Blessed Lady

This is the cruising blog of the sailing yacht Mabrouka. The Favorites in the side bar allow those with discriminating taste to filter for just the stuff you want to read. Thanks for visiting, Roy.

13 September 2015
21 August 2015
21 August 2015
20 June 2015 | Marina Mazatlan, Mazatlan, Mexico
15 June 2015 | Marina Mazatlan, Mazatlan, Mexico
15 June 2015 | Marina Mazatlan, Mazatlan, Mexico
15 June 2015 | Mazatlan Marina, Mazatlan Mexico
13 April 2015 | Off Club Nautico, Mazatlan Commercial Harbor, Mazatlan, MX
15 February 2015 | Marina Mazatlan, Mazatlan, Mexico
13 February 2015 | Marina Mazatlan, Mazatlan, Mexico
25 January 2015
06 January 2015 | Mazatlan, MX
24 December 2014 | Marina Mazatlan, Mazatlan, Mexico
24 December 2014 | Mazatlan, MX
22 December 2014
21 December 2014
18 December 2014 | Playa Isla de la Piedra, Mazatlan, MX
18 December 2014 | Mazatlan, MX
15 December 2014 | Ensenada des los Muertos, Mexico

Fallen Soldier

09 September 2013 | Written on Princess Louisa Inlet, Canada
Whatever your imagination paints in
The brooding cliffs above

What might have been millennia of quiet days and nights for Princess Louisa Inlet are blanketed by the incessant conversation of Chatterbox Falls. We were only the most recent of yachtsmen to make the pilgrimage to this coliseum of beauty to be lulled into serenity by the constant murmur of the rushing waters.

At first we just heard a great crack above the falling waters’ sound, ...a sharp report that had no apparent source. It ricocheted off the nearer walls, then repeated itself further and further down the Inlet. As the initial rifle-shot sounds echoed themselves to sleep, a growing growl filled the basin of basalt we were anchored in and we finally looked up to see that a gargantuan slab of stone high up the cliffs had shifted downward, teetering on its heel as jagged shards the size of apartment complexes rushed to get out of its way.

Beginning in a slow rotation outward, the grey behemoth lost its grip on the mountain and added a downward slide in giving up its millennial fight against gravity and erosion. The evergreen forest grappling up the jagged ramparts of the mountain’s fortified face trembled in victory as stalactites of dripping stone wept for the loss. One of the great warriors was falling to its doom.

Time caught up with the glacial pace of the first few seconds and thousands of tons of crystalized earth began to scream down through the wooded walls above the bay. The main body of rock, though, did not bounce down the cliff, it ripped its way. Tall cedars were scattered in a cataclysm of green and brown, exploding outward whole and in huge toothpick splinters. The fallen soldier’s dive into the water was led by thousands of boulders, collateral damage that splattered the mirrored surface.

A huge wave rose upwards in counter-point as the warrior stone drove downward, building continuously as the rock tumbled to its silent sleep. It was a great green knight wearing foaming white plumes that charged through the anchorage with a battalion of foot soldiers in flanking maneuver, lifting up 40 foot yachts and shaking them at the ends of their anchor rodes. On the lucky boats the lines parted and they simple rode up and over, but my Mabrouka had 120 heavy feet of 3/8 inch triple-B galvanized chain and a 60 pound plow anchor set firmly into the rocky bottom that gave up the fight less easily than the laminated mahogany and spruce sprit it hung from.

After the waves passed and Mabrouka settled peacefully on the field of battle, the sprit’s shattered structure hung akimbo from her quivering bow, still threaded to the bulwarks by the unyielding chain. The wave, like that first great sound we’d heard, eventually quieted itself against the granite shores around us and the water resumed it’s silent, glassy observation of the sky overhead. Yachts gleaming in shiny stainless steel and white fiberglass rolled themselves back to stillness. The ones at the dock on the far side of the bay bumped and jostled against each other and the floats until they, too, came to a disheveled rest.

The space left by the great catastrophe was filled with silence while the pitiful human bystanders tried to absorb nature’s sudden pronouncement on their insignificance. Five thousand sheer feet of cliff, though newly scarred, resumed its watch from high above.
Comments
Vessel Name: Mabrouka
Vessel Make/Model: CT-41
Hailing Port: Seattle, WA
Crew: Roy Neyman
About:
Mabrouka and I have been partners in crime since October 1998, hanging about in West Coast waters, first in San Diego, then in Seattle. All of that time we've lived together aboard. [...]
Extra:
I've called this blog "Blessed Lady" because that's my preferred translation from Arabic for "Mabrouka". She's a 1980 CT-41, one of several clones of the original Bill Garden design Mariner ketches. At 50 feet from the tip of her mizzen boom to the tip of her bow sprit, she's 16 tons of [...]
Mabrouka's Photos - Main
Photos 1 to 10 of 10
1
On the streets of Freemont
Street art edited.
Elvis the stuffed cat is a memento of my daughters at the age of about 5.  The peace sign was a gift from good friend, Karyn Borcich.  Thanks to both!
This is Swan as I knew him, though in a more rugged environment than we ever shared.  We usually met at the coffee shop or at Voula
This is of Swan as I would also like to have known him, ...cigarettes, cameras and wine.
This is Steve hosting our Elliott Bay Design Group company picnic at his vacation home in Darington.
I never went fishing with Steve, although he let me try out his fly casting rig in the river by his house during one of the company picnics he hosted.  I
The winter slip on Lake Union
Temporary raft up with Molly Bella near my old slip at Stimson Marina
 
1
This album shares photos from mainland and Baja Mexico.
1 Photo | 3 Sub-Albums
Created 1 March 2015
The beginning of the South Pacific cruise, heading to San Diego and Mexico
1 Photo | 6 Sub-Albums
Created 15 August 2014
Killing time with local sailing and projects before heading south with the Coho Ho Ho cruiser's rally
56 Photos
Created 29 June 2014
Kathy and Karyn (with a "Y") used me as an excuse for a party. I was just fine with that!
25 Photos
Created 31 May 2014
On Lake Union where Mabrouka and I spent the winter
20 Photos
Created 31 May 2014
Shakedown cruise to Port Townsend
7 Photos
Created 25 May 2014
Gunkholing in the Seattle area, with me and Mabrouka getting our sea legs back under us.
50 Photos | 28 Sub-Albums
Created 14 April 2013
Custom made sailing skiff hand-built by NW School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, WA
18 Photos
Created 21 March 2013
Pre-retirement cruising pics
27 Photos
Created 21 March 2013
Photos accompanying Projects blogs.
43 Photos | 1 Sub-Album
Created 12 March 2013