Hilton Head Island: last known address; Hard Times

 I am sitting in a camp chair under the ceiling fan in our bedroom.  The condo is probably 98% complete, give or take a percent, with one big exception.  The air conditioning system had to be replaced.  The work was supposed to have been finished last week.  It wasn’t.  A man is working today and hopefully it will be operational this afternoon.  I have been on boats without air conditioning in hotter places, but air conditioning would be nice.

Other than that what is left is mostly trim and detailing.  The place is empty and still has some construction materials scattered about, but it looks great.  All Carol’s choices and decisions were impeccable.  

We bought this condo in January 2018, never imagining it would take so long, so much money, and so much effort on Carol’s part.  This is her achievement, and I expect it to be my last land home.

The tide is coming in and covering the spartina just beyond our deck.  Were I on that deck I could reach out and almost touch Spanish Moss and Live Oak trees.  It is quiet and beautiful here.  GANNET’s soon to be home is visible through the trees.

My ankle is not so beautiful.  Better yesterday morning before I left for the airport, but ballooned again now.  That is not due to the flight, which was only an hour and a half, but to the 3 miles my Apple Watch tells me I walked yesterday, almost all in airports, and I promise I did not wander around.

I have mentioned in a past entry David whose apartment was destroyed in the recent explosion in Beirut, fortunately in his and his wife’s absence.

He has posted an entry online with devastating photographs about their return to their apartment which is worth reading for many reasons, among them that it puts our pandemic in perspective.  Or should.  

https://sailingantares.me/2020/09/05/washington-dc-after-a-short-stay-in-beirut/

I am not denying the pandemic’s health and economic consequences, but I recently read a book, POLAND 1939, about the start of WWII in Europe—it had already started in Asia with Japan’s invasion of China in 1937 or according to some historians with Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931–in which it is stated that during WWII 20% of Poland’s population died.

At the moment the number of COVID 19 deaths in the US is reported as 189,000.  That is slightly less than .06 of one percent of the population.  I see daily “Oh, poor me” and “Oh what a terrible year” stories.  I believe that anyone who knows history would put this pandemic far down the list of hard times.

Evanston: dancing; against; OpenWind; self-knowledge; eye to eye

 If you zoom in on the Yellowbrick tracking page you can see GANNET dancing around a big rig parking lot just west of Weatherford, Texas.  I fly tomorrow morning to join Carol in Charlotte, NC, from where she will drive us to Hilton Head and I hope the finally completely renovated and completely delightful condo.

I sometimes claim to be ahead of the times, but in one way I most certainly am not.  Or rather I am in tune with one trend which goes against a much greater one.

Larry sent me a chart showing the ten U.S. states which have the highest percentage of people moving into them rather than out.  I thank him.  South Carolina is number 4.  I note that although there are cities of some size in some of these states all are basically rural.  I know that I am not an urban animal.  One of the advantages for me of Hilton Head Island over San Diego is that there are now too many people in San Diego.

In truth none of us are urban animals.  Our species evolved wandering around plains and savannas.  We are not designed to be living in ant hills with millions of others, yet that is by far the greater trend.  Only a few years ago the percentage of the world’s population living in urban areas first exceeded 50%.  It is currently 55% and is predicted to be 70% by 2050.  I am glad that I will not be one of them.

Matthias of OpenWind sent me an email.  He had read of my problems with the unit.  I had decided not to write to him until I learned how the unit is working when GANNET reaches Hilton Head.  There seemed no point in asking a unit that is working properly, which GANNET’s did after the mast was lowered, to be repaired.

Matthias told me that they have identified this random connection problem with some early units.  That it is intermittent and unpredictable made solving it more difficult, but he says they have with a firmware update, so I will ship the unit to OpenWind from Hilton Head.  

I have been and continue to be impressed with OpenWind support and hope the unit comes back gremlin free.  When it connects, it is excellent.  

From Sam in Australia came a section of an article from THE GUARDIAN.  It ends:

Humanity is divided into two:  on the one hand, those who are improvising their way through life, patching solutions together and putting our fires as they go, but deluding themselves otherwise;  and on the other, those doing exactly the same, except they know it.  It’s infinitely better to be the latter.

Thanks, Sam.

A few evenings ago I read in the STAYING ALIVE poetry anthology, a poem that continues to bring a smile, ‘Naked Vision’.

Eastward!

Evanston: Steve Earley—twice; homecoming; pointless; new medical bulletin

 Steve Earley has become an industry.  Everywhere you look, you find him.  I fully expect he is making appearances on daytime and late night talk shows, but I don’t watch them so can’t say for sure.

Above is a wonderful book he has produced of photographs of his cruising his 17’ Welsford Pathfinder, SPARTINA, on mid-east coast waters.  Steve was a professional news photographer, but I don’t think he was paid for many of these excellent and evocative images.  They and the book are a labor of love.  I know you need money, but not as much as most people think, and I believe it is better to do what you love whether you make any money at it or not.

Most, perhaps all these photographs have appeared on Steve’s website over the years.

http://logofspartina.blogspot.com/

I remember most of them.  Individually each is interesting and beautiful—one reminds me of a painting by Winslow Homer—collectively they capture the experience of open boat cruising better than anything else I know.

Unfortunately the book is not for sale.

Steve created it for his adult daughters, Taylor and Grace, who helped him built SPARTINA and often crewed on her.

The book is expensive to print.  I might even say obscenely so.  But if it could be produced in sufficient quantity, it would make a wonderful gift, including to oneself.

As if that were not enough, Steve and Curt Bowman are also featured in a fine article in the Oriental, NC, TOWNDOCK.

https://towndock.net/shippingnews/camping-in-the-creeks

Although I have known Steve for many years, I learned from the article that SPARTINA was the first Pathfinder to be built in the U.S. and Steve tells me probably the third in the world.

Steve’s had a pretty good week.  I wish him many more.

GANNET has come to a stop on the edge of Fort Worth, Texas, where I expect she will spend the Labor Day weekend.  She is halfway across the country and is due to start the second half next Tuesday.

I had almost forgotten that GANNET was once a Texas boat.

As far as I can determine, her first owner lived near San Francisco Bay and sailed her there for a year or two, before selling her to a Texan who towed her to Lake Texoma on the Texas/Oklahoma border about a hundred miles north of Fort Worth.  He eventually sold the little boat to a man who lived in Duluth, Minnesota, who later sold her to another resident of Duluth, who in 2011 sold her to me.  I freed GANNET from the land and lakes and she freed me.  I don’t know if she liked lakes.  I know she loves the open ocean.

I deleted from iNavX the waypoint at the entrance to the Mission Bay Channel.  I am now pointless.  No doubt many think I have been for a long time.

Public curiosity about my ankle is insatiable.  Unfortunately the news is not good.  

After improving each day until I could walk almost normally Tuesday morning, the ankle has been worse since the flight from San Diego, particularly when it stiffens up.  Getting out of bed in the morning is unpleasant.  I considered going to a walk-in clinic—for me hobble in—but they have changed their procedures because of the pandemic in quite reasonable ways, but with which I can’t comply unless I want to sit on the sidewalk until they text me.  I suppose I could put out a cup and see if I make any money.

Hobble on.

Evanston: Wikipedia and me; a new video; a night in New Mexico

 Several days ago Pat in Australia sent me an email part of which I have decided to post.  I thank him for permission to do so.

Its interesting to note that Webb Chiles does not have a Wikipedia page dedicated to him, although he does get a reference in a second hand fashion due to the Drascombe Lugger, Cape Horn, Cruising Maritime and Blue Water Medal. 

I wonder if he is too humble and does not wish to promote himself? No shame in that, it’s a strange thing accepting that  one has achieved or accomplished something special or notable takes it as a personal quest and finding the balance between that position and the other of self promotion that so many do so well on Youtube and Patreon is a balance act he has not tipped over. 

I note that he does not have a page on Patreon as many younger promoters do such as Sailing La Vagabonde who bough a million dollar Outremer catamaran on their earnings. 
https://www.patreon.com/

Perhaps he could mention this error on Wikiipedia in his blog and some other reader would see fit to start a page. Just a thought.

I responded:

Wikipedia does not permit people to write their own Wikipedia entry.  I suppose some do anyway and many are written by those who have a financial interest in promoting someone.  So there is no Webb Chiles page simply because no one has been interested enough to create and submit one.

I had never heard of Patreon until your mention.  Unlike probably most of those people, I actually am a writer who has been published and paid for almost fifty years and still occasionally am, and I have no need or desire to monetize my writing beyond that.

I have just uploaded a video, Goodbye to San Diego, that I shot on August 22

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-0o2leCmII

GANNET spent the night near Deming, New Mexico.   The next position is due in a couple of hours.  I am curious to see if she is again on her way.

I have changed the default on the Yellowbrick tracking page to ‘last 30 days’.

 

Evanston: east

 

So I have returned to what passes as the real world.  Ice in my gin and on my ankle.  Tennis and baseball on the television.  A solid internet connection which has enabled updates of dozens of apps and operating systems on iPhone, iPad, MacBook.  A vision of Carol looking truly fetching as I came through the door.  A dinner of fresh rather than freeze dry food:  grilled salmon, broccoli, a quarter of a sweet potato, with a bite size carrot cake for desert.  I am very glad to be here, but if this were all there were it would not be enough.

I also returned to find as shown on the above screen shot of the Yellowbrick tracking page that GANNET is in Arizona making 40 knots east.

My last evening on the little boat’s deck in California was odd.  Odd because I felt no loss or regret in leaving a place that is probably the most significant on land in my life.  Any world any of us knew forty years ago no longer exists.  Maybe even twenty years ago.  And San Diego is no longer mine.  I could no longer make the connections with my grandparent’s house, with the women, the places.  I looked across Quivira Basin and tried to visualize Webb Chiles rowing CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE away from the marina on the other side to begin the most audacious voyage I have ever attempted, or perhaps anyone ever has, in 1978, and I couldn’t.

So I watched birds. 

Only a hundred yards or so distance from GANNET’s former side-tie is a different bird world.  A Great Blue Heron frequents the dock below where we were in the boat yard.  An osprey stands every evening on a masthead, often so still for so long that I wonder if he is real until finally he moves his head or wing.  A hummingbird sought something from the tree just off our stern.  Two pelicans circle overhead.

I set the alarm for 6 AM this morning, but woke at 5 and got up.  Had my normal breakfast of grapefruit juice, coffee, uncooked oatmeal, trail mix, protein powder, powdered milk with the last of the fresh blueberries.

At 8 I heard someone outside the hull and stood in the companionway and found Sandy, the truck driver.  He had arrived the night before.  He climbed up the platform ladder and took some measurements.

The yard had scheduled GANNET to be loaded at 9 AM.  Both Sandy and I know that yard times are seldom real.

I needed to go to the airport at 9:30.  When Howard kindly  came then to take me, GANNET was due to be next in the travel lift.

Of all my years and all my time in San Diego, Susan and Howard have been my friends longest. I am fortunate in my friends.

The airport experience was not pleasant.

I pay for and go through the screening process for Global Entry which also gives me TSA Pre, but in many airports now TSA is not doing Pre.  They weren’t in San Diego today and the security area was disorganized and without social distancing.  And so was the seating area at the gate.  While although every other seat was blocked off and face masks are clearly required, a young woman across from me spent a half hour talking on her phone with her mask down and someone behind me repeatedly coughed, hopefully facing away from me and with face mask in place.

Once on the plane conditions improved thanks to Carol paying a little extra for an Exit Row window seat for me.  I had the entire row to myself with hardly anyone else ahead or behind me.

I was on the left side of the plane and as we took off I looked down on Harbor Island Marina, where I first met Susan and Howard when we lived aboard boats there in the early 1970s, they on a heavy about 46’ I think gaff rigged wood FAYTH; I first on the Ericson 35 EGREGIOUS, then the 37’ EGREGIOUS.  As the evening before when I tried to visualize leaving Quivira Basin in CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE, as we climbed I tried to visualize pushing away from the dock for my first attempt at Cape Horn from that marina in 1974 and on my successful one in 1975 and I couldn’t.

On the flight I watched the movie GLORY which is good and I have seen before and several short travel films, one about Hilton Head and the South Carolina coast.  It was interesting to see Hilton Head through tourist eyes.

Flying is not good for sprained ankles.  

I was decidedly better yesterday than Sunday and again better this morning than yesterday until I got on the plane where the ankle swelled and stiffened.

Want weight loss?  Live on GANNET.  I left Evanston 153.  I returned 151.5.  However I won’t be doing any push-ups or climbing stairs for a while unless I can do a push-up with only one foot in contact with the floor.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll try.

San Diego: last night

 

Junior, the travel lift operator, came to GANNET this afternoon and shifted the supports, following which I painted the five small areas I couldn’t reach and checked ‘anti-foul’ off my to do list.

Knowing the world is breathlessly awaiting an updated medical bulletin, my ankle is improved today.  Less swollen and less hot to the touch.  I would have tried to hobble to the Royal Rooster for a last world’s greatest taco, but wisely googled and found it is closed on Mondays.

I have turned the Yellowbrick on and it is sending up positions every six hours.  The tracking page is:

https://my.yb.tl/gannet/1099/

You need to go to the menu at the top and click on ‘last 30 days’.

I am about to hobble to the shower and will sit on deck when I return, listen to music, sip something, probably watch an osprey who has a favorite masthead perch not far away, and consider my last night in San Diego.  

As many of you know, I go back here all the way to the 1950s when my grandparents bought their beach house in North Mission Beach.  I have lived here intermittently.  Started three of my circumnavigations here and had many of the more significant experiences of my life here.  I will consider all that, but I do not live in the past.  Perhaps when you do, you are truly old.  I live in the present and plan a future that time and chance may put beyond my reach, but I do go the distance.

To Life.

San Diego: the new view

 

The above was taken last evening while I was on deck sipping a medicinal libation.  Quite pleasant then.  I will take my medicine there again in a few hours.

I got a second coat of antifouling on GANNET this morning.  No problem standing.  GANNET looks just the way she did yesterday, but has another half gallon of Petit Vivid White on her.  I kept just enough to paint the areas now covered by the stands, which the yard is supposed to relocate tomorrow at an expense of $96.

This is a clean boat yard, as boat yards go, and very quiet today.  Yesterday a few other owners were working on their boats, but I was the only one today.

I got an email from Chris, the trucker, affirming that the truck will be onsite late tomorrow and load as early Tuesday morning as the yard can.  I leave for the airport at 9:30, so may or not see the little boat loaded.  If not, Chris will send photos.

I am pleased to report that no kayaks have run into GANNET today.  So far.

San Diego: antifouled; medical bulletin

 The first coat of Pettit Vivid White is on.  Howard kindly came over this morning to help.  This is an act of kindness for which I can not sufficiently thank him.  Actually I helped him.  He offered to do it all, but I sat on the ground and painted the keel and what I could reach from there and he stood and started at the waterline and worked down until we met.  Among the many virtues of small boats is that it doesn’t take long to antifoul them.  We were finished in less than an hour.

I had also planned to repaint the rub rail.  The white paint has flaked off the underlying red plastic.  However I don’t think that is going to get done now.  It is easy to do while GANNET is in a slip, one side at a time.

The old blind fool is doing better than expected.  Even old people heal.  Sometimes.

My right foot and ankle are still grotesquely swollen, but I have no pain at rest and can stand and hobble fairly well.  Ibuprofen and my usual evening libations, which are now medicinal, have helped.  I thought I might even hobble down to the deli for a sandwich for lunch today, but half way across the boat yard I changed my mind.  I had planned to walk around Monday to the Royal Rooster for my last of the world’s best tacos, but that is a half mile and probably beyond my present range.

San Diego: lowered and hobbled

 As you can see Kasey and I lowered the mast yesterday with almost complete success.  There was minor collateral damage in that the Windex was damaged and one area of Raptor non-skid was gouged.  

Of odd interest is that the OpenWind transducer is now connecting with the iPhone, but then it is only a dozen feet away.  

The top photo is of an elderly sailor and his elderly boat.

Susan and Howard came by last evening and we had a very civilized picnic overlooking the Mission Bay Channel.  Susan took both the photos with her camera..  I thank her for permission to share them and for the picnic where the food was up to her usual suburb standard and there was even ice for the drinks.

They dropped me off at the marina after dark.  My vision, never good, is worse in the dark.  On the way to the boat yard gate, I stumbled on a curb and fell, apparently spraining my right ankle which is now quite large and quite painfull.  This is a nuisance because I actually have work to do.  I am not sure if I can stand long enough to get a coat of antifouling on tomorrow.  I may wait until Sunday.

The good news is that I was carrying a bottle of wine.  Unopened perhaps I need add.  And when I fell it didn’t break. 

San Diego: cluttered and uncluttered

 

I have a signed contract with Chris, who runs US Haulers to carry GANNET from San Diego to Hilton Head.  Pickup is “90% likely” next Tuesday.  The slight uncertainty has to do with other boats they are currently moving around California.  I have an airline reservation for Tuesday.  I would like to see GANNET placed on the truck, but my presence is not necessary.  I will fly to Evanston for a few days and then on to Hilton Head for the drop off after Labor Day.

Yesterday I lowered the boom, boom vang and mainsail, all of which are stowed on top of the Avon inflatable on the starboard pipe berth.

This morning I got up at 6 AM and lowered the jib before any wind came up.  Removing the jib from the furling gear is slightly different on this unit than others I have had, but I figured it out.  I even again got the sail folded and in a sail bag, though I noticed that it is the mainsail bag.

I then fit the Torqeedo.  Placed tape markers on the shrouds to aid in tuning the mast when it is re-stepped and removed the split pins from the turnbuckles.  I also moved the bow sprit below deck.

And finally I emptied the dock box.  This was the most onerous.  I threw away two bags of stuff, moved two duffle bags of maintenance supplies and work clothes, the Jordan Drogue, my plastic sextant which upon inspection is still in excellent condition, and some other gear onto GANNET.

Her interior is cluttered, but there is still enough room for me.  Barely.

While GANNET is becoming cluttered, my bank account is becoming dramatically uncluttered.  Money flew out yesterday like gannets diving on fish.  Rigger, trucker, boat yard.  It is a good thing I pay cash and don’t keep track except of the dwindling balance.

We are scheduled to come out of the water at 8 AM tomorrow.