought to tell them that it has already largely been done by a $9,000 emission free ship.
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My stitches don’t come out for another week, so I still can’t do my normal workout. Because some are high on my left arm, I can’t even do my shoulder maintenance exercises. But I am tired of being inactive. My knee is now flexible enough so I can climb stairs and I’ve resumed my twenty+ floors a day. This totals about eleven or twelve minutes. I more than filled in the rest of the thirty minutes required to complete the circle on my watch with a two mile walk along the lake front.
