SailBlog

Halfway Today!! On the 5th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 5 GREAT ALBATROSS!!!

I finish my 20th week offshore today and I am physically nearly halfway as well. So I should be right on time returning to RI... I treated my self to some Milano Mint cookies, thank you Scott B... and in general have had a wonderful leisure day as you will note that I am late with the blog and will try to keep it brief...I am finding myself wiped out a bit, eyes waning, and, though it is stll light outside, I could fall asleep. I am in arears with the time zones. I popped into the next one at 135*E so I am now +10 on GMT and +15hrs on EST...The sun is in the true summer position nearing the horizon at nearly 2100 or 9pm my time... makes sense. I am at nearly the latitude where I was raised, just south of the Adirondack mountains in NY state... a country girl gone sailor. Mid June near summer nights lingered til these late hours, the brisk night air, starting to fall a couple hours ahead.

I had a magical day becalmed in the early morning with the winds filling in later this afternoon. The sun was scarce early but graced the afternoon, as I got out my 'sun shower' bag...It was time for a bit of hygiene...I was going to wash my hair at least. I made my way from losing my socks, through my pedicure, and as the afternoon wore on, I was finding I was able to get down to bare skin. I slothered on lotions and oils until at least I smelled like I had showered.

Time to wash some small items with plenty of sun to dry them...only salt water washing today... I am too jealous of my water supply as I am finding I am using more and more to cook my dried staples of food thoroughly... but it is amazing that I don't even notice the salt anymore... My hair had become nearly wet feeling as the oils saturated the hairs but is now supple and free in the breeze for a day. I decided to break into some fresh clothes, not because of the wet this time, just because they were dirty enough and I have more... the persistent dribbling of meals down the front of my sweatshirt was getting to me...not that I will have much luck with a fresh set especially with a storm coming.

The day melted away as the puffs of upward channels of wisps of winds danced about the boat as we wandered around with just a mainsail up to help diminish the wallowing. But finally the wee breezes morphed into a steadier, still only a breeze, but consistent... for a bit it seemed the breeze would support full sails, but in no time, the banging and backwinding began and I have reefed us down to where that balance is closer and we are clamouring less.

The winds are backing to the S and SE tonight so I wll sail to East and then NE ... I am having no luck at all downloading a new Grib this evening. But Bob McD and I had a go round of the recent variations in the forecast...my basic plan the same following the winds as I can, heading south once the NE winds begin... The conditions are still moderating for me... life is good. very good.

Bob McD made some interesting notations regarding my style of writing and songwriting as he has generously read some of my blogs. He gives a perspective as someone who is forecasting about the ocean and waves but not on it... "Your lyrical writing probably is helped by the guitar playing . Since my connection to the wider world is via atmospheric models , the relationship between atmosphere and ocean is interesting to me. We tend to watch the atmosphere in a 2D way and, as you pointed out, it should be tho of as a 3D process. And tend to think of the wave as a consequence of the weather, hence they peak later than the wind . Your relationship with the ocean and observations of it and feelings for it are closer than I can ever get , so are interesting. .."

And my response: "Thank you, Bob... Yes,, I would agree that this is all interesting...and I do sense that the overall energy fields of the world are a factor, though difficult to quantify. I love science and enjoy the process of investigating weather phenomena... I tend to route my self just because I enjoy the process to get there... But I am limited out here without internet. The FNMOC I get is just one wind wave frame every few days so I do not see the progressions, the tropopauses, and other information. The skill you have mastered is to take every day's forecast and allow it to fine tune your own instinct... For me, it is the learned ability to take each forecast in the process and be flexible... and to not take the 'bad forecsts' too seriously until they get a chance to mature... One of the goals of my journey was to become immersed in the energy of the sea so as to become more intuitive regarding the weather and patterns, rhythms, wave matirx as the energy surrounding me is visible in the wave sines... I am intrigued by the 'wayfinders' of past times...the navigators of Shackleton's crew, the 'Polynesian spiritualists' that had mastered the language on the wave patterns, the changes in the winds, the movement of the clouds from Cirrus, to stratus, to lower atmospheric vertical oscillations... It was a noble dream... though I am finding that I am too 'ADHD' to sit and become entranced for long enough to be able to gain that kind of sensitivity in my senses... and memory...at 54... the memory is a lucid illusion. But, the pureness of the ocean energy is working wonders and I do tend to transcend the physical view... Maybe it 'is' the songwriting. It does seem to create a brain program for lyricizing things."

I am always surprised when I have days with so 'few' bird visitors...Today a single Storm Petrel and larger dark Petrel... One sighting of the Great White Diamond Albatross and he was off where ever the flocks are right now. But I did have a new creature sighting...

A new variety of dolphin... larger in size, a totally black back and stark white belly....I could see them coming from far off..a pair of them...because of their white bellies... they did just a couple of passes off the bow and then headed north, jumping as they went...what a delightful energy to have surprise me. I am always amazed that I 'catch them' , but something, whether it was a sound they made, or a glimpse of a change in the water when I happen to look out the companionway, drew my attention and I got on deck... at first it was just some 'risings' that I saw but then the coupe came torpeedoing in toward the bow and I had a clear view.

I did spend some time on my guitar...thinking about writing the music to the, The Sea Takes the Blue right out of the Blues... then I sent the lyrics to my son, Keel..a wonderful very gifted but focused professional musician at this point. He has worked hard at it and Wow... it is amazing to hear his bands...they are just top notch bluegrass bands. I am hoping he comes up with a 'real' blues song for them. It will be fun to collaborate. I so look forward to visiting him soon after I return. He has a new property and home in Washington STate, right on the Salmon river... I am due for some great music spaces with him...fun.

I sent of a Christmas card to Ptarmigan and all her little ones. I have a T-shirt on board that they made for me 6 years ago at Christmas time... only 4 little ones then... so I used the shirt and some other fun props to make up a card for the day.... the 5th Day of Christmas... I thought of them as there are 5 little ones, not so little really , the youngest is 4 now... and Zeb nearly 12...how is that possible? I am due to spend lots of time in their neck of the wood when I return. I will have to work something out.

Well, so much for a short blog. by the end of the day, it is amazing how busy it really has been...nonstop something going on between the boat, the mess, eating, the weather, email, and taking care of myself... a bit of entertainment... and that is a day.

Dusk is upon me... a waxing moon is on it way toward my 6th full moon...I began with a full moon escorting my out of Bristol Harbor, in late July...in fact, it was a Blue Super Moon... so this full moon coming will finish up my 5th lunar month offshore. Coming soon. Gepetto is fully upright, no question, the face of the man in the moon. By then, I will be well toward or even beyond Cape West of NZ...It is going to be a milestone week.

Bob has arrived in Florida, safely on Calypso, both resting this wee morning hour (0619am), after a good trip down the Florida coast over the last two days. Now the work begins, as Bob will be tardy with the varnish time schedule, and lots of desired maintenance, but it will keep him plenty busy with my being away...no rest for the waiting. What a relief... our whole world is has completed the migration...well except me but I am coming...more than halfway there now..!!

Oh my being is full and quieted, peaceful sigh as another day has blessed me... It is going to be a clankety night as the winds are not sure if they want to blow or not... I am not sure it will be a sleepable night, but we will give it a good try. Tomorrow is another low and adverse wind day... we will do what we can to get out of the way of the 'train' that is descending just barely to my west.... so getting a bit east is part of the strategy to stay out of harms way..I will need the wind to cooperate a bit...

I haven't had a chance to read or doing any writing today, other than this...but let me do one of those spontaneous readings, open a book and see what it has for us all...

Well, this is interesting...given my blog yesterday all about the magical blue water that is surrounding me...I opened to John O'Donohue's Divine Beauty: Out of the Blue ( in a section relating beauty regarding each of the colors):

"Blue often seems to stand at a mysterious angle to human sensibility and intention. When something aboslutely unexpected vists our lives, we say : it came out of the blue. Of the unexpected that in all probability will never occur, or at most happen rarely we have the phrase: once in a blue moon...blue is an undecipherable source from where the unexpected sets out toward us....Blue seems to be the color of the infinite - and endless expanse where darkness and brightness dwell in blue light..."

Keepin On Sailin on Caring... as the blue light draws us into the expanses of the sea and sky, it seems to illuminate the dark places with that special light...the rods and cones of our vision...designed to see in the dark.

Fairest of Winds and the Love of the Ocean Only Gratitude Donna

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