I was pleased last week when two readers of this journal, Jeff and Steve, unknown then to one another happened to share an anchorage near Oriental, North Carolina. I am amazed that it has happened again, this time on the other side of the world.
The boat in the center of the above photo is ARION, Graham’s previous boat, the Graham who wrote the informative piece about junk rigs I posted last Thursday. The photo was taken by Pat from his junk rigged PELICAN near Gladstone, Queensland. Pat read the journal piece and sent the photo. I thank him.
I don’t often check to see how many read this journal and when I do, depending on the source, I find a wide range. I don’t believe the numbers are large, but it is beginning to appear that I am ubiquitous and that I am watching you, or my people are. Thanks Graham and Pat.
Awards will not be given out for identifying the above. I’ll give you a moment to look at it before telling you that it is
The Great Bahama Bank photographed from space. The wave like shapes are underwater sand dunes. I am running it just because it is beautiful. You can read more here.
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146697/still-sandy-after-all-these-years
I am running this just because it is spectacular. It appeared on the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200517.html
I received an email from Torqeedo that they have just shipped their 100,000th motor. I’m impressed and pleased they are a success.
You probably have heard that Arthur, the first named storm of this Atlantic hurricane season, has formed off the east coast. It is only a tropical storm, but this is the sixth year in a row that a named storm has formed in the Atlantic before June 1, the date the hurricane season has traditionally been said to begin.
Combined with the pandemic, the hurricane season has complicated some sailor’s lives.
Jeff, who photographed Steve and Curt, has decided to leave SERENA, his Vagabond 42, in Oriental, NC, for the season. David is trapped in Beirut, where the airport is closed until June 8, while ANTARES, his Bristol 40, is in St. Martin. He had intended to have her on the hard in Grenada before July 1.
I hear of others, some of whom I have sympathy with; some who subscribe to the too prevalent ‘Oh, poor me’ syndrome, I do not. I read complaints that they are actually going to have to sail their boats somewhere. I saw one who complained that he could not get spare parts for ‘essential equipment’ including his diesel engine and water maker and might have to make a ‘dangerous’ 4,000 passage back to Australia. There is nothing immoral about diesel engines and water makers, but they are not essential. I know that for a fact. I also know that the ‘dangerous’ 4,000 passage could be made in GANNET.
In contrast I have heard of one Australian sailor who with his wife in on the Caribbean side of Panama. I am not going to use his name because I do not know this as fact. What I have been told is that some yachts are again being allowed through Panama and this sailor is deciding either to sail non-stop across the Pacific to Australia if he can transit the Canal or to turn around and sail for Australia east, presumably with a stop in Cape Town, assuming that is permitted. Just owning a boat with a mast does not make you a sailor. This man is.
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