SailBlog

On the 6th Day of Chrismas my true love gave to me, 6 Chainplates Holdin!!!

(chainplates are the attachment points on the hull or deck of the boat, for the shrouds, the wires that hold up the mast. )

All this anticipation: Storm day tomorrow, black clouds to the west

The morning was a spectacular display of yellows and blues...the ocean water was even ....bluer...to day with full son blaring. The solar panel indicator was blinking away, and I am in a restful mood... i think I am gearing up for the 'storm'...now to present itself for me, as a 6-8 hour blast of wind and seas..the actual storm does become a monster... but a safe distance far away.

The foreplay of the storm has been fickle, windless til now, and making any thought of actually being positioned for the storm impossible...I am not going anywhere. I have been immovable now two days. So I am still at 137*E and near 43*S. A good enough place to be especially as it IS the place I am.

But as the night is falling fast, the skies have clouded over and the western sky is deepening with dark black clouds. The glory of the last weeks is to be transformed into the power of a wild storm. It is to be preceded by rain and squalls with moderate 20kt winds, good for my water tank I pray, but a rude awakening after so so many tranquil days. Tonight is going to gradually pick up and I will need to be on the deck making the best of it get a sail plan in place, then to get buckets set in case we get a good rinsing of the deck and sails, so that I can use the deck to collect water...If the wind really starts to blow, it is going to be too hard to start to keep the salt water off the decks.

Then again, it may not be the kind of rain I can collect with... if the wind is too close to the bow or squally, I will be heeled over and the decks will stay salted. So. I am just anticipating. I am finding that I am using more and more water as I try to keep my weight from leaning. There's no sense getting home with buckets of food and me skinny...but it all takes water.

There is such an ominous change in the air, though the reality is that the worst of the storm is going to develop far south of me over Sunday, a very ugly storm which is worthy of all the concern we have made over its development. The final pathway is going to graze by me a blazing Saturday night to Sunday, while an offshoot encounters 'cyclogensis ', a hyper fast decline in pressure in a very short time 24hPa... that is going from 975hPa to 950 hPa over 24 hours ... circling near 55*S 160*E. A nightmare for sure, but it will take another day for it to intensify far away. Well, far enough.

As per earlier forecasting, a huge high comes afterwards so I will need to get south to stay in the winds, another front on its way, so far looking like its life span will have already matured before it reaches me, though as we are seeing, they can regenerate 'apexes' and spin off wild new storm centers at will it seems..though there is a science to it all. It is all energy, as we are.

It is interesting to consider that weather patterns can become a visible expression of the flow and dynamics of our inner energy, our atomic level whirling of particles around the nuclei of our being... a vision for thought ... I will have to allow some time for pondering that thought.

Even as I have been typing, the sky is become a uniform deep grey. There will be no moon or star gazing tonight...a dark night. By morning I will be sailing changing winds...The next 48 hours are going to be 'working hours'...time to make way while there is way to make. The wind is now starting to howl in gusts.. I have to get on deck.. The atmosphere is coming alive and strange seas are developing..I just fell off a strange wave... a hobbying is developing of Inspired Sanity's hull in these short choppy waves. It will be an interesting night.

Time to settle into presence for the night. I hope for one more night of sleeping watches, as tomorrow night will be alive with the storm. Time to think on all of my grandchildren getting ready for Christmas... making last minute presents for Mom and Dad. Last minute wrappings and cookies to bake...Oh how I miss this time with them. I am rarely actually there Christmas mornings, but I always visit between Thanksgiving and Christmas, with Ptarmigan and her five children. She is sure to stock all the fixings for cookings and gingerbread houses.

Ptarmigan's kids and I have some special things we always do... given Zebedee is going to be twelve in May, it has been a wonderful experience over all these years. We all love to go for walks to town, and at least one morning while I visit, we all go out for breakfast together...to the 'Cafe' in town. I started taking Zebedee and Jael when they were just toddlers and as each child came along, our 'party grew'. Then on the way home, we stop at the local drugstore and gather all the trimmings for the gingerbread houses to be decorated.

Kristy and Cooper's families are a bit younger. We are just starting to create fun things we look forward to doing together. I look forward to all our fun times to come. I can't think on it too long or I will be crying, not just a single tear falling on my cheek. I was talking with my youngest son, Keel... The truest expression i know of beauty is the love shared between my children and I...it overwhelms me with joy at every moment I think of them all. I am so deeply blessed.

Keepin On Sailin On Caring... Oh the merry cheer of a child learning to give gifts at this holiday season, the ones they make themselves, of paper and baubles, cards and cookies... the delight of handing their precious gift to a sister or brother, mom or dad, to open... something they made themselves to be receieved with thanksgiving. Truly, the reason for the season is in expressing love that we so often allow to be familiar at other times of the year...

"'The voice of compassion is not absorbed with itelf, it is not a voice intent on its own satisfaction or affirmation, rather it is a voice imbued with understanding, forgiveness and healing...this voice dwells in every human heart....Part of the joy in developing a spiritual life is the discovery of this beutiful gift that you perhaps never even suspected you had. When you take the time to draw on your listening-imagination, you will begin to hear this gentle voice at the heart of your life...It is always there and the more deeply you learn to listen, the greater the surprises and dscoveries that will unfold. ...You no longer squander yourself on things and situations that deplete your essence. ... a new energy and passion awakens in you." John O'Donohue

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

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