Ariosa, my comments.

When the storm starts with hail, then it is going to be a tough one! Last night that is exactly what happened, and it always happens at night. Like the sound of the concrete being chipped away by live fire the storm last night started with a vengeance, hail and lots of it.  The wind came next, but Ariosa has been through that before. We sat at dock in Carolina beach one night when the gusts hit 98 MPH, we were healed over 15 degrees on bare poles alone. Last night was strong but no where near that. Still between the monsoon rains and the hail sounding like shrapnel it was a restless night.

There are many of those lately, mostly because to play during the day you have to work during the night. So call it a alternative schedule, or an understanding boss,  or maybe a time shift but the long nights are back! The days are simple, some even sunny, but mostly its coffee early and a long noon nap. The afternoons are shopping and maybe a drink at the club. The evenings are sitting and working on…..well work, making money, doing the job……

Lately the days have been cleaning and stowing, and I am there! Finished for the moment, and then cleaning up another mess from a project. You know you have gotten a handle on the stowage when you look for areas to open, drag out and sort. You find all kinds of things bought and paid for but long forgotten.

Maybe the weekend will be clear and I can get a day of sailing in. Me the deck harness and a 45 footer, wouldn’t that be fun. I could leave behind the life I have, and once again stand where I should be. I can leave behind the daily work, the social life, the leadership and the management, and just be me. One man, one boat and a horizon I have yet to cross. Ahhh what a dream, just to untie the bonds to land and to sail away.

She, her, it, the boat, like a love I have missed for years………they will never understand. I never knew the ocean till I was 18, I have never left it since, it is my home, on it under it, in it…….aka Buffet

“Mother, Mother ocean, I have heard your call.

Wanted to sail upon your waters, since I was three feet tall,

You’ve seen it all, you’ve seen it all.

Watched the men who rode you, switch from sail to steam,

In you belly you can hold the treasures few have ever seen,

Most of the dreams, Most of them dreams……

Yes I am a a pirate, two hundred years to late,

The cannons don’t thunder, nothing to plunder,

I’m a over forty victim of fate,

 arriving too late, arriving too late………”

The song has been sung for years and each verse tells a different story, me and the sea, my love for the sea and the women who have graced me in life with their presence.

Buffet probably said it best…..”Although I’ve run them away they’ll come back one day, still can manage a smile, just takes a while, just takes a while.”

Moored port side to, C-21, receiving shore services from the pier in electric and water. Modified Port side moor, with a port and starboard bow and stern lines crossed, including fore and aft forward spring line, and fore and aft aft spring lines on the port side. Single amidships spring lines starboard.

39  09′ 12.7″ North Latitude

076 29′ 59.7 West Longitude

The captain……