From the Captain...

I arrived at Nuie - a small island nation of 1100 people.  It was a rough trip with high winds and I had to hand steer most of the last 30 hours because the bracket that locks the main tiller broke. The failure is a fatigue type - it's been going a long time - a lot of the failure surface has rust on it.  I see there's a crack on the other side as well.  Anyway, with the high winds 25 steady up to 40 in squalls and gusts in excess of 50 it was hard work.

The good thing is the boat felt really secure and safe despite all the hassle.  Anyway, I was about 6 hours later (time I spent trying to fix the unfixable and I had to heave to for a couple of hours just to rest) than I expected.

The island is couple of big 30m thick pancakes lifted from the ocean - actually coral reefs- so what you have is 5 m swell hitting a vertical, more or less surface which is cracked and creviced etc.  The surf you get is amazing, with huge vents that shoot hundreds of feet in the air.  Coming in in the evening meant the light was good, so I wished I had a decent camera.

Anyway, I'm really tired - this last 5 days qualifies as an epic.  I do feel like I accomplished something though.  This place looks really interesting so I'll stay awhile I think.  The diving is supposed to be amazing, plus the uplifted coral is full of caves etc. So, get some sleep, eat first now that my gut is OK (yes it was food poisioning - I thought seasickness was possibly reasonable since I'd had such flat sailing for so long and the motion at the beginning of the trip was just plain nasty - it just didn't occur to me that it was something I'd eaten)

Take care
Love Dad
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At 25/08/2011 4:14 AM (utc) our position was 18°59.34'S 168°22.13'W

We might have a situation...

Me: Nope you can't eat those, they're emergency chocolate bars...
Mom: I could have an emergency any second now!
Sent... While in transit ;)

Why punctuation is important...

Does this mean I get $475 cash back?
Interesting *strokes chin*

Hotnessssss!

I just used my hotness for a functional work-related purpose... What's that you ask? Well I quite literally, used it to test our new server room temperature sensor. It's soooooo cool! It sends an email alert to any given number of addresses letting you know the minute things are out of control in the server room!

I only stretched one, mayyybe two workplace safety codes... sitting on top of a ladder (not on the top step mind you ;), in flip flops, without a spotter.  My latest response to those 'protocol and procedure' type questions though has been "It's okay, I know first aid", and since my partner in crime also knows first aid... we can cover for each other *smug grin*

I also just proved that you can be in IT and be hot, it's a tough job... but somebody had to do it *buffs nails*

Quicker than you

Oh man I can't believe I totally forgot to tell you about this, I mean I know I was tired and all... but seriously!

I know this seems a little off track, but it will help clarify, or maybe even shed some light on the rest of this crazy post. Or maybe not *shrugs*, you decide.

Q: How do you tell the difference between black bear droppings and grizzly bear droppings?
A: Grizzly bear droppings have little bells in them, and smell like pepper spray.

So, last night as I'm pushing my bike up the hill along the flat bit just before my place, these two teenage boys ride by... the one does a dirt jump off the bank next to me and the other slams on his brakes, skids to a stop beside me, and I kid you not says:

"Duuuuuuuuuude! Sweeeeeeet bike!" he then proceeded to point and go "Wow that's crazy! Is that your rear shock?!"

Me: I experienced a proximity loss of minus 50 IQ points, and was all "Uhhm no... that's my bear spray"...

*Then* he says to me... "So uhhhh, what is it?... Your gearshift injector? Does it make you go faster?!?"

I should have said: "Yeah it makes you go faster, as long as you don't get it in your eyes... and as long as you're faster than the bear that'll be chasing you now that you're all covered in seasoning" ;)

Thankfully I was rescued from answering as his buddy came back, jumped the bank in the opposite direction and promptly took out the neighbors garbage can.  They were gone with a wave and a "gotta go!"... faster than that 5 extra minutes after you hit the snooze button.

This is the joke behind the title...

There are two guys out in the back 40 on an acreage deep in the interior of BC, and they hear a hungry grizzly bear. The one guy sits down and starts lacing up his running shoes. The other guy says "Dude, what are you doing?! You think you can outrun a grizzly bear? Ha!" To which he replies, I don't have to outrun a grizzly bear...

I just have to outrun you.

Heh. *grins*

From the Captain...

This is a lousy passage.  Fast but short steep waves.  I thought I was seasick at first, fed fish a couple of times, now I think I'm sick - perhaps low grade food poisioning.  Ate out last nite.

Anyway, reefed down, the boat sails itself.

My computer is shakey - got a blue screen of death - booted up again and it worked but it is ominous.

Take care - will ship boat home from NZ

 I'd right more but I still feel lousy and I'm tired of the constant bashing about
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At 23/08/2011 3:48 AM (utc) our position was 18°47.41'S 164°35.42'W

*blinks*

Remind me, I really wasn't thinking.

I'm not really the go-run-a-marathon-because-I-can type, but I can chase a soccer ball up and down the field in sprint distances until I keel over.. go figure *that* one out...

In any case, I've decided that I'm a social exerciser. For instance if someone else is doing something, I'm all over it. Dredging up the motivation to do it myself however *eeyyyah* not so much. Well, one of the ladies from work, has decided she's going to get in shape.  So I offered to be her moral support, met her this morning and we ran to work together. It was good, I didn't die.

The run home... seemed to take... way... longerrrrrrrr. Then I biked down to taekwondo... and did my stripe test... and then I biked home. I'm knackered, and hungry again *yawns* but I got my third stripe on my yellow belt *sleepy smile* and I got the form to take the next belt test!

Moooore fishin'

I worked all day last Saturday, I know, I know, I'm the first person to remind people not to work too much, but I took Monday off to chuck myself down a mountain *wrinkles forehead* which reminds me I have a couple pics from that... Anyways where was I? Right, fishing. Well Sunday, I got up at are-you-kidding-me-I-barely-get-up-this-early-for-work and we went fishing. Now, if we didn't try every different colour, shape, size and pattern of lure that Ed had... then Sam-I-Am-Not. Which I am. Either the fish finder was full of it, or those fish were used to steak and lobster bugs, because we were truly and soundly snubbed.

For four... and a half... hours. It was awesome! ...except when a dragonfly peed right on my knuckle, did you even know they could do that?!?!

We did countless loops around the lake until we had to pee, did a couple more loops and then stoked up our motivation and self-confidence by assuring each other that there must be fish that we should go try for on the little lake just before Edwin.  Part of our reasoning, we figured... was that with the trail down to it being relatively steep and probably a good hundred feet most people would be too lazy (not crazy enough) to get a boat down to go fishing on it... That and there were a couple of loons on it that morning, and loons don't lie!

We backed the truck up to the trail, took a wander down... assessing the soon to be situation with knowing squints accompanied by head nods, and started our attempt.  Now picture this... there we were with a decent sized two/three person aluminum fishin' boat, with one of us at each end... We lifted, carried, slid, dragged, and creatively wedged it sideways between a couple of trees... In fact it was much like the Grinch stealing Christmas trees and stuffing them one by one *up* the chimbley.

Incredibly no major injuries later, those two loons were promptly joined by a couple more loons, and two hours later we had been skunked for the second time that day. No fishies. Not even a nibble!

Y'know something though? I had a wonderful day refilling my solar cell banks, I just love being outside :)

Fishin' tales

Soooo, when we were out fishin' last weekend we heard this HUGE splash, looked at each other and Ed says "Wow that sounded like a 22 pounder, I'd like to get a hold of that one!"

He glanced back over a couple minutes later in the fading light, and goes "Waitaminute... is that a beaver? Whoa it is!! I take it back, *shaking head* I don't want to catch that one!!!"

"The Cabin"

My best friend's parents have a 'cabin'... it's a 26 or so foot camper, parked under a roof with a huge deck (everybody likes a man with a big... deck), spare room, and loft with two tents set up in it! There are showers and flush toilets just across the way, and the power doesn't go out until 10ish depending on whether or not the guy in charge is watching a movie ;)

This is the view from the lookout I biked up to, it was only about an hour and a half but hoo boy I should have left my bike at the bottom of that last steep bit.

Went swimming a little later, and these are the eyes of The Hellcat... Beautiful, tired, almost hypothermic, still wants to go swimming... Hellcat.

Full weekend

So camper parking aside, I managed to squish an evening of camping and most of Saturday fishing in ahead of my biking plans... the result? I came home smelling like campfire and fish, with a fine layer of dust in my car, and some wicked memories and pictures.

Enjoy!

Goat Lake

Done motoring around the lake, rinsing our fishing lines ;)

From the Captain...

I'm sitting in the heat in a lovely atol in the southern Cook Is.  Got here Saturday afternoon, managing to ground on the way in, the channel is 1.5 m deep, I draw that.  I got a bit off centre and got stopped, backed off OK and kept on going.  The "anchorage" is a tight little harbour iwth the boats scrunched in.  I've got the anchor out, and two stern lines set to shore.  I shouldn't move.

It was "interesting" getting in here by myself - really need a pair of eyes in the bow for the channel and extra hands for setting anchors and stern lines in a confined space like this.  I'm here, no hurts to me or anyone else.  I've hung around the boat and the immediate harbour today - I haven't checked in with Customs etc. yet.  Tomorrow I may get some tourist time in.

Take care
Love Dad
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At 15/08/2011 5:37 AM (utc) our position was 18°51.91'S 159°48.05'W

From the Captain...

Sailing currently sucks.  No wind.  Motoring hoping the engine etc. is fine - hasn't missed a beat.  The Ahelm is however not happy so am hand steering.  65 mi to port, should make it there if I motor most of the night.  Must arrive Sat - they get grumpy if you show up on Sunday - take the religion thing serious

take care - gotta get this off onthe radio and eat and get motoring.

Love Dad
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At 13/08/2011 4:02 AM (utc) our position was 18°33.41'S 158°43.72'W

Give me one ping...

4 low quiet beeps, pause, 4 more

 Listen really carefully, standing in the companionway, sounds are faint and seem to come from the lazarette. It's dark. I'm drifting, becalmed.  Sails down, engine off.  All is quiet.

 Electrical?  Everything is shut down, dead calm, conserving electricty.  Is something on?  Is there an alarm, instrument or something going off??

WHOOSH = almost an explosion right next to the boat!  I jump, heart rate hits new record.

Adrenaline rush.

I've been pinged by a whale! who surfaces less than 30 m away and he's BIG judging by the swirl but I can't see much - he's gone.  I hope he's not amorous and looking for a snuggle, or pissed and wanting to hit something.  Haven't seen anything alive for days.  He comes up a couple minutes later maybe 20 m away, blows again and has a good look I guess.  Scares me again.

Have to wonder if the underside of the boat looks like a sleeping potential mate.  That could be a worry 'cause he was way bigger than the boat.

And he's gone.

Heart slows down to normal after awhile.  This can't be good for me.

Love Dad
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At 13/08/2011 3:53 AM (utc) our position was 18°33.51'S 158°43.70'W

From the Captain...

I'm bobbing out here with the sails down and no wind - 100 m short of Aitutai Atoll  in the southern Cook Islands.  This was supposed to be a 3 day sail, but if I'm lucky I'll get there in 7!  I don't want to motor because there's a nasty noise in the drive train I thought I'd dealt with - but I was wrong.  To make matters more interesting something is hay wire with the batteries again - I think there's a dead cell somewhere but I don't want to try and sort it out here - so I run the engine and charge daily.  The weather is hot, wind is minimal.  I was doing 2 k most of the day but when the sun went down, the wind (all 3 to 4 knots of it) went down as well.  The Gribs say I should be getting 5 to 15 --- sigh.  It's supposed to pick up.

Anyway, take care and have fun.

Dad
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At 12/08/2011 4:48 AM (utc) our position was 18°23.96'S 158°06.06'W

Where the weird pattern matching comes from

BTW I forgot.  Dad has tripped over 5555 on the odometer he zeroed off at the beginning of your trip last fall.  Hard to believe the boat has travelled that many miles.  I told him it was a good thing I didn't know it while I was there or I'd have been meandering all over the bay and lagoon to get an interesting reading.

Love,

Mom

 

(Internet, just to put things in perspective... I remember driving up and down our little side road backwards. In the Volvo... so that Mom could see the "Septuple 7's!!!!" ... or the "Octuple 8's!!!!!" that she missed while Dad was driving.)

From the Captain...

I'll get out of here yet.  I'm still hanging on the mooring at Bora Bora and the wind is howling as a front moves through.  I don't mind the fronts when sailing, not comfortable but no big deal, however when anchored I worry constantly about the anchor dragging and there's always something hard to bump into around here as the boat dances about.  At least on the mooring there's a sense of some security - misplaced though it may be (recall Sausilito).  I think I mentioned there as Vega next mooring over.  That is enthusiasm, especially with 2 bodies on board.

So, take care and have fun. Do the maintenance on your bike if it needs it - always look after your tools - be they bikes, cars, skis, canoes, sailboats, and bodies.  Mother nature bites hard enough and does not need to be assisted by mechanical failures.  Get good gear and look after it - and retire it when it's toast -- in the meanwhile, push it and you to the limit and have a blast.  Always  work safe, but that doesn't mean you don't do things.  End of lecture.  And no, most of the rest of the world does not get it - so patch yourself up and go do it.

Love Dad
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At 06/08/2011 7:26 AM (utc) our position was 16°29.98'S 151°45.44'W

From the Captain...

I just cycled around Bora Bora - 32 km of mostly flat riding on a paved road - on a pusher style bike with a big soft saddle.  My bum hurts.

It seemed like I should at least make an attempt to see some of this tourist mecca and the most sensible way seemed to be by bike.  There is only the one road that circles the island.  Anyway, I rented the bike this morning and off I went - a liter of gater aid, a couple of granola bars and the guide book.  Don't laugh - the high point of the exercise was riding by the open gate of the RO plant (desalinization of sea water for drinking water - the municipal water supply) and inviting myself in for a tour.

First is was "not possible" but then I said I was a Canadian Engineer - and all things were possible.  His english was minimal but I could fill in the gaps and he as pleased and I got a good look.  They do nice work with HDPE pipe.  Chuckle - you can add that to fish ladders, culverts and sewage treatment plants.

A treat - there's a Danish couple on the next mooring with a Vega.  A very long way to come for two people in a small boat.  I really could have done this in Osprey (the imposing driveway decoration) but I like my comfort.

So, I cycled around the island and there's not a lot to comment on. They use the submarine base from WW2 for a small craft harbour.  There's various other concrete remanents plus several 7" gun emplacements of the conflict.  There's hotels etc., some abandoned and falling down - actually there's quite a few derelict structures of concrete - for what should be a permanent material lack of understanding of it results in a realtively short lifespan.  It's sort of neat seeing columns busted apart because of the rusty rebar and poor mix and rough workmanship.  The geology is neat and the vegetation is lush.  The diving is "OK" but heavily used.

My crisis yesterday morning was the anchor chain wrapped around a coral head. I had to dive on it, in the course of which discoverd one of my scuba tanks is useless - the O ring under the valve has failed.  A $0.50 item that can't be had here it seems.  Fortunately I have two tanks - I debated that, glad I brought both.  The weather is hot.  The dogs here are interesting.  Exceedingly laid back and all stay well away from anyone.  They are also expert and sleeping in the heat. Generally speaking they don't bark at you, charge up to sniff etc., growl or anything - very well mannered and I haven't seen any evidence of the locals making any effort to "train or disipline".

Similarly with kids - they're all over the place, all pleasent and happy - not mean, very seldom loud or yelling, no crying, screaming or tantrums etc. - and again, parents don't seem to disipline or order them about etc.  Very laid back and easy going.  And unquestionably friendly, pleasent and polite and helpful.  (A couple of times I've been carrying water jugs or groceries and a kid has come up and just stepped in to help.  Seems weird.

 They are also fun, and love there outrigger canoes.  Coming in, feeling my way into a narrow pass to the anchorage, two 12 or so year olds come belting up and yell  "safe here"  and then were racing me, then hooked on yelling "faster, faster" (which I did not oblige) Quite wonderful actually.  So there you have it - generally really nice people, quite well off compliments of low cost of living and a lot of subsidy money from the french government plus high costs to the tourists.  Nice enough place but other than the physical setting, not spectacular and almost over run with tourists.  Glad I came, but I won't make a great effort to come back other than it's a convenient stop to check out of the area and get the bond back.

So I'm off tomorrow to the Cook Island group.  Aitutaki Atoll is the target.

Take care
Love Dad
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At 04/08/2011 4:28 AM (utc) our position was 16°30.60'S 151°46.21'W

From the Captain...

I've since sailed to Bora Bora and sitting here in the heat and the wind.

I think I figured out the drive train noise that's been bothering me.  It sounded like a bearing but it was intermittent - travelling along and suddenly there was this aweful gravel sound, slow down and it would stop, shift to neutral, shift back to forward and it's fine.  Checked everything. I got to thinking it sounded like a car's clutch chattering and slipping.

A light went on (still don't know if it was the right light though).  I re-read "the bible" and there is a phrase that Hurth gearboxes are particularly sensitive to the shift lever being properly adjusted, and a minimum throw of 30 deg. is required.  I made up a little paper template for 30 deg (used the dividers to construct an equilateral triange, then used them again to bisect one of the angles) and it looked like the lever was 'just' making the 30 - and maybe not always.

I moved the pin from the control cable yoke to the inside position on the transmission shift lever which increases the throw (hence the angle), and then looked at the cockpit lever / control cable set up and realized that it's easy not to move the cockpit lever all the way forward.  It may be that I haven't, at times, pushed the cockpit lever far enough - so I just really have to be careful to do that and hopefully that's fixed the problem.  Find out tomorrow.  Part of the issue likely stems from the fact that I raised the cockpit floor so I can see over the dodger.  While the raised section doesn't directly interfere with the cockpit shift lever, I think anyone's tendency is to push the lever just to that floor level, not past down to the original floor where it needs to go.

That's really about it.  Weather is good if at times blustery.  The cooking has deteriorated significantly - and I have to use up all my home canned stuff before NZ because they'll take it away otherwise.

I think it's a sign

What is that... spreading damp wet feeling under my foot...? *perplexed*

Oh. I'm standing on the bite valve for my water bladder.

Now might be a good time to go to bed. *sigh*

Sent... While in transit ;)