The infomal comments and views of the boat……..hey that’s what I am a boat!
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Students…….
Never try and teach a pig to sing, it annoys the pig and wastes your time…..
Sometimes I forget things like this myself. I like to teach so sometimes I try to teach “People” to sail who want to sail but have no aptitude for it. It becomes like teaching a “Pig to Sing”, it becomes a waste of time. Even those people that we all have in our life that we would do anything for, may not be a person who can sail. It then becomes annoying, and sometimes dangerous to have a person like this on the boat. They will try to do things to prove they can, forgetting the simplest tasks the moment they have completed them. The next day they will attempt to perform the same task, something as simple as letting a line out on a winch….by cranking the handle.
Solo Sailing……
I sail solo…. a lot…. When I am sailing solo I don’t have to work on my people skills…….
I have cruised a lot over the last couple of years. I have enjoyed the fun and laughter of sailing with the Singles on Sailboats folks, (www.singlesonsailboats.org ). The family feeling of sailing with my friend Susan and her son Luke to watch the Volvo racers. The trips with my brothers either day sailing or deliver trips. Sailing with Maryland Yacht Club, www.MDYC.org , Dick, Deiter, Winfried, Elizabeth, Elisabeth, Linda, and all the others in both the sail and power fleet. Father’s day sailing weekends with my son are probably the second best sailing I have ever done.
Sailing alone is so very different; it is time to look inside you. There is no corner grocery or anyone to help you out in a jam. It makes you plan ahead; it makes you think differently about yourself and the world. Solo sailing teaches you humility. It makes you aware of your surroundings, the sea is very unforgiving and treats everyone the same. The little thing you were going to fix yesterday will become the first card to fall as your house crumbles around you out here alone. The silence is ok, the loneliness is ok, and it is a hell of a way to learn about what you are really made of.
Storms……
Life like the weather can change, we seldom notice the weather getting better, and we always notice it getting worse!
Nothing in the world comes close to humbling me like sailing solo in a storm, with lighting striking all around you, rain so thick you can’t see twice the length of your boat, and wind that make every drop of rain feel like a BB trying to penetrate your skin. I now face the shore side adversity of my life differently because of those times in the storm. The same ideas work for both , plan ahead, know what you can and cannot accomplish, know your environment, and know when it time to stop beating to windward and just run with it. There will always be another day if you still have your boat to make that windward run.
Summer……
The days fly by like the moments of our lives, no camera required, I still remember them all!
It has been a wonderful summer of good memories, good sailing and good friends. Thank you to Sid B, Kathy H, my son, Betsy G, Susan M, and those who have made all the fun sailing into great memories. I flirted, danced, and sailed my way into and out of adventures and anchorages, enjoying every moment. Mid-night swims, Champagne, quit dinners, ribald jokes, pajama parties onboard Ariosa, losing the dare to Juanita during a pajama party! The summer would not have been nearly as much fun or adventurous without meeting and becoming friends with Jim Huber and his boat “Champagne”. The life and times of this man are books worth of stories of his multiple trips around the globe on his sailboat. This fun loving ways and laughter have graced everyone that takes the time to know him. I hope he keeps me in mind for some of the future adventures.
Other Things……
It is amazing that a simple hello would start a conversation I can’t wait to continue…….
The quiet whispers in early hours of the morning, trying to tell each other about our lives, our history, our dreams, explaining how we got here from there. The simplest of beginnings has awoken a desire to see if you are the one………
The 4th of july weekend is over. I am sitting here thinking home and air conditioning is the place I want to be. I have been working all day on work! A couple of new deadlines and such with lots of things to accomplish by friday. There are a few pitfalls working on the boat in this humidity, like sweat dripping off your fingers onto the keyboard. Propping the laptop up for extra ventiliation underneath, etc.
Still it is better than working in a cube all day……..
The boat is sitting in her slip for a change, not out playing with the wind. Everything is cleaned and stowed so winter must be over. The Jeep is sitting with the top off in the parking lot….must be time to enjoy the summer. It’s going to rain this week but I don’t care, it is off sailing again.
Still sitting port side to the dock at the club…….. Yesterday was part work, part boat. The boat part lasted a long time into the night. I managed to quit at 2 am, and back at it today by 7 am. Finally done my real job and back on the boat with laundry and food by 3 pm….. So here I sit, dinner finished and lots of stowing still to do. I may be nap time soon, then up later to get everything done.
The Captain
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……
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jour·nal n. A personal record of occurrences, experiences, and reflections kept on a regular basis; a diary.
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Beneteau There is always something exceptional aboard a Beneteau.
— Beneteau USA
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