San Diego: flow; the $10,000 ocean cruiser; 'C'

        Pastels.  Peach.  Rose.  Smoke.  Pewter.  Powder blue.  Gold.  Champagne.  Melding.  Shifting.   Fading.  And then, between masts, the first sliver of a new moon.

        The air is cool, crisp, washed clean.

        I stand in the companionway, sipping chardonnay (boxed) and listening to Loreena McKennitt sing “The Dark Night of the Soul”, a beautifully passionate love song, and think of Pythagoras and Heraclitus.  In the end I side with Heraclitus:  like this evening sky, all is change.  Life is flow.  

        From a hillside apartment of a woman I knew in Los Angeles more than forty years ago looking down on a freeway at night, flow of head lights.  Some entering.  Some exiting.

        From the top of the series of escalators leading up from the Underground at Leicester Square in London on a Monday morning thirty years ago:  an endless line of grim faced gray men and women going to work, some stepping off, as far below them others step on.

        A river flowing endlessly toward an unknown and, perhaps unreachable, sea.  New born tossed in, carried along; the old cast lifeless onto the banks.

        We are swimmers together.

———

        The $10,000 ocean voyager is most definitely not GANNET.  I paid $9,000 for her and spent that much again in the first few months.  Paying cash as I go along I have no idea how much I have put into GANNET in the almost three years I have owned the little sloop, but I expect that she is one of the more expensive Moore 24s around, as well as the most uniquely equipped.

        I had lunch today with Ronnie Simpson, an avid sailor who won his class in last year’s solo TransPac in a Moore 24.

        Ronnie is about to sail from San Diego across the Pacific in a Cal 2-27, which he has prepared for ocean sailing for about $10,000, including the price of the boat.  This is a significant achievement.

        I wish him a fine voyage.

        You can read more about Ronnie and MONGO, a skate-boarding term if I remember correctly, and find his tracking page here.

———

    From THE DEVIL’S DICTIONARY

        Cartesian:  relating to Descartes, a famous philosopher, author of the celebrated dictum, Cogito ergo sum—whereby he was pleased to suppose he demonstrated the reality of human existence.  The dictum might be improved, however thus:  Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum—“I think that I think, therefore I think than I am;” as close an approach to certainty as any philosopher has yet made.

        circus:  a place where horses, ponies and elephants are permitted to see men, women and children acting the fool.

        clarinet:  an instrument of torture operated by a person with cotton in his ears.  There are two instruments that are worse than a clarinet:  two clarinets.

        Conservative:  a statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.

        corporation:  an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.

San Diego: dry; 'B'

        The storm, such as it was, has ended.   Even taking into account the practice of meteorological services world wide to give worst case forecasts because people don’t complain when the weather is better than predicted, but do when it is worse, I expected more.

        This was a storm only in places that don’t have storms.  In New Zealand or the United Kingdom it would not have been noticed.  This winter in southwestern England, it would have been considered a dry spell.

        While more fell in the inland mountains, only little more than an inch/2.5 cm was officially recorded at Lindberg Field, San Diego’s airport, about three miles southeast of GANNET, through yesterday afternoon.  We did have a little more last night and this morning, but not substantially.

        Between widely spaced showers yesterday, I walked out on the south jetty beside the Mission Bay channel.  Four or five foot not quite breaking waves were rolling more than halfway down the channel.  It would have been possible to get in and out, though unpleasant.  No one was trying.

        I had expected the San Diego River channel to be rushing.  It wasn’t.  Areas that uncover at low tide were as usual.

        GANNET’s hatches are open, and I expect to have a drink on deck late this afternoon for the first time since Thursday.

        Tomorrow I do my laundry and try to fix a couple of leaks: the trailing edge of the forward hatch and around the halyard clutches to port of the companionway.

———

from THE DEVIL’S DICTIONARY

        barometer:  an ingenious instrument which indicates what kind of weather we are having.

        Belladonna:  in Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison.  A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.

        bigot:  one who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain.

        bore:  a person who talks when you wish him to listen.

        boundary:  in political geography, an imaginary line between two nations, separating the imaginary rights of one from the imaginary rights of the other.

San Diego: between; 'A'; short list

        The sun is shining and the companionway hatch is open.  We are between waves of rain.  So far they have been no more than moderate.

        It is interesting to follow the storm on my iPad mini.  I’ve kept one page open to Weather Underground’s radar on which approaching bands of rain can be clearly seen.  Between two this morning I donned one of my foul weather parkas and carried the pants with me just in case and ventured ashore.  

        Above is the satellite image from the Living Earth app.  My location is the light blue dot to the right and slightly below center.  And here is a rare wind map captured this morning showing southern California to be windy.

        So far I’m only seeing maximum wind speeds in the high 20 knots at the NOAA buoys and maximum 9’/3 meter waves.  

        That all this information is so easily accessible is to me still quite amazing.

        Waves will certainly be higher tomorrow; and the San Diego River channel impressive when run off from the mountains inland pours into it.

        My only preparations for the storm have been to tighten the port side dock lines to keep GANNET from being pressed against the dock by south wind, and to chain my bicycle to the dock box so it won’t be blown away.

        Sun has gone.  Time to close hatches. 

———

        I brought the Yellowbrick down below a while ago and deactivated it.  After sending positions twice daily for three weeks and sending one email and receiving one, the battery was at 93%.  I’m impressed.  Actually by the whole Yellowbrick system, which is intelligently designed and implemented.

———

        I am reading Ambrose Bierce’s THE DEVIL’S DICTIONARY one letter at a time.

        Here are my favorite ‘A’s’.

        abstainer:  a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.  A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention, and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others.

        Admiral:  that part of a war-ship which does the talking while the figure-head does the thinking.

        age:  that period of life in which we compound for the vices that we still cherish by reviling those that we have no longer the enterprise to commit. 

        ambition:  an overmastering desire to be vilified by enemies while living and made ridiculous by friends when dead.

        Australia:  a country lying in the South Sea, whose industrial and commercial development has been unspeakably retarded by an unfortunate dispute among geographers as to whether it is a continent or an island.

        (And the home of Ron who called GANNET ‘yare’, not New Zealand as I misstated.  I do know the difference and apologize.)

        Be warned:  this is likely to be an ongoing feature until we reach ‘Z’.

———

        After I’ve been crossing off and adding items to my to do/by list long enough, I recopy it.

        I did so yesterday.

        It is now a short list.  Here it is:

            (emergency rudder)

            (forward hatch back-up)

            spare Torqeedo prop

            face mask

            net bag for snorkeling gear

            leak

            plates for drogue shackles

            courtesy flags

            waterproof bags/boxes

            provision

        Those in parentheses have been ordered.

        The back up for the forward hatch is a piece of Lexan 24” x 24” that I can bolt through the deck over the hatch.  While it is unlikely that anything will happen to that hatch—other than leak—its failure would sink GANNET.

        The sheet of Lexan is due to be delivered today.

        It is also big enough to bolt over the companionway; but then I don’t know how I’d get out.

        I inadvertently left my wet suit and snorkeling gear on THE HAWKE OF TUONELA.  I’ve replaced all but the face mask in which I have prescription lenses.  Er, lens.  I need to see my optometrist again before ordering it.

        The huge shackles securing the Jordan drogue bridle to the attachment plates may rub against the transom, so I’m going to put small stainless steel plates in place to prevent that.

        I am under no delusion that GANNET is going to be a dry boat.  Anything that can’t survive getting wet must be protected.  

        I already have waterproof Pelican cases for my laptop—actually two; iPad and iPad mini.

        I also have several other waterproof boxes and bags.  I’m not sure how many are enough.  

        On CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE I learned that triple trash bagging is effective.  It is also cheap, as are zip-lock bags.

        CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE was a self-simplifying boat.  I expect GANNET will be, too.

        Provisioning includes an order of about 150 freeze dry meals from Campmor that I’ll have delivered directly to San Diego in May; some super market runs; JetBoil fuel canisters, also shipped directly here.  And, of, course, a bottle of Laphroaig.  Or two.

        I also have a note to get my driver’s license renewed, though I seldom drive.

San Diego: rain; train; unbricking; flat clam

        Our first storm wasn’t much.  Light rain last night persisting into morning.  But it was enough to establish that I still have a leak at the aft edge of the forward hatch.  This is particularly frustrating because GANNET has no headliner.  Everything is exposed.  And, as far as I can see, which admittedly is not one of my strengths, everything is covered with sealant.  There is one seam in the hatch rim which is in the vicinity of the leak.  I just ran a bead of sealant over it.

        The sky cleared for a while and the hatches are open, but clouds and wind have returned and I’m about to close them.   Atypically halyards are clanging on several fortunately distant masts.

        Rain is forecast to begin again tonight and continue all day tomorrow and into Saturday.  

        With gusts to 36 knots, for the first time since GANNET has been here San Diego will likely be the windiest location among my Windfinder favorites, which include Cape Horn and the Falkland Islands.

        Water spouts are even possible and waves Saturday may reach 14’, not all that high, but practically unheard of here.

———

        I don’t recall if I have mentioned in this journal that I’ve been considering taking the train when I return in May.  I like trains and want to feel the distance as one doesn’t when flying, again see parts of the country I haven’t for a while, and perhaps contemplate the fifty-one years since I started driving west the day after I graduated from college.

        Last night I made up my mind and bought tickets online.  Carol is coming with me.  For the journey, not to see me off.  No one is doing that.  I’m just going to push GANNET away from A dock whatever morning in May I am ready.  

        We depart Chicago on May 3 and arrive in San Diego on May 5, changing trains in Los Angeles.

———

        I made the bluetooth link to the Yellowbrick yesterday with my iPad mini and sent and received an email each way.  They took about five minutes to appear.  

        I only had bluetooth on for fifteen minutes.  That may have used 1% of battery life.  At present, having been in operation for twenty days, the battery is at 93%.

        During bright midday sunlight I found it difficult to read the Yellowbrick’s display, so I removed it from its mount and took it below, something I would not do at sea.  However when I checked later in the afternoon, the display was easy to read.  If I do send emails, I will simply have to choose my time.

        I am going to put the Yellowbrick to sleep soon.  This is called “Deactivate.”  So if you don’t see new positions, DO NOT CALL THE COAST GUARD!

———

        As I have mentioned here before, I have never been good at proof reading my writing.  My mind sees what it expects not what the eye actually observes.

        As an aside, it is interesting that we use the singular—which in my case is accurate:  the mind’s eye; I’ve got my eye on you.  Why not the mind’s eyes?

        I do spell check these entries and read over them before and after they go online, but mistakes slip past me.  Sometimes these are amusing.  An extra smile for the already low admission price.  I am always grateful when one of you brings them to my attention, as Jay did yesterday, for which I thank him. 

        I did not push GANNET out of her slip into a flat clam, though it is an interesting image.

San Diego: milestone; Yellowbrick battery; not that cold; storms

        If you check GANNET’s tracking map after midnight UCT, 4:00 p.m. today San Diego time, you should see that the little boat’s stern is toward the dock.  I turned her manually this morning, pushing her out of the slip in flat calm with a long line tied to her stern to spin and pull her back in.  This is not hard labor.  She is, as I have noted, a leaf.

        I turned her to take measurements for the gudgeons for the emergency rudder being built by RudderCraft and to polish and wax her transom, which I noticed needed doing when she was out of the water.  I didn’t have any polish then, but bought some over the weekend.

        The rest of the hull didn’t seem to need polishing, but I started anyway.  Lying on the dock was too awkward and I soon stopped.  I’ll finish the job from the dinghy in some smooth harbor or when GANNET is next hauled.

        Last week was a milestone.  With the haul out, antifouling, installing Jordan drogue attachment plates, and ordering the emergency rudder, everything major on my to do/buy list has been done and paid for.  There are still minor items.  Courtesy flags.  More waterproof containers and bags.  Installing the gudgeons, which I won’t do until the rudder arrives in May.  

        The biggest remaining expense will be provisioning, one of my least favorite aspects of sailing oceans, even though I simplify it as much as possible. 

        But GANNET is ready three months before departure.

———

        The Yellowbrick has now been transmitting positions twice daily since February 7.  18 days.  Her battery is at 95%.  Remarkable.  At a discharge rate of 2% a week, the unit truly is set and forget for almost a year.  I intend to turn bluetooth on and send a few emails to learn what that does to battery life.

———

        Several of you have advised me that the photo of the frozen wave was taken not on the Great Lakes, but in Antarctica.  I thank you all.  Here is an explanatory link provided by Gregg.

        Chicago is having one of its most severe winters ever, but it isn’t quite Antarctica.    

        Still a remarkable image.

———

        Another sunny day here, but that is about to end.  Two, count them, two rain storms are forecast.  Tomorrow evening and again Friday into Saturday.  The latter may be the biggest storm to reach southern California in two or three years, with San Diego receiving between one and two inches/2.5-5 centimeters.  

        As many of you know California is having a hundred year or five hundred year drought, depending on which report you read, and desperately needs the rain, though not the mud slides that will inevitably accompany it.

        Maybe I will be able to locate the exact source of the leak around the forward hatch.  Maybe I will even find the leak has been stopped, said he, wistfully.

        A weekend storm is forecast for Chicago, too.   That will be snow.

        I fly back a week from tomorrow.

San Diego: slithered; frozen wave; drift; GANNET as gannet; Saildrone revisited; yare

        I spent the morning slithering aft on the quarter berths tightening nuts on the bolts for the Jordan drogue attachment plates.  It all went about as expected.  One hole didn’t quite line up because as I later realized I had turned the backing plate top to bottom.  One nut fell into an almost inaccessible crevice in the bilge and took a half hour to retrieve using a hack saw blade and a metal file as chopsticks.

        However we are now plated.

        And my back is feeling it.  

        Here is a view that puts the plate in perspective.

       

———

        From Larry on the west coast came this photo of a frozen wave,

variously said on the Internet to be on Lake Michigan or Lake Huron.  I’ve never seen its like.

———

        From James in eastern mountains comes this link to a computer generated possible track of the man who recently claimed to have drifted for more than a year from near Mexico 6,000 miles, more or less, to the Marshall Islands.

        I know the currents and understand the drift.  What surprises me is that he caught enough food and water to stay alive so long. 

        When I was adrift for two weeks I only caught one passing coconut.

        James also send me an album, Wild New Zealand, of bird calls.  Track 18 is: Gannet Colony at the end of Farewell Spit.  Now GANNET can sound like a gannet.

———

        From Alan comes a link to a Wired article that provides some interesting information about Saildrone.

        I think it is going to get crowded out there.  

        These things should be provided with some sort of collision avoidance system.

———

        I thank them all, and Ron in New Zealand who says GANNET looks yare, which his father said can be applied to boats, ladies and fine drink. 

        GANNET is pleased.

San Diego: whisper of wings

        I stood in the companionway this evening watching four pelicans fly through the dying light.  A changing formation.  Separate.  Together.  One ahead.  Then another.

        Almost fifty years ago, when I lived aboard my first boat with the woman who was then a part of my life at Seaforth Marina on the other side of this basin, one night I was rowing the dinghy after dark and a pelican flew past me within arm’s reach.  So close I could see each individual wing tip feather and hear them brush the air.  A magical moment  that has stayed with me a lifetime.

        Here, this basin and adjacent Mission Beach, are the center of much of the best of my life on land.  

        During the life saving summers I spend with my grandparents in North Mission Beach, I sat on the sand and watched sailboats.  Dreamed and planned.  One night when I was fifteen or sixteen I walked down to the jetty and climbed barefoot over the jagged boulders of which it is constructed to the end.  Somehow it was important that I reach the end.  By the time I did my feet were bleeding.

        I have been here with all the women to whom I have been married, except one; and with others who were important to me.

        My time here now is short.  A matter of a few weeks.  Two more now.  A few in May.  Being here again at intervals this past year and a half has been a grace.

———

        I did not work hard yesterday.  An hour or two in the morning; another in the late afternoon.  I had things I could do today, beyond scrubbing the deck; but I didn’t.  I didn’t feel like tearing the boat apart again and making a mess.  I wanted to enjoy GANNET clean and uncluttered and back in her slip.  So I did.

        I rather like her in a black skirt.

San Diego: slung

        I’m floating in air.  GANNET and I are spending the night in the smaller of the two travel lifts.  The yard slung her late this afternoon so I could paint the bottom of the keel and those spots blocked by the prop stands.

        The last of the VC17 is gone.  Finally.  It put up a good fight, lasting almost two years since my first assault in April 2012 when GANNET was still on her trailer for winter storage at Skipper Bud’s in Winthrop Harbor.  But I persisted and prevailed.  That often happens:  persisting and prevailing.

        I also touched up a few places on the hull and the rub rail; and had the yard drill holes for 3/8” bolts in the Jordan drogue attachment and backing plates.   

        We’ll be back in the water and our slip first thing tomorrow.  Deck scrubbed next thing.  And then I’ll decide how I like GANNET in a black skirt.

San Diego: black

        GANNET was hauled from the water first thing this morning.  

        As you can see she came up with a clean bottom.  Luis, the diver, did a good job.  In scrubbing monthly since last August, he had removed almost all the white Pettit Vivid, which is an ablative paint; so GANNET was back to the barrier coat as I had hoped.

        I was very pleased when the remaining diamonds of red VC17 and a strip on one side on the keel I couldn’t reach when GANNET was on her cradle came off easily with acetone.  

        I filled a few nicks.  Then wiped the bottom down with mineral spirits and taped the waterline before noon.

        The first coat of black International Ultra, a hard antifouling paint that can be aggressively scrubbed while the boat is in the water, went on after lunch.

        Painting was considerably easier with the boat propped by stands than it was when she was on her former trailer.  I did most of it sitting down.  The yard’s surface is concrete, so I sat on an old cushion.

        A second coat goes on tomorrow.   

        Finally, with GANNET in the travel lift, I’ll paint those areas covered by the prop stands.

        We should be back in our slip Wednesday.

        My back is feeling the work a bit.  I trust ibuprofen and a medicinal sip or two of spirits—as though I didn’t have a sip or two every evening—will effect a cure.

San Diego: a seven glass night

        Three friends from out of town were aboard GANNET last sunset and they all brought wine with them, preferring inexplicably to drink something that came from a bottle rather than a box.  This, with a touch of Laphroaig, resulted in a GANNET record seven glasses.  Actually two crystal glasses for the Laphroaig, and five plastics.  I even brought out my good plastic, wine glasses bought at the Milwaukee Museum of Art shop.

        I enjoyed the company and hope a good time was had by all.

———

        The Torqeedo is on the stern.  A duffle bag of painting supplies has been moved from the dock box to the cockpit.  In preparation for the haul out tomorrow to antifoul.  Pointlessly I even checked the weather forecast.  No surprise:  it is going to be fine.  Tomorrow.  Tuesday.  Wednesday.  Forever.

        Assuming nothing unusual appears when GANNET is lifted, and assuming the yard gets her out of the water in the morning, I expect the little sloop to be back in her slip with two coats of black International Ultra on her bottom on Wednesday. 

        The only unknown is how long it will take me to remove with Acetone the four remaining diamonds of VC17.  If this proves impossible, I’ll paint over them no matter the manufacturer’s warnings.

        If you check the tracking page

http://my.yb.tl/gannet 

GANNET should be a couple hundred yards/meters SSW at the 0000 UCT Tuesday/1600 San Diego time Monday position report.