Evanston: sailing with cello; Tony Benn again; the Portuguese: sigh of relief

That further proof is not needed is obvious, but more has been provided that my people are everywhere.  Above you have John, who when not working at the testing tank at the US Naval Academy, sails his 47 year old Pearson 30, OLD BLUE, on the Chesapeake.  A week or so ago he was on his own social distancing cruise at the same time and in the same waters as Steve Earley on SPARTINA, although they were never quite in the same place at the same time.  

As you can see John is also a musician and sails with his cello.  I don’t think that would work on Steve’s SPARTINA or on GANNET.  I don’t think a cello would even fit through GANNET’s hatches.  How much better than listening to others it is to make your own music at anchor?  I have said this before.  I have lived the life I wanted to and I would rather be me than anyone else, but if I weren’t I would like to be a musician.

Sailing as everyone knows is dangerous and harsh.  Well, perhaps not always as you can see below.

I thank John for permission to share his photos.  His well presented cruise log can be found here:

https://c2c8b3e8-1bf5-4a17-ac64-b85eefa1243a.filesusr.com/ugd/1795e0_0be8c3576e9447cab0f27f3263e30dde.pdf




I again watched Xavier Foley play the Bach Cello Suite No. 1 on the double bass.  It struck me that the instrument is so large that Xavier seems to be wrestling a bear with the touch of a brain surgeon.  The video causes me to have some hope for the young and maybe even the future.




I thank Michael for a quote from Tony Benn:

James Michener wrote in IBERIA that whether you prefer Spain or Portugal depends on which you visited first.  He first visited Spain; his wife Portugal.  I, too, first went to Portugal, sailing both RESURGAM and CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE II there in 1983 from different directions.  I met Jill there on Christmas Day of that year; and Carol and I were there on 9/11/2001.

As a sailor I have long been impressed how a small nation with a population then of only a million could in a single generation have exploded over the world.  The Portuguese claim to be “First in All Oceans”.  They had the advantage of geography being in the southwest corner of Europe and looking out at seemingly endless ocean, but no other nation pushed deliberately and persistently out, voyage by voyage south along the African continent. 

Three poems by the Portuguese poet, Fernando Pessoa.

Yesterday I received and paid the invoice from the web host for http://inthepresentsea.com/the_actual_site/webbchiles.html

You can breathe a sigh of relief.  You will have benefit of my charm and wisdom for at least three more years.  I hear a welling of cheers in the distance.