Mt Bledisloe Run

My Marathon

 

It's done.  Eight years I've been thinking of running a marathon.  And now I've done it.  It was good fun.  I had a beautiful day.  My route was great--saw next to no one.  It was a bit hilly.  I should call it the Mt. Bledisloe Run.  I started on the top, ran down, then around, then back up--four times.  THe loop was about 6.6 miles.  Convenient.  The last slog back up the mountain was a little trying, but it was a very small mountain, more of a hill.  

 

I am now back in the water at long last.  It is about time.  I was out way too long.  But now I am anchored next to the Wylo and a host of the most amazing boats: a Wharram, a 22" that has circumnavigated, a brig from Port Townsend named Rat Bags, a true Spray replica--on and on.  Good fun.

I am planning on sailing for Fiji on the 25th of the month.  I am meeting my friend Anne in Suva on the 11th or so.  She's been living in Kiribati for the last few years working for the Peace Corp and is just finishing up.  I haven't seen her in years uncounted, so it will be good fun to see her again and have her sail about for a while.

Fiji is the sort of place you could spent a lifetime sailing around.  It makes it hard to say how long I will stay.  But it is also quite dangerous--lots and lots of reefs.  My neighbor Nick lost his last boat 30 years ago on Astrolabe Reef, a reef directly between me and Suva.

 

But it is time to go.  Araby has never looked so good, and there is still plenty to do.  The Farymann is finally gone.  At last I am truly engineless.  Ah, it is such a relief and a joy!  No prop dragging through the water. I can't wait to see how she sails.  I have lightened the boat in other ways, but nothing too substantial.  We shall see.  She feels good, feels happy.  And she isn't listing to port any more.  And her waterline is so much nicer with the high red antifouling.  Damn I like it.