#leg one

[comahonyart]

My 7th grade English teacher introduced me to Steinbeck with The Red Pony. Her name was Mrs Randall. She was a lovely lady from Minnesota. She would read to us one chapter each Friday of whichever book we were reading. I'll never forget her. It was a new school for me. Catholic HS Prep type place. The nuns were mean and one priest was a creep. He ended up taking his life rather than face consequences. But Mrs Randall was a gem. She sent me down this path that I still walk today. Steinbeck, Jeffers, Hemingway, London, Fitzgerald...I still have that copy of The Red Pony she gave me.

This is The Log From The Sea of Cortez. Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts are primarily behind it. In 1940 they set off from Monterey, CA in a sardine boat to investigate and document the Sea of Cortez, BC, MX. Long story short, the boat sank up Tacoma way 10 or 15 years ago and a group of good folks rescued her. She was restored. Last month the same group set her off again to follow the same route. She stopped in Santa Barbara, LB, Newport and SD one the way. It was unreal.

I wish Mrs Randall knew how her kindness to an incredibly shy kid made such a difference.

Support teachers. Support literature. Support discussion and debate. Support the arts. Support one another. We're all part of one enormous living organism.

I ramble.

Dispatch from 35K'

Where is the Western Flyer?

[barbellsandbiology]

MY FRIEND GOT ME TOUR DE COMPADRES TICKETS FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

[clipperkate]

Race one, part two

Luck of the draw meant I got a pretty decent amount of sleep on that night at the mooring buoy. We had an early morning motoring to the start line. The race start itself was exciting despite the fact that all twelve boats were being quite cautious. We hoisted our code two spinnaker beautifully and were cruising along when unfortunately the tack blew (that's the bit attached to the deck). Luckily we managed to get it back it with the entirety of the crew pulling in and holding it to the deck. We clipped the tack back on. The first thing it did was blow again which meant a whole repeat of the exercise. Third time lucky though. We managed some lovely speedy downwind sailing. Once we made it around Dover the weather picked up a bit. We ended up upwind in 20-25 knots of wind, bouncing in some decent waves. This is a pretty miserable experience for a crew withou their sea legs. The majority of my watch was seasick. We also broke both our primary winches and the pedestal grinder. That took several hours to fix, although most of the time was spent prying up the covers over the bit we wanted access to. Once that was finished we were able to hoist our headsail again. I was up on the bow with another guy trying desperately to get it out of the bag and attached for the better part of an hour. It's very tight on space up there and very short on handholds, so I ended up slammed to my knees every time we came down the waves, taking plenty of saltwater to the face. I had to give up eventually and pass off to someone else with a stronger stomach and better balance. Conditions did improve the next day and we all got some much needed rest during some downwind sailing. The kite went back up. We briefly slipped into the TSS (shipping channel) during a watch handover in the middle of the night. That was the end of our bad luck though. We sailed really well for the rest of the race - taking a bit of a risk heading across the Channel early to hit the Alderney Race (really strong tidal movement). Everyone worked really hard to keep things trimmed and weight appropriately distributed. We hit some seriously heavy fog during my mother watch day. It stuck around and the office called the race early. We spent ten hours or so motoring into Brest and waiting for the decision on the time penalty. 9 hours was a real hit in a three day race. But hey, it's done. We arrived in Brest in the mid-afternoon. The boat was cleaned. I had a lovely shower. Then it was off to the town hall for the prize-giving ceremony. That hurt too. But there were drinks and nibbles, which was nice. Afterwards we had a good team dinner at a nice restaurant and some drinks elsewhere around town. Four of us made it out to the seediest nightclub and stuck around until the early hours of the morning. That's pretty much how things have been going. We work all day on the boat doing all the bits and pieces (I'm pleased to say I'm now capable of stripping winches and servicing them). At night it's some seriously heavy partying. I'm exhausted (but having a great time). Today we had our mass crew briefing at Oceanopolis (it's an awesome aquarium). It looks like we're going to have a pretty unpleasant race start thanks to the weather. But hey, it's here! Nearly underway for my first ocean crossing. Excitement is high. Mostly I can't wait to just get on the water again.

[clipperkate]

Brest

We made it to Brest yesterday evening after our first race was cut short due to fog and wind. My boat placed second and then took a HUGE time penalty that bumped us straight to last place. It hurts to see all our hard work go down the drain like that. At least the fleet should know that we're a very competitive boat and we will put up one hell of a fight to Rio. Full updates coming soon!

[ipromisetowrite]

A little girl sits in a chair, kicking her legs with purpose, carefully and with rhythm she pumps them and inside her head as she counts, leg one, leg two, leg one, leg two. It’s meditative and it passes the time as she waits. School ended an hour ago and the yellow buses have long since pulled away, full of screeching children and text messaging pre-teens; but she is left behind in a chair outside of the principal’s office. In the past hour the secretary has offered her a carton of chocolate milk, a book to read and set of multiplication flash cards, to occupy her. She politely declines, her soft voice barely audible, and bows her head back down. Inside she counts her legs as they pump forward and backward, she silences her thoughts this way. This is not the first time she has found herself sitting alone, forgotten. Inside she is older than the rest of the kids at this school, even though she is in first grade, younger than most. She is keenly aware that she is different, she is older. She waits, absent from the thoughts that race quietly in the back of her mind.