About Me

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Sacramento, California, United States
so salty pieces of coral from surfing Hawaii in the 60's and 70's getting reef pounded living in my body fall through my skin from time to time!

sailing to Oahu

Jimi Hendrix was playing on Oahu. I had never sailed. Surfed Mexico, California, Hawaii! Aw, how hard could it be to sail 90-110 miles from Kauai to Oahu? Piece of cake, right? Remember it was the 60's! This is so bad. We thought we were looking at Kaiena Point,Ohau, knowing we weren't going to make the concert! But at least we were in site of Oahu-wrong! Coy, who had never sailed before, me,who had never sailed before, jeff and Abbott etc. We were looking at the sleeping giant on Kauai! We had done three-sixty's in the night! We sailed on the only tri-marran I've ever sailed on ( except later ) in my life, missed the concert! It was at the Waikiki Shell Ampitheater ( Moon eclipsed . We finally made Nawilwili Harbor! The Skipper tried to give us his boat saying, " It's trying to kill me"! We watched him go stark raving mad not even realising that had we got caught in the channel current we were on our way to Japan! Remember it was the 60's and we were going to see Hendrix. I left out some of the good stuff but I will make up for it later!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Sailor of life itself

I have made many mistakes! And yet I have made none! Traveling distances dosen't make one wiser or more filled with a truth or a triumph; and yet! It does! Sailing is one of the greatest teachers of things, places and relationships. I have sailed hard to get to places with uncomplecated people and also sailed easy to get to places with very complex people! So what? Here is the what and the how about it! Paul Hogan, a golfer, said "I can play 18 holes of golf with a person and know him better than a so-called friend and neighbor I have known for many years"! I paraphrased that for the reason that over the course of a " 24 " hour commitment, day after day with your sailing family, you begin to know each other on a level way beyond how you are familiar with your next door neighbor. So here are some thoughts I would love to describe to you. !) People are great- governments suck! 2) Currency like passports are transitory ! They also fluctuate at the whim of whatever or whoever is popular at the moment! ( In Vogue ) 3) When all else fails bring t-shirts and levi's and you can barter! 4) Introduce your captain ( even if you are him ) by the best orator you have aboard! It has to do with tradition and is guranteed to get the results your vessel needs to survive in a world that has nothing to do with N.York or L.A. They really don't care! 5) Always , when clearing customs turn in a big gun! That way they know you have a small gun hidden on your boat to protect your family and they are totally cool with that. It really is about face or the losing of face! I sailed with one skipper who turned in his cat ( a real cat ) and shotgun ( a real shotgun ) and showed me a secret compartment that he kept a " 45" for emergencies. But only to protect his family! Does any of this make sense? It does to me and to other sailor's who have travelled through these cunt-ries! In the Solomoms we paid a"Light Fee" of $ 110.00. For what? We had charts that showed the positions of the 21 lights that the U.S. had built and provisioned to be maintained for perpetuity! We paid the didge but found only one working light! I'm not complaining, I'm only bringing to your attention how exciting it was and is that we here in America profess to have no graft or bribes or corruption and yet we hide it so well! I prefer a country that is what it says it is and does what it says it will do! Don't you? This is a big laugh for me and I will treasure your thoughts if you can relate to what I'm saying! Governments suck, People are wonderful!!!! It is a great Ocean out there, I hope you find the time of your life spending some it on vessels. islands and continents that bring to you the joy that it, so far, has delivered to my porch! Until our next voyage, Aloha Pumehana. Robbin

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