Last Voyage

        When I was a youth, I thought great thoughts.  I had desires and dreams that weren't quite formulated
into substantial thoughts or directions of purpose that would establish the immaturity and immortality of my youth.  The dreams were and still are real!  So, when does youth stop?
        When is one's last voyage?  When is one's last adventure?  Many individuals would make reference to the idea of death.  They may be right!  I say they are wrong.  I can not know what was in Captain Cooks mind when he was asked by his queen to make his third voyage from England into The Pacific Ocean.  What I do know is his desire was to stay with his family.  Alas, called to duty for God and country, how can one decline? To his death on a very Big Island.....
       History has a bizzarre way of re-writing itself.  We do that as people daily.  There are few that I have met in my life that can truly say they haven't made a mistake or three.  The difference of certain mistakes are
how major are they?
       In hindsight we as a people and I mean ALL people, governments included, realize a mistake has been made!  We only realize that a mistake has been made because the conclusions of said mistake didn't get the results we had hoped for.  Borders are not necessarily a territorial boundary of radom political, racial, monetarial by definition seperation,  governments.  Plural.  Pluralsy is seperation.  I say, know!
       When one visits a foriegn country with a different language, monetary value and culture, do not open your mouth until you can understand the depth of the trouble you are in. One of my heroes, Captain James Cook, was torn apart in Hawaii.  It was his last voyage.  I have one voyage, maybe two left in me.  But then again these are different times.  I think they are worse.  I could be wrong but then, that would be my last voyage and I surely could not handle that!  ARRAGGHH!!.

Someone who knows me

       There are a few people who know me.  There are a lot who don't.  Assholes find themselves
important.  I think assholes are really important to themselves.  Don't you?  I am overly fond of assholes and I pursue them with all my heart and soul.  A prick is a prick!  A cunt is a cunt and an asshole will never be anything other than what he is!  So be it....Kant said, " I think therefore I am " ......I say" If I am oppurtunistic, then let me take advantage of this oppertunity"!  So let us all be healthy and wealthy!  I don't see why not?  Do you? 
      Screw oil.  Fuck Jerusalem but continue to surf and love your ocean,  This is important.  Nothing else is
but this.  Love your ocean.  It is really important.  I mean this......Rip tide.........

November 11th. 1967

        Oh, how wonderful.  A long airplane ride over a vast ocean.  A big ocean.  The Pacific Ocean.
I am 19.  I have lived in San Clemente and worked at the brand spanking new , San One'fre Nuclear reactor.  Checked out Mexico after my friend got us fired for stealing tools.  We were the first two janitors.
He was the thief.  I was/am an asshole.
        All I ever wanted was to ride very good waves.  Southern California has some real fun waves.  Kansas, Arkansas, Arizona, Wyoming don't have an ocean but they do or did have some very fine missle silos.
My dad took me to these places so that are family could live the " American Dream".  My dream was to surf
waves and enjoy a life on or near a beach.  My dad's idea was to protect our country by making me a local in places where I didn't get to have a name.  I didn't realize how important it was at the time to have an incredable amount of armed Titon Two nuclear warhead missles aimed at our enemies!  I sure do now.
         The heck with surfing and not having a name!  I'm proud to say I went to school with a guy, Jim Ryan,
from Witchata East, Kansas who fell down in the Olympics.  Topeka was very flat also.  Kansas is a place that looks like an ocean if you look at a lot of grain blowing in the wind.  And have an active imagination.
When it snows and freezes don't look for a hill to ride a tobaggon, sled or ski's!  Guess why?
          Cheyenne Wyoming is where I discovered cold!  Not cold like surfing Santa Cruz but so cold that when I spit my spittle broke into pieces when it hit the ground.  40 degrees below.  No surf but the pinball machine and bowling tried to replace my dreams of a perfect wave with me as a masterful rider and failed
horribly.  Frontier Days was great and Jack-a-lopes are fine.  I'm sure no one ever knew my name.  I was called," California ".
          Arizona and Arkansas have nothing in common.  Both states start with an A.  I mean nothing.
I've never met anyone except my sister and brother who have lived in both these states.  Why would you?
My father is buried in Tucson.  Maybe I should exume mother, who is buried in California, and re-bury her next to dad.  The weather is better in Arizona and they should be together.  The only surf in Arizona is a surf machine they built.  In Tucson every high school is named after Southern California surf towns.  It's kind of spooky!
          I land in Honolulu, Hawaii!  Can you smell the air?  Frangipane (plumaria) and an undefinable frangrance!  Youth freed without restraint for the very first time!  Unlimited possibillities.  To taste, touch
and feel a dream long awaited for.  And in the doing, discovery of myself while exploring an island and it's people.  All these years later, I still am discovering myself while exploring an island and it's people 
         All I ever wanted to be is a surfer.  I didn't plan to own a restaurant in Hanalei, Kauai. But we
did.  When I say we, I mean Jeff, his wife Sandy(my sister) and me.  Ralph Young (my friend) also
was our partner.  Equals and friends to this day.  Who would have thought that it was a possibillity that one could actually own
a resturant located in Hanalei Bay?  I don't care who speaks about all the places on Earth!  Hanalei is not only the finest wave I've ever seen or surfed but is also the most beautiful place on Earth. It might just be a memory.  Time has a way of changing what we used to know.  Tourism has a way of re-defining landscapes
in Hawaii!  Maybe the Big Island of Australia is my next Port-of-Call!  Newcastle, New South Wales -latitude 21 south!.............Maco nuts and Kona coffee, yea! 

No Wax

I asked at the store and they said," no wax"!
No pilikea.  The nearest store is only twenty-three
miles the other way through a cane field.

Someone will have some wax.  Someone
always does!  I really wish someone was here!
Billy Shea and I rubbed our boards back and forth
trying to exchange wax but because he had done the
nasty with Sheila on his board the day before, her
sun tan lotion turned the surface of my board into
a slippery slide! 

One thing worse than not having any wax is not
having a surfboard.  Especially in Hawaii.  It's
difficult to return a borrowed board to a friend
in two pieces.  I've seen that done but I found it
was easier to move to another island!  When
McCellan broke Coy's board at Hanalei he had no
problem at all returning it.  He said he was sorry.

You can tell when someone loves you because
they never say they are sorry.  Coy resined
that board back together over at Bubbie's
house.  And, " The Super Scoop" was born.

Without wax this board could not be ridden!
It was a " V".  Not a v bottom but a v as in
child's playground teeter-toter.  One had
two choices.  Ride on the front half of the board
or stall on the back half!  Soul Wevo made it
look easy and stylish.  He was so cool he rode
a wax surfboard I whittled and no one could tell
how many bars of parafin it took for me to make
it.  A week later when they found out that there would
be no wax in Hawaii for a month they asked me
nicely to move into the City of Refuge on the
Big Island.

I flatly refused.  I told them that I knew Mr. Punter.
They staccotoed, " What does that have to do with
the price of Ginseng at Ambroses"?  I countered,
" Absolutely nothing"!  Then I quickly expressed,
" But are we waxing esoteric"?  It was then that
I knew how I was going to survive this ordeal!

Mr. Punter is not only an organic farmer but a
bee man as well.  After I explained my plight he
with vigor allowed me to purchase $ 5,000
worth of honey.  It took me five days but I
was able to seperate the honey from the combs.

I went out to the Taylor hippie camp because
I knew I could score some pachuli oil.  60lbs
of bee's wax mixed with pachuli oil and Old
Spice, packaged as Sex Wax sold like hot
cakes.  This is kind of poetic in that I sold
the honey too!  Tasted great on pan cakes!
Made a lot of money but what is more
important is that I never, to this day, have
been without.  Wax on, wax off!!!

The Ventures, Dick Dale And The Dell-Tones, Jan And Dean, Beach Balls

      I'm twelve years old in Berdoo.  San Bernardino, California..  New Port Beach, San Clemente, Dana Point, Doheney , San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Beach, Trestles all at my finger tips!  If I had a car and could drive.  So there I am with a string tied to my wrist, running out my bedroom window, waiting for my older friends to yank it at 4 o'clock in the morning, waking me up for dawn patrol!  Boards stuffed into the back of my friends "54" Ford stationwagon.  I think one of the reasons God created racks was to save us young children from the noxious vapers our boards sticking out the rear of the stationwagon would draw back in upon us.  Mu lepo!
     In the early sixties there were only three waves in California  that I knew of that could handle anything over twelve feet.  I only got to surf two of them. Lunada Bay, Dana Point  and Steamer Lane are the three.  You may know of others but remember I am 12- 17 years young at the time.  I ended up in Sacramento and got to surf Santa Cruz before I moved to Hawaii. 
      Dana Point ( Killer Dana)  could handle massive swells.  On a large day there was a table rock that set the wave up for an outside take-off.  Position.  The ride, when Dana was huge, would take you through the pier if you allowed it to.  The lifeguards used to warn you off with bull horns because they knew you were going for it!  They never warned me off at Huntington.  Go figure.  When they were building the boat harbour that is there now Dana broke big three days before the new breakwall jetty was finished and Dana Point had a grand farewell.  I was fortunate to be there and say, " Good-Bye"
       At the time I wasn't a sailor but I had read, " Two Years Before The Mast", by Richard Henry Dana.  So I knew that just below the lookout Gazebo near Hobie Alters Surfboard Shop was a break called" A Thousand Steps"!  They used to load animal skins there to take back around " The Horn".  On the other side of that breakwall was a left called" Nepee's".  Then you moved on to Doheney.  That's where the beautiful boat harbour is today and the breaks I mentioned are gone.......
       I don't miss Killer Dana as I thought I would at the time.  I'm older now and have taken a liking to sailing.  I really think they did a good job with the Doheney Marina.  I've actually sailed there from Hawaii but I think it has another name.  Dana Point Marina! But it's really knot!  It's Doheney
       Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz is a better wave than the Point but the water is really cold!  What I especially like about " The Lane" is that being a goofy foot, I can go left there.  It can be a little hairy but nothing near Hanalua, Maui. Or Kaliiwhi, Kauai.  When Steamers gets really large it's fun to see if you can turn the corner into "Killer Cowells"  Heh!  Cowells is a great wave to teach your keikes how to surf.  It's cold but it is user friendly.
       Never did surf Lunada Bay up by Palos Verdes.  Heard good reports.  Why should I go up there when I could sneak in to Cottons and Trestles B.A. a train and out paddle marines whose only purpose of the day was to bust this little blond haired gremmie, take my board away and fine me for tresspassing.  It NEVER happened.  Life has it's small pleasures and an occasional disappointment
      I can still see the cliffs of Dana Point in my minds eye as if it was yesterday. I wouldn't mind talking to some of the people who rode that wave in the day.  Corky Carroll and Phil Edwards are still around somewhere.  Remember Joyce Hoffman?  Greg Noll worked with Hobie up the hill!  I'm wondering if Hobie ever made it right with Phil for the cat design?  I've sailed different sized Hobie Cats and they rip! 
     Oh yea to finish this surf story.  I move to Oahu in "67' and destroyed my 9'9" Hobie nose-rider at Haleiwa.  My next board lasted a day.  It was a 8'Bing Nuihiwa light-weight that Pipeline said", Robbie, you aren't going to make this take-off"!  Pipeline was right!  Three pieces!  $80 down the tube.  After that I went to Dick's.  He is still shaping and he is the greatest shaper I have ever had the pleasure to ride for/with.  I have never ridden a Brewer mistake.  But each board challenged me as I feel I challenged it.  I loved being able to use different fins in a slot.  Mike Diffendurfer is the only other shaper that is close to Richard.  Gerry learned how to shape from Brewer and is loved by Dick so he is #3.  I like surfing with Gerry but it has been quite a few years.  I like surfing with Margo to and thats been awhile.
       You know, at this stage of my life, just to be able, physically, to paddle out to Impossibles, and sit in the line-up as if I was going to take off would bring me a measure of peace and culminate the years I have spent pursueing and finding an uncrowded perfect wave shared with a few of my die hard surfing friends.  You know who you are.  Cowabunga!!!
       

Accidental feather in their cap-footnote

A cannon, from the 18th-century sailing ship voyage to the Pacific Ocean, by British Captain James Cook. When one of Cook's ships ran aground in Australia's Great Barrier Reef in June 1770, its cannon lay unrecovered for nearly two centuries.




That is, until the Academy of Natural Sciences, in the 1960s, was collecting fish in the Reef, and discovered several of Cook's cannon. The Australian government donated one of the cannon to the Academy, where it resides on the second floor.

Was it an accident?  Or a successful exploritive fishing expedition?  Ask the fish!

Captain Cook aground-Australia..... 6/10/1770

Cook charted the coast of Australia, until the ship ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef.

In 1969 an American expedition from the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Science was successful in locating the six guns jettisoned on the night of 10 June 1770. Captain Vince Vlassof with his 'Tropic Seas' was of vital local assistance in recovering the six cannons which were transported to Defence Standards Laboratories in Melbourne for reconditioning


Endeavour Reef



Just before 11pm on the evening of 10 June 1770 the ship struck a reef, today called Endeavour Reef, within the Great Barrier Reef. The part they struck stands up steeply from the seabed, so casting the lead had shown 20 fathoms (36 metres) of water right up to the point of striking.



With the sails immediately taken down, the coasting anchor was set out and an attempt made to pull the ship back off the reef, unsuccessfully. Because it was already around high tide the only option was to lighten the ship to float her off, so iron and stone ballast, spoiled stores, and the ships guns were thrown overboard, and the ship's water (drinking water) pumped out. The guns were not simply discarded; Sydney Parkinson records[2] buoys were attached with the intention of retrieving them later, but that proved impractical. (The guns and ballast were found in 1969, see recoveries below.) Parkinson also notes that every man on board took turns on the pumps, including Cook, Banks, and the officers.



With about 40 or 50 tons lightened, by Cook's reckoning, on the high tide the next morning a further attempt was made to pull the ship free, but again unsuccessfully. In the afternoon the longboat carried out the two large bower anchors, and block and tackles were put on a total 5 anchors now set, ready to try again on the evening high tide. The ship started to take on water through the damage from the reef, and though the leak would certainly increase once off the reef Cook decided to risk that. At about 10:20pm the ship floated with the tide and was successfully drawn off. The anchors were retrieved, except for the small bower which could not be freed. (It too was found in 1969; see below).



The leak increased with the ship off the reef, and the three working pumps were manned. A mistake happened in sounding the depth of water in the hold when a new man took over and measured from the outside plank where his predecessor had used the ceiling (the top of the cross-beams of the hull). The difference was about 18 inches so the new man's call made it seem the leak had gained on the pumps that much in just a short time, sending a wave of fear through the ship. As soon as the mistake was realized the relief acted like a charm and with redoubled efforts the pumps kept ahead of the leak.



The prospects if the ship sank were grim. The typical understatement in the journals of the seamen make it easy to underestimate the danger, only in Banks is there a taste of it. For a start the ship was miles from shore and the boats could not carry everyone (being made for work, not as lifeboats) so many would surely drown. And those who survived would be left unarmed and without food in an unknown land. Banks noted the calm efficiency of the crew in the face of danger, contrary to stories he'd heard of seamen turning to plunder and refusing command in such circumstances.



Midshipman Jonathon Munkhouse proposed fothering the ship, having been on a merchant ship which used the technique successfully. He was entrusted with supervising the task, sewing bits of oakum and wool into an old sail which was drawn under the ship, the theory being suction would draw those material to the leak and plug it. This worked better than any hoped and soon the pumps could be stopped and very little water came in.



They proceeded north looking for a harbour to make repairs and on the afternoon of 13 June came to Endeavour River, as Cook later named it. Strong winds prevented the ship getting across the bar until the afternoon of 17 June. There they careened her and made repairs to the hull. A piece of coral the size of a man's fist had sliced clean through the planks of the hull, and broken off, wedged there. It was fortunate it stuck, because (on Parkinson's reckoning at least) an open hole that size would in all probability have sunk the ship.



With repairs made and after a delay waiting for the wind they were able to set off again on the afternoon of 3 August. The careening hadn't got the ship completely out of the water, so only a limited examination of the very bottom had been possible, but it seemed sound enough. When they later reached Batavia (9 November) it turned out some planks were damaged to within 1/8 inch (3 millimetres) of being cut through. It was a "surprise to every one who saw her bottom how we had kept her above water" as Cook said (though doing more at Endeavour River may not have been practical anyway).

Personal note:  I sailed into Grafton Passage from Samurai, PNG to Cairns, Aus.  Even with modern day equipment it was difficult to find the entrance (one of the few) through the Great Barrier Reef.  Later on, different boats I sailed to Port Douglas and Cooktown.  I visited the Captain Cook Musuem in Cooktown (impressed) and was very surprised that the artifacts I was interested in were so recently freed from the reef herself!  One would think that the father of true navigation would have left (as he tried with buoys) (didn't work) a longitude/latitude reference that would be applicable today.  The reef is alive.  I believe it hid what it took from Captain Cook until it was time.  Many people have searched for the ballast James was compelled to remove from " Endeavor ", to survive!  When it was located and brought to the surface, Cooktown itself and a few remaining buildings from a great period, needed help in order to maintain it's status as a city. Possibly the town  (named after the greatest sailor and the river named after a his vessel) without the timing of the find of  Endeavor's treasure searched for by many but only found in 1969 would be a ghost town today!  It's not!  At one time Cooktown had a population of 30.000 people.  After the gold rush/ and over a period of time it was reduced to 1500 people.  With the boost of tourism in North Queensland I believe the population of Cooktown is 2000 souls today.  What was retrieved from the Endeavor Reef in 1969 revitalised Cooktown itself, re-establishing it's importance, historically, as part of the life and travels of the greatest sailor the world has ever known.  Captain James Cook.