4/15/10
Feeling rested from my side trip to Copper Canyon. Maybe i could forego “taking a deep breath” before doing the 200 miles to Mazatlan. Maybe i can casually shove off and go whenever i’m done with my errands. Maybe i can do this without feeling pressure. Stop waiting for the next “shoe to drop.” Make it look easy.
Okay, so look at me. Here i go. Casual. Very cool, looking like i know what i’m doing. See? Pull off the dock, calm, collected. That went smoothly. Akimbo on autopilot, while i gather the dock lines and pull up the fenders. Fenders hanging off the sides while underway are decidedly NOT cool. Oh, what’s that soft lurching feeling? Damn, i’ve run us aground! Any chance of continuing to look cool? Does anybody see me stuck out here? Hope not. Hand on hip. Don’t look too alarmed. Let’s see. Tides pretty high and dropping. We DO want to get off pretty quickly. Will Akimbo back up? Nope. Hmmm. Think. Oh, and look like it’s no big deal. Let’s see. Unroll the genoa, it pulls the bow around and back into deep water. Whew! Nothing to it. No big deal, “do it all the time.” Wave to the fans. Can they see me blush from shore?
The rest of the day went well. If i were a surfer, i think the outer shoals south of the channel could offer some long rides! Wind with us, small seas, good speed, genoa alone at first, now drifter. Later i saw some whale spouts nearby, followed by another large crowd of porpoise. Have stood off the shore until i can’t see it anymore, hoping to be farther out than the fishermen’s nets tonight. What about the thought that i might try heaving to? It’s hard to resist making progress. I’ll save heaving to for when i’m too tired and must get some sleep.
“The sanity barrier.” I must have mentioned it before, but here i go again. A term coined by Tyler. It’s a bit of a moving target, but for me it’s usually 3 knots. If we go slower than that i kick on the engine. Out of the past 20 hours, last night i resorted to that for 5 hours. Enjoyed the aft deck shower before dinner and finished doing the dishes before the sunset. The thinnest sliver of new moon set beautifully after the sun, glowing in its reflected rays. The milky way was so clear last night that it’s individual features, clouds and shapes were discernible. And sunrise? Imagine a big, very bright orange drop hanging from a spigot, and as it lets go it gains its roundness – only this drop is dripping up, and finds its shape as it clears the horizon. Or was that the horizon letting it go? Beautiful. When you imagine the romance of sailing, so far this passage has been that. Thank you. May i remember and appreciate this past 20 hours (and, of course, hoping for more) when the going is not so smooth. Maybe there’s something to this “casual” attitude. So cool! Now if only i were a snappy dresser.
Rewind: you’ve heard of “laughing gulls.” Lately i’ve chased off “lazy gulls” (okay, they're not really "gulls"). One landed on the furled mainsail and rode with me all night. Another landed on the masthead and proceeded to drop crap on the drifter. The one on the mainsail i could clean up after. I taped a broomstick to a spare halyard and hoisted it up to the top of the mast and shook it (without breaking any equipment up there) and chased off the upper one. I repeated this ritual with several of these birds as dusk approached. They don’t show up in the harbor, seeming to prefer a ride. Have started seeing flying fish.
45 hours Topo to Mazat, 18 under power, light winds and small seas with us. Good enuf. Thank you.
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