Hilton Head Island: back

 GANNET is back in her slip and I am back in the condo.  Both of us are fine, though I wish the condo would quit bobbing and swaying.  Less you misconstrue the cause, it is only 3:00 pm and I have had nothing stronger to drink than lovely cold water.  GANNET’s motion carries onto land.

I am as tired as if I had made an ocean passage.  Landfall is landfall even if you are returning to your starting point and I had only limited sleep last night.  

As we approached the entrance to Port Royal Sound at dawn this morning I realized that at dawn two years ago this day we were approaching the entrance to San Diego Bay and the completion of GANNET’s circumnavigation.

An anonymous comment to the previous entry suggests that I turned around because a patch of fifty knot wind was ahead of us.  In fact I had already turned back out of frustration with lack of wind. The fifty knot gale caught us anyway.

I will write more tomorrow.

Hilton Head Island: the ocean that’s out there and a poem

 

Above are two screen shots taken this morning at the Earth Wind Map.

https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-60.15,-2.78,410

The top one shows the wind, or rather the lack of wind, presently between Hilton Head Island and Bermuda.  When I mentioned to Carol the absence of a pattern to the wind in these waters, she said, “Then why do you want to sail that ocean?”  I replied, “Because it is the ocean that is out there.”

I still expect to leave on Monday although the situation will not be much changed.  I am certain of few things.  One of them is that you don’t get closer to your destination tied to the dock.

The second image is of a Category Five typhoon, Surigae, with winds of 155 knots about to wreck havoc on the Philippines.  When I first noticed it six hours ago, it was a Category Four.

Eric sent me a poem he wrote and gave me permission to share it.  I thank him.  Eric is a Canadian who lives in Montreal.  He wrote the poem in French and, knowing that I no longer read that language well, also provided an English translation.  Expecting that most of you are like me, I put the English first, but recalling that Robert Frost reportedly said, ‘Poetry is what is lost in translation’, I include the original French.

For my friend, Webb

Can albatross become gulls 

Without lying to himself and go against his nature

Replace your epic journeys to distant horizons

Against the gone and coming between close regions

Do the memories of the great escapades

Can fill the void of the great outdoors

 

Old withered feathers 

Carries with them the remnants of all adventures

Fragile Witnesses of The Memories of yesteryear

From a whiteness turning slowly to gray

And the sky getting darker

When the sight also darkens

And that it gets less sharpend

Make the bird realize that the time that remains

Dominates dreams and distance from his youth

 

Later memory will replace air

Memories will be the new lift

Writings will replace life

And in the mind will fly the bird

Who once shared his story

 

But one day the albatross will fly even further

By this space and time

The great drunkenness will come back to him

Reborn at the Monastery of the Sea

Will replace the cradle of the earth

Pour mon ami Webb

 

Est-ce que l’albatros peut devenir goéland 

Sans  se mentir a lui-même et aller contre sa nature

Remplacer  ses voyages épiques vers de lointains horizons

Contre des allés et venu entre contrées rapprochées

Est-ce que les souvenirs des grandes escapades

Peuvent remplir le vide des grands espaces

 

Les vieilles plumes flétries 

Porte avec elles les vestiges de toutes les aventures

Témoins fragiles des mémoires d’antan

D’une blancheur virant lentement au gris

Et le ciel devenant plus sombre

Quand la vue elle aussi s’assombrie

Et qu’elle se  fait moins perçante

Font réaliser a l’oiseau que le temps qui reste

Domine les rêves et la distance de sa jeunesse

 

Plus tard la mémoire remplacera l’air

Les souvenir seront portance

Les écrits remplaceront  la vie

Et dans l’esprit volera l’oiseau

Qui un jour partagea son récit

 

 

Mais un jour l’albatros s’envolera  encore plus loin

Par de là l’espace et le temps

La grande ivresse lui reviendra

Renaître au monastère de la mer

Remplacera  le berceau de la terre

Hilton Head Island: unstitched

I biked the five miles to the clinic this morning and was unstitched.  I was told I am healing well for an old man.  The nurse didn’t actually say ‘for an old man’, but I sensed it.  The incision is now covered with butterfly bandaids both horizontally and vertically.  I am to leave them in place until they naturally fall off in a week or two.  I did not offer the information that that might be several hundred miles at sea, after being gently reprimanded for biking to the appointment.  No problem.  I have no more biking to do.

If the forecasts are correct the weekend is going to be rainy and I expect to depart on Monday, probably from the dock rather than at anchor.  In passage mode, I would have to crawl over several bags to get and then re-stow the anchor and rode which is not a good idea with my leg.  Easier to re-stow the Torqeedo underway.

For several months I have been studying the winds between Hilton Head and Bermuda.  Every seven day GRIB has shown variable wind from every direction, usually with two or three 180º shifts.  So if you observe on the Yellowbrick tracking page that GANNET has stopped or is moving very slowly, don’t be alarmed.  I am not going to beat up the little boat or myself.  If we encounter strong headwinds, I will slow down or heave to and wait for the certain change.

The tracking page is:

https://my.yb.tl/gannet

A line from a poem by Yuan Chen (779-831):

I’ve seen the sea; how could I settle for a river?

Hilton Head Island: ready

 

This morning I configured GANNET’s interior into passage mode.  It took me a little longer than usual because I had removed so much from her.  I filled all four 5 gallon water jerry cans, though also as usual not to the top.  The bags along the sides of the forepeak are not yet tied in place and there is one less than in the past.  I did not take harbor clothes or cold weather clothes to the boat.

I have charged the Yellowbrick and sent up a test position.  it is working, but presently deactivated to save the battery.  Hopefully I will remember to turn it on when I depart.  It will be set to upload positions every six hours as on ocean passages in the past.

A few have written wondering why I do not plan to stop in Bermuda.  As I think I have said, I have nothing against Bermuda and in fact everyone I know who has visited the island has enjoyed their time there.  But 800 miles is too short a distance to enter the monastery of the sea.  Three or four days out and I would already be counting the days to landfall.  I don’t really care that much about the land any more, if I ever did.  I want to be alone at sea.

Beyond that, which is conclusive, Ants sent me an email this afternoon that there is a COVID surge on Bermuda and the island is locked down. 

https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/2021/04/14/#covid-surge-bermuda-threatens-sailgp-debut

I do hope I get to see Bermuda from a distance.

7:00 PM.  A martini is at hand. 

L’Chaim.

Hilton Head Island: provisioned; an octopus in the living room

I biked passage clothes to GANNET this morning, then biked from GANNET to Publix where I bought the last of the passage provisions, biked them back to the little boat, unloaded, and returned to the condo to watch the Champions League match between two of the best sides in the world, Bayern Munich and Paris St. Germain.  

Today was another lovely, perfect day.  73ºF/23ºC—and I am possibly the only old American who wishes we would just give it up and go metric and centigrade—sunny, breezy.  This has been our weather for weeks.  The two rainy days Steve Earley waited here the exception.  Unfortunately it comes to an end tomorrow.  From Thursday on there is likely rain at least part of every day and Saturday there is no wind.  While forecasts change, at the moment Sunday is the earliest I expect to get away, though I might leave the dock Saturday and anchor in Port Royal Sound and sail off the anchor Sunday.  This has the advantage of not having to stow the Torqeedo underway and of breaking the link to the land.

I will go down to GANNET tomorrow and fill the water jerry cans and configure the interior into passage mode.  I may sleep on board on one of the pipe berths.

All this assumes that when I go to the clinic Thursday they remove the I think 28 stitches in my leg.  I am not going to consider what happens if they don’t; but if I am much delayed the sail around Bermuda will have to be postponed.  We have sold the Evanston condo and I want to return to Illinois to help Carol relocate.  I really would like to go to sea, but all the provisions will last.

I thank Ron for informing me of a PBS Nature episode:  Octopus:  Making Contact about an Alaskan scientist who brought an octopus into his living room.

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/octopus-making-contact-preview-a98u9n/19851/

This predates MY TEACHER OCTOPUS by release date and what some might find surprising when viewing this first is not after seeing MY TEACHER.  I prefer MY TEACHER OCTOPUS, both in admiration for Craig Foster and in wanting creatures, including me, to be free rather than confined.  I mostly succeeded.  The octopus in the living room is given a name.  Craig Foster never named the octopus with whom he had a relationship.  I like that too.  But Octopus: Making Contact is entertaining and instructive and very worthwhile.

If you belong to PBS you may be able to view it for free.  I bought the episode for $2.99 from iTunes.

  

Hilton Head Island: provisioned; octopus teacher; a good mob

I again biked to a supermarket and a liquor store yesterday and GANNET is now all but fully provisioned.  I would like to buy a few more snacks, two six-packs of beer, and a box of red wine, but If I don’t it will not matter.

Since having GANNET trucked back last September I have deliberately moved as much off her as possible.  When I slept on board last week I found that there was no spoon on board.  I had taken it to the condo.  I knew there were no clothes on the little boat and no alcohol.  I brought a bottle of wine down with me that day.  There are still no clothes on GANNET.  The other discrepancies have been rectified.

I still need to carry passage clothes and paper towels down, both of which are in abundance at the condo, and I need to fill the jerry cans with water.  One of the 5 gallon cans is full.  I will fill at least two of the remaining three cans.  

Although I expect the sail to take less than three weeks, GANNET is provisioned for well over a month.  She has enough on board for me to cross the Atlantic.  That’s all right.  If the sail turns into an undesired adventure I prefer not to starve immediately.

The twenty-eight stitches in my leg are due to be removed Thursday.  While the leg has not yet completely healed, I think I could go sailing the way it is now so long as I keep a bandage over the incision to prevent infection.  Hopefully by Thursday it will be even better.

The latest GRIB shows light wind here on Friday and almost none on Saturday.  Sunday looks promising, and these things change day to day.

With boxed wine in mind, Mark sent me a link to what claims to be superior boxed wine.  Unfortunately it is not available in the U.S.

https://greenskinwine.com/

Their red wines cost about $30 U.S. for the equivalent of a bottle.  That is twice as expensive as the wine I usually buy, but if it really is that good, I would try it if I could.

Mark also sent a link to a new brand of freeze dry food, again not available in the U.S.  Some of you will remember that my favorite freeze dry meals come from New Zealand’s Backcountry Cuisine.  This also looks promising.

https://www.radixnutrition.com/

I thank him for the links.

MY OCTOPUS TEACHER is a documentary nominated for an Academy Award available on Netflix.  It is the fascinating and compelling story of the restorative almost year long relationship between a burnt out cinematographer, Craig Foster, and a common octopus in the cold waters beneath his home south of Cape Town, South Africa.  This is not sentimental.  Some of it is harsh reality, as when the octopus loses an arm to a shark and her death.  I did not know that female octopus only live one year.  Shortly after mating, they die.  The oft-demonstrated intelligence of the octopus is remarkable, as is that Craig Foster did not use Scuba.  He free dove.  One of the most unusual and best films I have seen in a long while.

I am against mobs, but there are exceptions to most rules and I thank Andy for a link to this one. What a fine thing for the young to have done.

https://youtu.be/q3cpOrB1GW8

Hilton Head Island: on deck

Bach and the soundtrack of the movie GLADIATOR, less two tracks, ‘battle’ and ‘barbarians’, that are probably essential to the film but which I find discordant, and cabernet sauvignon were enjoyed last evening on GANNET’s deck, followed by a feast of Mountain House rice and chicken in the Great Cabin and a night sleeping on the new cushions in the v-berth.  It was very satisfying to be in that small, again organized space.

The evening after posting the previous entry, I realized that GANNET was not then seaworthy.  I had still to tie the new lee cloths in place.  So I walked to the little boat yesterday at noon and did.  This involved again moving everything stowed between the berths and under the cockpit and then slithering back there.  This is not even a crawl space.  I was successful without drawing blood.

I then applied sealant around the four lifeline stanchions, touched up the paint on the rub rails, repaired the screen for the forward hatch, moved the carbon fiber bow sprit from the cabin to the foredeck, and inventoried what food is on board.

I slept with the hatches open, screens in place.  A slight pleasant breeze blew through.  Less pleasant was looking up through the forward hatch and seeing the upper deck of the ferry boat looming.

I woke about six and walked back to the condo at first light.

I have written that you don’t really know a boat until you live on board.  It was good to be on GANNET again, get some work done and have time to sit and look about and be certain everything is in place and functional.  

I think GANNET now is ready to go to sea.  All she needs is more provisioning and for her crew to heal.

Hilton Head Island: berthed

 My leg sufficiently healed, though still stitched, I biked down to GANNET this morning and installed the new pipe berths.  This requires considerable contortions in awkward positions in cramped spaces.  I know that.  GANNET is worth it, and after almost four hours, one burned finger, blood drawn twice after bumping my head on the underside of the cockpit and once by scraping my arm, for the first time in months the Great Cabin has berths. That is very satisfying.  I will go down tomorrow morning, carrying some of the provisions I have bought and inventory what is already on board and enjoy the restored order.

Hilton Head Island: an old post; a surprise; two Chinese poems

I don’t often get comments about year old journal entries.  The moving finger writes; and having writ, moves on.  I remembered that but not its source.  Omar Khayyam.   But a few days ago I received a comment from Byron about an entry from May of last year.  I thank him for causing me to go back and reread it. 

https://self-portraitinthepresentseajournal.blogspot.com/2020/05/evanston-good-question-on-marriage.htm

Google Alerts emails me when my name appears online.  It is not perfect, but it is free, and yesterday it provided me with a surprise:  I’m Costa Rican.  I never knew.  I thought I was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, but I am shown on Page 1 of a site listing ‘Famous People Born in Costa Rica’.  In fact if you scroll down I appear there three times.  I may be the most famous person born in Costa Rica.  Now this appears on the Internet and we know that everything on the Internet is true, so it must be true.  I wonder what this does to my being the first American to sail alone around Cape Horn.  Well, Costa Rica is in the Americas.  I think I’m still good.

https://line.17qq.com/articles/bdphdobz.html

I continue to read Chinese poetry.  At present in CROSSING THE YELLOW RIVER, translations of 300 poems from the Chinese by Sam Hamill.

Two short ones I’ve recently enjoyed.

Watching a Lonely Wild Goose at Nightfall

There are few stars north of the Milky Way.

One wild goose calls, “Where am I going?”

If he’d known he lose his flock.

he would have begun his journey alone.

—-Hsiao Kang (503-551)

Poem

When the rich pass proudly by

on big, smooth horses

I feel foolish

riding my scrawny donkey.

I feel much better

when we overtake

a bundle of sticks

riding a bony man.

—Wang Fan-chih (590-660)

Hilton Head Island: shot again; COVID deaths; freeze dry food; shadows

I received my second shot of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday.  I have had no reaction other than a slightly sore arm.  I know several people who had no reaction to the first shot, but felt quite ill the second day after receiving the second shot.  I googled and learned that the second shot of both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines are identical to the first.  For me the worst part was having to stand in a long line that shuffled forward slowly for an hour.  I don’t recall the last time I stood in such a line.

You may have seen that the CDC has reported provisional death statistics for 2020 and COVID was the third leading cause of death, exceeded only by heart disease and cancer.

About 3.3 million people died in the U.S. last year, or 1% of the total population.  The number of deaths from COVID were about 378,000, or 0.1% of the total population.  Please correct me if I have my numbers wrong, as I have had before.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/31/health/covid-19-deaths-2020-cdc-report-wellness/index.html

Some have asked what freeze dry meals I recently bought.

Below is a copy of the invoice.  

Almost half of these meals are new to me so I can’t vouch for them.  Alpineaire in particular has come up with several new offerings.

In the stock item column, AA is Alpineaire; BP is Backpacker’s Pantry:  MH is Mountain House.

Being able to buy all three brands from LDP Camping was convenient.  The food arrived via UPS four working days after I placed the order.

Shadows in addition to being the title of an excellent novel are what I saw on our bedroom wall the other afternoon.