Knot-Arthur C. Clark but introducing 2010

Happy hiccup New............

Well, it was a ways back but somehow it seemed appropriate! I won't be able to be with you physically but I will raise a glass to 2010 even though it might be my eye! I can see clearly through the other one that I rented from the good doctor but the glass one is for appearances only! I'm carving a lower set of teeth to mesh with my uppers because due to global warming we have entered a cold spell and the last thing I want is for my children to witness their mother placing me on a disintegrating ice cube in the North Pacific Ocean just because she refuses to chew my food for me! What a piss off! I swore on our wedding cake and her mother's grave ( she is still alive ) I would chew for her! So here I am with but one tooth left, reading poetry about a pub in Mass. with a good name that no one cares about anymore! I can't name anyone who even likes this style or time of writing! I knew I should have been a Mormon. I'm sure the great salt lake is where Lot's wife looked back. There is a lot of salt in that water. You can't drink it and you can't be baptized in it! You can walk on it! I guess you can be baptized on it too, but I don't think the Catholics would think you are a worshiper of Jesus. Some people dunk and some people sprinkle but they all agree, regardless of the saline content of the water that there is a baptism of fire that is a shade different than John the Baptist's water! Shoot, the last I heard the river Jordan is nothing but a tinkle! So I guess if Jesus was going to order John to baptize him today it might have to be a sprinkle! Hey, a sprinkle is better than nothing! Can you imagine being in a desert and this guy has an endless water supply? You drink year after year but complain the whole time! What? The water is to warm? God, if I had a crew surrounded by saltwater, You know, " Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink"! And a God like you gave me squalls that I could catch of fresh water, the first complainer would also be the first person to hear " Man Overboard",!! Ain't no murmurers wasting potable water on my ship! Give me a centurion. When Paul ( the ex Saul of

Tarsus) suggested to his federal marshals (centurions) not to jump ship as they ran aground on a lee shore, they had been with him long enough to know that money talks and bull-shit is exactly what it is! They were wise. They lived to sea another sea! Hell, Paul was a tent-maker. He could sew with the best of them. I will bet you that his jeans, Roman/Jew/Sailor led to the discovery of Levi's in San Francisco! Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction! Jesus, just what we need! Another Levitt priesthood!!! Happy New Year, Friends!!!

so far and so much

      Titled He was but Knot furlong.  The vast expanse of land allowed to float on molton, volcanic upheaval, just cooled and balanced by a fury of weighted water waiting, like a servant on his master's every whim for what no man could ascertain and for sure no man could prophesy that tomarrow would be here today!  I think a fool would pretend to watch what surrounds him and say, Naaaay, when asked by an equal what his opinion just might be.  To an aquaintance he might bother to say naught!  But to an equal or above?  That would be his choice and his responsibillity!  Also in the calling his measure would be found but only by an answer!  So be it right as measured by those who can judge/ or wrong by those who have the authority to judge by punishment. The Dark Ages,  400 years and 100 more I can say now, I live.  Do I live in fear?  Nay. God Forbid.  I live as a sailor, travailing as a woman ripe with a harvest, a bounty, a new sunrise, a birthing of a new day, light and airy, driving me into creation itself.  Becoming apart and yet part of a continuitity beyond what I thought was thought!  I see the inner and the exterior space that Captain James Cook sailed.  Below the water that is not drinkable is a world so remarkable that I consider it an honor and blessing that I have been allowed to sit upon surfaces under strange weather and skies, seeing and being one with societies of creatures, large and small and some even being unseen!  I know it can be frightening and lonely at the dog's watch but to dive under the thin layer that seperates the air we breath from the water/air with gills the fish use for sustenance also is a frightening thing.  I can only hold my breath for a length of time.  I have witnessed the " Dorado " change from magnificient colors to drab grey as he could not breath above  his ocean for any great length of time.  And yet, I have seen them hunting where they have taken " flying fish "
 out of the air, both out of their element displaying hunter/prey behavior that Charles Darwin would have loved to witness!  I salute Mother Ocean. 

A Very Good

December 30, 2009


For Sail-Buy Owner

How many times have you heard this? " I wish "? Or this one, " If only "? I am here now to tell you that I have a friend who said to me on occasion, " If life was a wishing well "! He was a paradox. In an esoterical sense And, in a world of practicallity he brought forth the impossible. What appeared to be physically improbable became irrelevant due to the simple fact that what I was looking at changed or metamorphasised due to the company ( or spell ) I was shareing. Jeff Briggs is his name. When I worked, surfed, played music or hung out with my friend, things happened. I could surf two foot Kealia with Jeff and feel like it was the only place on Earth I wanted to be. Major's closing out was still the most fun and Pakala, from Waimea, the long walk way, Robinson roping surfers, mushy sections, unconnected, was still a piece of heaven through Jeff's eyes.

Because he enjoyed what was before him with an un-natural exuberance the disease he was infected with passed on to me. This disease is called, " Perception ". So the ocean calls. How far does one travel from shore? When one is infected by Jeff's disease I am sure that the security of a shoreline representing protection or sheltor becomes unthreatening. Well, maybe I have taken this disease to a new level! I enjoy seas with a strong wind. " If only " Jeff was still here, " I wish ", is such a small thing to say!

Posted by Robbin at 7:29 PM Labels: Jeff Briggs, Major's, Pakala

0 comments:

When Titles Are The Story

        What is written here, today, is nothing more (or less) than a series of titles from my favorite sailing mag, Latitude "38".  A conjunction, expletive and/or just maybe a dangling participle might enter-fear with a jarund clause!  A participial phrase, OH!  Forsooth!    Let this begin............in the beginning!                          Which boat has circumnavigated the most?  That'd be up the butt, Bob!  Baja California is Heaven, not Hell protecting the union with cheese!  Nothing beats Full moon chute-flying!                                                                           Here's one for the blooper reel!   Great Ha-Ha, but what about the puddle jump?            Hat's off to the Coast Guard, the coast guard saved my life!!  May a thousand seagulls crap on your deck!   Real World-outboard suggestion needed.                                                                                                                         Point Conception-was a breeze.  it's the right thing to do, it protects you.                                                     Time for a sundowner/moonriser!  Expeditite this:  A collision of whales point of view.  Lots of whales on the Mozambique Channel.                                                                                                    The highlight of my day-then and now.  Another sturgeon believer trying to make sense out of nonsense!  We'll accept the lien  while we appeal!                                                                                                        What about sailing a laser alone?  Show the right night lights.  You have to follow the " rules of the road "!    The 100'000 misunderstandings best dinghy manhandling practices the ultimate Ha-Ha rescue boat!! etc..................What?

a portion of- Songs Of The Sea by Charles Godfrey Leland ( 1824-1903 )

Songs Of The Sea by Charles Godfrey Leland ( 1824-1903 )



,1



THE OLD TAVERN

In the North End of Boston, long ago;

Although 'tis yet within my memory;

There were of gabled houses many a row,

With overhanging storeys two or three,

And many with half-doors over whose end

Leaning upon her elbows, the good-wife

At eventide conversed with many a friend

Of all the little chances of their life;

Small ripples in a stream which ran full slow

In the North End of Boston, long ago.



And 'mid these houses was a Hostelrie

Frequented by the people of the sea ,

Known as the Boy and Barrel, from its sign:

A jolly urchin on a cask of wine





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2



Bearing the words which puzzled every eye—

Orbus In Tactu Mainet

There were in Philadelphia, forty years ago, two sailors' groggeries in Water Street, both having the sign of The Boy and Barrel, derived from the infant Bacchus. One of these had for motto the words exactly as here misspelt and divided.



Heaven knows why.

Even there a bit of Latin made a show,

In the North End of Boston—long ago.



And many a sailor, when his cruise was o'er,

Bore straight for it soon as he touched the shore:

In many a stormy night upon the sea

He'd thought upon the Boy—and of the spree

He'd have when there, and let all trouble go,

In the North End of Boston, long ago.



There, like their vessels in a friendly port,

Met many mariners of every kind,

Spinning strange yarns of many a varied sort,

Well sheltered from the ocean and the wind;

In a long low dark room they lounged at ease;

Strange men there were from many a distant land,

And there above the high old chimney-piece





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3



Were curiosities from many a strand,

Which often made strange tales and memories flow

In the North End of Boston, long ago.



And there I often sat to hear those tales,

From men who'd passed through storm and fight and fire,

Of mighty icebergs and stupendous whales,

Of shipwrecked crews and of adventures dire,

Until the thought came to me on a time,

While I was listening to that merry throng,

That I would write their stories out in rhyme,

And weave into it many a sailor's song,

That men might something of the legends know

Of the North End of Boston, long ago.



First it was said that Captain Kidd in truth

Had revelled in that tavern with his crew,

And there it was he lost the Golden Tooth

Which brought him treasure, and the gossips knew

Moll Pitcher dwelt there in the days of yore,





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4



And Peter Rugg had stopped before the door:

Tom Walker there did with the Devil go

In the North End of Boston, long ago.



Nor had I long to wait, for at the word

Some one observed that he had seen in Spain

A captain hung—which Abner Chapin heard

And said, “I too upon the Spanish Main

Met with a man well known unto us all,

Who nearly hung a Captain General.”

He told the tale and I did rhyme it so;

In the North End of Boston, long ago.





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5



EL CAPITAN GENERAL

There was a Captain General who ruled in Vera Cruz,

And what we used to hear of him was always evil news;

He was a pirate on the sea —a robber on the shore:

The Señor Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.



There was a Yankee skipper who round about did roam,

His name was Stephen Folger and Nantucket was his home,

And having gone to Vera Cruz he had been skinned full sore

By the Señor Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.



But having got away alive, though all his cash was gone,

He said, “If there is Vengeance, I will surely try it on!

And I do wish I may be damned if I don't clear the score

With Señor Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador!”





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6



He shipped a crew of seventy men—well-arméd men were they,

And sixty of them in the hold he darkly stowed away,

And sailing back to Vera Cruz was sighted from the shore,

By the Señor Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.



With twenty-five soldados he came on board so pleased

And said: “Maldito Yankee—again your ship is seized.

How many sailors have you got?” Said Folger, “Ten—no more,”

To the Captain Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.



“But come into my cabin and take a glass of wine,

I do suppose as usual, I'll have to pay a fine;

I have got some old Madeira and we'll talk the matter o'er—

My Capitan Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.”



And as over that Madeira the Captain General boozed,

It seemed to him as if his head was getting quite confused,

For it happened that some morphine had travelled from “the store”

To the glass of Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.





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7



“What is it makes the vessel roll? What sounds are these I hear?

It seems as if the rising waves were beating on my ear!”

“Oh it is the breaking of the surf—just that and nothing more,

My Captain Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador!”



The Governor was in a sleep which muddled all his brains,

The seventy men had got his gang and put them all in chains,

And when he woke the following day he could not see the shore,

For he was out on the blue water—the Don San Salvador.



“Now do you see that yard-arm—and understand the thing?”

Said Captain Folger, “For all from that yard-arm you shall swing,

Or forty thousand dollars you must pay me from your store,

My Captain Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.”



The Capitano took a pen—the order he did sign,

“O Señor Yankee!—but you charge amazing high for wine!”

But 'twas not till the draft was paid they let him go ashore,

El Señor Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.





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8



The greatest sharp some day will find another sharper wit,

It always makes the devil laugh to see a biter bit;

It takes two Spaniards any day to come a Yankee o'er:

Even two like Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.



And when this tale was told, another man

Cried out, “I'll swear 'tis true as true can be,

Unto his health we'll have all round a can!

For Captain Folger is well known to me.

Now I will sing ‘first lines’ of ‘Uncle Sam,’

And he who can shall add at once a second,

I'll call you one by one—now here I am,

And he who balks shall be the loser reckoned,

And pay for drinks all round”—

“All right,” they roared,

“Now then begin, for we are all on board!”

Ben Kelly

      In Cairns Australia a boat was sold to a wannabe part of a sailing community without paying Davie his due!  You know the style or lack of!  His name isn't important but his character or lack of is.  He figured he could buy a pedigreed sailboat, throw some money around buying drinks at the Cairns Yacht Club when it was located near the mouth that talked to Grafton Passage.  Get a crew together to sail to Cooktown and invaribly learn everything there is to know about sailing and sailors.  My wife of today ( girlfriend then )  He chose as paid skipper.  Many sailors availed themselves as he ( new owner ) is truly a generous and kind man.  I can speak of this because I was one of the other three he hand picked to deliver Ben Kelly and his self to Cooktown.  Alan, the son of the husband and wife that sold Ben Kelly, was one of the chosen.  Uly, a german, my friend,(as is Alan) and a Captain and owner of his own boat was also hand picked by the new owner.  What a motley crew!  The combined knowledge of the crew and the feel of the spitit of the sea made for a great fellowshipical adventure and maiden introduction for a new salt who bore the jokes with good interpertations of harmless but needful teasing and pranks that are designed for the benefit of the uninitiated!  For instance.  If I ask someone if they can tie a bolan and their response is, " Are you pulling that sailor shit on me "?  My answer would be, " No, not by any means ", but then, " Would you show me a knot you feel comfortable with?"  So they tie any manner of knot.  And then after I makefast I ask them to un-tie it.  They can't, of course, and I'm sure not going to hand them my marlinspike!  So they learn something they didn't get when they were a boyscout!!  Simply if you only learn one knot, let it be a bolan!  It can save your life!!   So we sailed.  Inside " The Great Barrier Reef ".  The largest living organism or life form on the face of this sailboat sailing through space called " Earth "  I think Terra Tempory might have been better than Terra Firma!?  Terra Temporaius sounds like an aquarium people might pay money to sea.  One of my favorite sailors ( I lied, he is ) Captain Cook managed to stumble ( yea, right! ) inside " The Reef ", and then couldn't find his way out.  Two ways in-no way out without a chart!  Oh yea, he created them!  Go figure!  So0o with a following sea and a following wind ( rare ) we sailed Ben Kelly at times faster than her hull was designed for.  I always loved the concept that a vessel that arrives at a speed beyond her design will drive herself underwater!  Ballast and balance and let her go!!  We were wing and wing with all skippers aboard who liked each other! Nay!  God forbid!  In broad daylight, unchallenged, the wind, tide and swells drove Ben Kelley, not we, but one. The owner learned on that cruise more or less than he was entitled.  Dues have been and are being paid by every man ( woman ) who goes to sea.  Captain Cook's offloaded canons, brass monkey balls, anything of weight has only been found recently. ( the last fifty years )  Cooktown is named for him where he came in the river and put his hull back together with native timber.  Good thing he ran aground then because there is no timber anywhere near Cooktown today that you could appropriate.  It just isn't!  I owe this next bit to my wife of many years and the bearer of my our children.  Once we arrived and dropped our pick upriver, I didn't trust the tide flux and river current to hold.  I errored and set another anchor in what can be called " A bermuda triangle ".  It's a double pick drop and it failed with no damage because she, as THE skipper caught the error.  What can I say, " Sorry " .  And that is what the owner Jim learned  on his first sail on his new boat Ben Kelly!  It is O.K to ask questions.  It is O.K. to knot know the answer.  Always recomember " A WISE MAN ASKS WHAT A FOOL PRETENDS TO KNOW "  and all sailors will be alright!  God Bless

a continuing story

It is hard to speak of sailing.  How many people really want to sail " The Ocean Blue " ?  The answer is, many want to sail.  My answer is let them try!  The " Idea " of sailing represents a type of history and freedom that myths and dreams are made of.  If I bring forward a list of great Captains, Warriors, Pirates and Explorers, We all hold our breath!  If a husband and wife build a dream on the " Illusion " of building and sailing that boat together and sailing to points unknown!!  A myth is born!  Does that make or break the relationship they built together on the ribs or the foundation of a dream they just might not be able to fulfill together?  That depends! I have been fortunate to witness varibles of all of the above!                                     Time is a funny, relative, and an important aspect to sailing.  My first thought as a navigator is that the prime meridian runs through England.  My second funny thought is that most people I have sailed with think that they are going to arrive at their destination on some kind of " their " schedule!  As a sailor of boats, hopefully using the wind to allow the boat to be blown and in no particular hurry to get from point " A " to point "B ", unless food and water are becoming an issue, I think that the vessel itself finds the port of call that ( with a good skipper ) it needs to replenish ( revitalize ) itself as if it was alive!  So you sea?  The vessel has an identity!  I love sailing into places where another sailor looks me square in the eyes and says, " Give Way ". as if I was a racing sailor instead of a blue water sailor in the bay of islands N.Z.  The wind was fair.  The D"of Marlboro tried to put " Wind-I-Go " on a lee shore!  " Nice try", as " The All Blacks- Rugby Team N.Z speak of!  Nice try! but no dice!  I didn't even realize this guy owned the pub on Russel Island, N.Z.  His pub is called , The Duke " and his boat is called the " Duchess " !  I call him "  Prick "!  The Bay of Islands is a way cool place to sail into except the year we did!  60 + winds!  Boats aground.  We needed motor to irons to drop sail on Christmas day and cleared customs on boxing day, the 26th of Dec.  Just another several stories!  Ha!  Arrughhh, matey!