About the above photo, I'll explain as I go along.
I finally got to an internet cafe and can update our progress. I just saw that my last 2 entries never made it onto the blog I must have done something incorrect because when I posted it on the HAM, it went through okay. I guess the technology isn't perfect (much like the operator!).
But anyhow, here we are! It was an interesting 4 days but we motorsailed almost the entire way. We had very light winds most of the time. On the second day out it was forcast to blow 25 with gusts to 30. When we felt the wind picking up just before dark of course, Ian went forward to remove the pole off of the jib, put up the staysil and by the time he got all of that done, the winds subsided to about 4 knots! Go figure.
We saw lots of whales on day 2. At one point it didn't matter where you looked there were whales. Some close and some far. At one point, we passed 2 whales about 50 feet off the beam and one of them dove right towards the boat. I was convinced it was going under the boat and going to knock us over. About a minute later it surfaced about 20 feet behind the boat with a might blow. It scared the bejesus out of me and I screamed. Ian figures I scared the whales away because we hardly saw any after that.
We had pretty calm conditions most of the way and one quite foggy night. And our last night as we approached San Diego was busy traffic wise and those fish boats don't move an inch. You have to get out of their way.
We arrived on Sunday the 12 at around noon.
So why is Ian dressed in a paper gown in a clinic. Well we had somewhat of a medical emergency onboard. It seems that Ian did something to a muscle or nerve in his hip before we left Vancouver. Being a typical guy he just figured it would go away. As we made our way to San Francisco it was bothering him but he didn't complain too much. In San Fran, once he got on land and started walking he felt fine. The thing is he walked a lot that week and so when we left San Fran, it started to bother him again around day 2. By day 4 he was in agony and when ever he had to get up to walk from his bunk to the cockpit, he was breaking out in a sweat with the pain. I've been with Ian for 20 years and I know he has a high tolerance for pain so when I saw him wincing and laying on the floor I knew it was serious.
When we got in to San Diego, luckily our friends Vida Nova had arrived a few hours before us and they were able to help me tie up the boat as Ian was unable to get out of the cockpit.
On Monday, I found a clinic near where we are tied up a the Police Municpal dock, and off we went in a cab (by this time we had broken open our T3's and Ian was well medicated but still in lots of pain). Well despite everything bad we hear about the american medical system, we had a very positive experience.
We were there for 2 hours, the doctor saw him checked him out had xrays done right there in the clinic, was able to make a diagnosis, gave him a cortisone shot to hold him till we get back to Vancouver where he can see a physiotherapist, and gave us a bottle of prescribed muscle relaxants. All this in one place for $220 dollars. We thought it was a really good price considering the service and that we didn't have to go here and there to get xrays, pills etc. Everything was done there and I'm convinced that saves time and money.
Today, Tuesday, he is feeling a little better and is able to walk for short distances. Still in pain and on pain killers but hopefully improving a little. I have him on a stretch regime that I've done from my hip injury a few months ago. As soon as we get home it's off to the physio.
We will be flying home by the weekend. That's it for now.