Hilton Head Island: short list; tragic mismailing; in the name of God; talented young

Another lovely morning on Skull Creek.  Sunny.  75ºF/24ºC.  A slight wind rustling the Spanish Moss and Palmetto fronds.  Often this place really is a version of paradise.  However, I am condo bound until the new electric outboard arrives.  UPS says it is out for delivery.

One of my two Lifeline batteries arrived yesterday.  The other has been misrouted and now is not scheduled for delivery until Thursday.

Yesterday morning I biked to GANNET and made the new screen for the forward hatch.  Another task checked off my to do list which is now down to five items, one of which I have no intention of performing until I return from Iceland and another is unlikely to be done.  There will of course be other small tasks and some new ones may be revealed on the hundred mile sail to St. Mary’s Boat Services and back, but here is the list as it stands at the moment.

Provision

Ship’s batteries

Antifoul

Repaint interior

Drop rudder for shaft inspection

As some of you may recall I am already largely provisioned, having bought more than two months supplies last year to make myself self-sufficient in case of a major hurricane.  That food is up here in the condo.  I have eaten some of it, but mostly need only to fill in the gaps and carry it down to GANNET.

One battery is here.  The other hopefully on Thursday.

I will sail to St. Mary’s to antifoul as soon as the wind permits after Carol flies back to Chicago on April 24.

I will not repaint the interior until late this year.

And I do not know if St. Mary’s has the personnel to drop the rudder or if it can be done without destroying some fittings which have been in place probably for more than forty years.  I have an emergency rudder on GANNET.

I expect to be ready to sail by June 1.  When I will actually do so I have not decided.  It in part depends on Carol’s inclinations.

I believe I know how to get to Iceland.  I do not yet know how I will get back.

There are three options.  Sail west to Canada or New England and then work my way down the coast.  Sail south to Scotland, England, Ireland, the Azores, and then across.  Sail directly back to Hilton Head.  Canada still has rather strict and complicated COVID requirements for yachts to enter.  The problem with Scotland, etc., is that it would require me to be gone from Hilton Head for months longer than I want to.  The crossing from the Azores could not be made before November at the earliest.  The problem of sailing directly back is the risk of encountering one or more hurricanes at sea.  I have been in hurricane force winds at least eight times.  I would rather not add to that total.  I have as yet no conclusion and might not make a decision until I  reach Iceland.  I am not conducting a vote or seeking advice.

From THE ASSASSIN’S CLOAK:

I just finished reading an excellent biography of Joan of Arc by Helen Castor.

I knew the outline of her life as do we all, but not the details.

Here I am concerned only with the end.

After a months long trial by the Catholic Church she was declared a heretic for among other reasons wearing men’s clothing which I did not remember, although I have read the Bible through twice,  is apparently proscribed in the Book of Deuteronomy, and turned over to the English who burned her at the stake on May 30, 1431, when she was probably nineteen years old.  The Church leaders considered that they acted out of love and the fire was purifying.  I can’t imagine the cruelty of such a death.  At least we don’t do that any longer.  Or crucify.  And we’ve given up drawing and quartering, too.  Modest signs of progress.

Thirty-one years later in 1452, in a much changed political climate and under pressure from the King and some of the nobility, The Church opened an inquiry into Joan of Arc’s trial and concluded that it reached the wrong verdict, that Joan was not a heretic, that the visions and voices she heard were from God not the Devil, and she should not have been horribly executed.

Almost five hundred years later on May 16, 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized as a saint.

I am not amused by videos of cute kids and though these performers are young, they are not cute, they are talented and dedicated.  They could not be so good without having giving a significant proportion of their few years to study and practice.  I wear hearing aids and have no musically ability.  Perhaps those who hear better and know more will find defects in their performances, but to me they do not sound like entertaining children, but like accomplished adult musicians, and they give some hope for the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdaCRiSqfjM&t=499s