Hilton Head Island: audacious: vaccine; changeless

 I have been reading about proas and watching videos of the 36’ JZERRO sailing effortlessly at 18 knots.  Proas have two hulls, one shorter than the other and are sailed with the shorter hull to windward.  I did not understand why they don’t capsize.  Now I sort of do.  No.  I am not planning on buying one, but a sailor with whom I have been in communication for a few years, Ryan Finn, is about to try to sail JZERRO single-handed from New York to San Francisco.

JZERRO has been sailed from the US to New Zealand and back by her builder, Russell Brown, from whom Ryan bought the boat.  

JZERRO is very fast.  I followed Ryan’s track a few years ago when he sailed from San Diego to New Orleans via Panama and observed many 200+ mile days.  Whether she is up to this voyage, including an east to west rounding of Cape Horn, I do not know.  This is truly a sailing edge voyage and Ryan has displayed perseverance and nerve, which you may recall I define as the willingness once one has prepared to the extent of his resources to embark on an endeavor whose outcome is uncertain and may be fatal.

You can read more at a piece in Sailing Anarchy and its links.

https://sailinganarchy.com/2021/01/11/why-7/

Ryan intends to set off soon.  His tracking page is:

https://share.garmin.com/82X63?fbclid=IwAR2xO6vdkRoPpOcCumASc_Ya5AtTMwi9TA05NKMO5xoQBoURZxXeQFDVUU0

I will be following him and wish him fulfillment of his vision.

I read of chaos in the COVID vaccine program.  That has not been my experience.  Being really old, I received unsolicited an email from the Hilton Head Hospital advising me to register with the CDC. It provided the link.  I did and then clicked on a calendar for an appointment.  I received ‘no appointments available for this date’ until March 10 when there were several at ten minute intervals.  I clicked on 12:20 and received a confirmation email.  March 10 is a year from when we first became aware of the pandemic.  That there are vaccines in such a short time is remarkable.  That people are complaining about the vaccination process is expected.

From one of my few friends from before age fifty, Sandy, an American living in Australia, came this photo with her caption: you haven’t changed at all!  Right.

I can’t place the photo or when it was taken.  I note that long before I owned GANNET I was wearing a gannet tee-shirt.