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!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Tomarrow Is Two Days After Yesterday

Sometimes it's more fun to start in the middle of a story rather than what might appear to be the beginning! Fourteen days out of San Diego I realized that sailing, " Down-Hill ", isn't all it's cliched about! I had heard amazing stories about , " Trans-Pac " racers, boats with crews headed to Hawaii and then, to points unknown. People headed onwards and frowards to see the imaginings of worlds only accessible to vessels with hearts- to find treasures and places only shallow draft boats could access! I had only delivered boats whose dreams were unrealized. These boats needed to be returned to ports on the mainland coast of the Pacific Ocean. I was a paid sailor who loved sailing so gained experience. And for that I have no regrets. I was fortunate to have a command of the English language. Naught to sound like an arrogant POME but an American from the " Colonies " ! So Be It! I barely was allowed to sail from Shelter Island, San Diego, on a Cullen Archer,32ft, Faro-cement, slutter to Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, if Judy had said to me, " You got my husband Mark drunk on the night of our sail"," How dare you, stand on this pier, drinking three Budweiser's! And the clock ticks three o'clock in the morning? Little did I know that I had 2,800 miles of water to flow under Sea Rover's hull. Damn it! It was always harder to sail from Hawaii to the mainland than it is to sail from the mainland to Hawaii!!!.. In all my travels I have never experienced a puke fest that I witnessed with my friend. I always thought I could coach anyone out of motion sickness. I am wrong and yet I am right! I met a human being that loved her husband to a degree that defies understanding.A wan-a-be sailor meets a true sailor! Judy met Mark in a place called " Cabo San Lucas "! Mark had a sailboat and not only is a marine surveyor but is a master sailor and shipwright! Judy fell hard for Mark and married him hoping that she could follow his dream. I had the pleasure of meeting Judy's Dad and Mark's mother and father and consider myself a friend of these two people and family.. Judy puked from California to Maui, Hawaii. Nineteen days and six-teen hours. She lost weight and her palor was death warmed over! She married a sailor and she is a sailor! No one that I have ever sailed with has fought so hard to stay in something so diametrically opposed to her very nature and yet has fought so hard to find a place that fits with the one she loves that is contrary to her nature! I love you Judy because I saw you sail. I sail into Coff's Harbor Aus, and find out that you had berthed a son, Eric, in Australia! It was written on a yacht club board! I was on my way to Perth with my New Zealand wife. Having no children and being newly married ( two years ) we were driving from Cairns, Queensland to Perth! Oh what a long drive that was! The fog in San Diego at times creates a mood. Mark and I drank but three beers, contemplating a passage. Regardless of what all had done before, racing, sailing, motoring, etc, so what? Mark is sailing with his wife and child and a crew member and a cat!!! And what? We are in the sucking S.D. fog on the only fisherman's pier drinking the devils own drug- alcohol!!!! Forsooth! I'm being facetious. So after fourteen days of Judy puking I was worried. Not just for Judy and the weight she was losing but what was happening in the cockpit with Mark and I!! "Sea Rover " is a double ender with a Norwegian keel! It took all of our strength to hold Rover on course. We hooked up a double cockpit return hook center to drive with sails set properly low maintenance steerage! Mark and I blew out a Tiller-Master because the helm on Sea Rover required constant attention and a body that could drive the boat. I learned that when sailing to Hawaii you may cross some major shipping lanes. What I wasn't aware of was that that in order to survive as a small boat on a vast ocean , regardless of your radar deflector, is you must pay attention because they ( cargo cruisers, Matson Container Ships ) are not! Mark and I became tired when standing watch after watch. We placed a ten minute timer on our chest so we could visualize the horizon so that as we two stood watch after watch, three on, three off, and fatigue came upon us, day after day, hour after hour! Aw fuck, Ain't sniveling! You got a visual on the horizon! If a cargo ship is smoking at 34 knots, you have six minutes. Either get out of his way or don't! Nobody is at the wheel ( on their boat ). Might is right! They will run you down as if you didn't even exist! So you set your egg timer and it wakes you up even though you have slept in the cock-pit for four daze and you drop your pick off the Buddha on Maui and say, " Let's do it again real soon! Ha! And I say O.K. Can you imagine solo? No! Love you two RB ARH-H-H!!!!!

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