Much Ado

Much Ado

 

Impossible explain what I need to.  I am in haste.  Tomorrow Erin and I set sail for the Channel Islands off the coast from LA.  The last ominous obstacle of the NA coast is here: Point Conception.

The weather is currently mild, almost too much so.

 

But nothing else has been.  I lost my last crew in most spectacular fashion.   She went crazy.  It was so nice to have her gone, but she still needed to come back and pick up her bags.

Finally she did.  She was sane and normal and seeming to be the girl I once new.   All I hoped for was a nice parting after a stressful end to a relationship (~).  But, in the end, she flipped out, went crazy, and proceeded to try and beat the hell out of me.

A small boat is no place for a fight of any kind.  And she was ferocious, if not accurate or lethal with her blows.   She was so so so upset.  I've never seen or imagined anything of the sort.

So, in short, I was assaulted by a woman on my boat.  The police had to be called.   I had such a dramatic time getting her safely off the boat.  It was a debacle of the highest order and I was lucky not to find myself in jail.

I have some fine scratches on the back of my neck and hands to show for my effort.

 

The whole thing has frazzled my nerves:  How did I come to something like this?   This is not the time for me to give my theories or what-have-you.  I'm trying to leave for a trip.

 

I've gotten most everything.  The sun is slowly coming out and shining on me again, making me feel a bit safer about voyaging.

The drama has made me ready to leave, though a lot of people here will be missed----badly.  (Some not so much J)

 

Here is the Plan:

 

Tomorrow morning I right out the ebb tide.

We have a 300n. mile run to  San Miquel Island.  Thinking four days, but the wind is highly variable right now.   Could get becalmed, but I hope it is picking up.

From S. Miquel we will hope the islands down to Catalina, to "the one south of that", and then to San Diego.

 

A week and a half should be a minimum.

Worry after two and a half weeks, starting tomorrow.

But this should be a easy leg.  Ben and Moriah are leaving with us on Hubris.   Tillikum on the 19^th, Dan and Sonya on the 22^nd, and Brian is just in front of us.  Strength in numbers I hope.

 

So please so a little prayer; get a laugh out of my recent drama (I'm trying to), and have a happy Thanksgiving.

 

Namaste,

-jonah

--
Jonah Manning
General Delivery
Sausalito, CA  94965

Phone - (415) 377.3985
Online Journal - www.freejonah.blogspot.com
Email - bellyofthewhale.gmail.com

week of hell

 

A Week of Hell followed by a week of progress.

 

My crewmate went crazy, literally, and is now gone.  It was hell.  She was totally off her rocker.

But now I have found other crew and am finishing with my job.  The boat projects are moving on well.   The weather is getting colder and I am starting to itch for the next leg.  I am planning on a week and a half from now, perhaps next Friday.

Is it bad luck to leave on a Friday??  Not sure.

 

I feel great.  Much better.  I was stressed and rather distraught last week.   I love living alone.

this for that

With all the added comforts and pleasures of sharing space,

there is also a seemingly innate stress.

 

Great day

 

 

Yesterday was one of the "great days".  I don't think I am going to explain, perhaps I can't, or maybe it is not the time.

Let it suffice to say that these are good times and I am trying to relish them.  The sun is shining—the weather is good in all sorts of ways.   Smiles surround.

If I can find a way to make times like these come about on a semi-regular basis I will be succeeding at something.

Though, whatever it is that lies before me still does so in obscurity and shadow.

The New Roomie

 

Last night my new roommate arrived.

We talked late.  Years have gone by since last we saw each other, but if anything, we have grown more alike.  She is taking well to the simple life.

She is a dedicated cleaner - which will be a great boon.  And she likes to cook.  I am excited to be relived of some of my daily duties.   (She also brought two great duffles, which will need a home somewhere.)

 

Work has been great.  Hans has helped me to build an addition on to my bed, also opening some new stowage space.  I also have a few days off to show Genny around and help her adapt to Sausalito.

 

The weather remains nice, though a bit cooler.  Plans are the same.  An early November departure.

No news to speak of, excepting that which has been said.  LIfe is good.  I am looking forward to life with a roomie.

Work, work, work, work……

 

I work with a man named Hans.  He is a master craftsman.  He builds amazing concrete counter tops and other things.

Together we work on his boat, his girl friends yard (ripped a hedge out with the hitch of his minivan), and we also finished putting in a great big concrete bar for a seafood restaurant.   It was beautiful.

But we work a lot.  I get home late.  It is a great change.   I am tired and happy and busy.  This is the first time in well over a week I have even made it to the library.

 

The only exciting news is that with Hans' impetus I have conceived a wild plan to remodel the cabin of my boat.  

It could be fantastic.  It could not work.   Shortly we shall see.   At the least I am extending the bed to be more comfy.

 

The October weather has far exceeded Aug/Sept thus far.  Blue and sunny.   I am in heaven.  Plus, Hans "forces" me to eat out everyday for lunch.  An Indian buffet you would hardly believe.

Life is Rough, I say!

--
Jonah Manning
General Delivery
Sausalito, CA  94965

Phone - (415) 377.3985
Online Journal - www.freejonah.blogspot.com
Email - bellyofthewhale.gmail.com

The Flood

 

When I was hiking in the Alps I met a girl named Kim.  We hiked down from the Augille de Midi together near Mount Blanc.  Over the years we've kept in touch via the internet.  Now she is living in Santa Rosa, just north of San Francisco.   It has been years since we've been this close together.

This weekend she came down for a visit and a sail.  I hadn't sailed the boat since my arrival three weeks ago—I'd say I was due.   We hit the store for some lunch and prepped the boat.

I should say I prepped the boat, and not such a good job at that.  I was rushing about so she wouldn't have to wait around.  Eventually we started the engine and dropped the mooring line (I set a semi-permanent anchor.).

The wind was picking up and we could just barely handle full sail.  We really needed to reef, but there were boats all around us and we didn't really feel like we had the room.   So we headed out into the Bay, the tiller a bit heavy due to all the canvas, but we were howling along.

For some reason I continued to fight the urge to reef.  I am no longer sure why, be it that it was going to be a hassle, or I was simple lazy—I don't know.   The sail would have been much more relaxing had we reefed.  We didn't.

It seemed that the wind was still picking up.  When we were coming back to the anchorage and it was about time to drop sails, I realized it was time to do precisely what I had been avoiding—heaving-to.    I didn't have to, but for some reason I felt that Kim ought to experience it.  But with full sail and this much wind, we were going to get knocked down rather hard when the wind backed the sails.   (Why I didn't just have Kim point the boat up into the wind I have no idea.  That would be the normal way of things.)

But this day was just a bit odd.  I don't know what I was thinking through out it.

I told her it would be a bit violent.

And even to my surprise it was.  The wind knocked the boat way over, farther than it has ever gone before (I also didn't have the centerboard down).   Water spilled over the coamings, a first.  She took it well but was a bit surprised. 

I went forward and doused the jib and all went back to rights.  However, as I was forward with the jib, I heard Kim say, "Water is getting into the boat."   I could only assume she was referring to the water spilling over the coaming into the cockpit.  I thought nothing of it.

It was only after we had dropped all sail and were motoring toward the harbor that she again mentioned that water had come into the boat—through the port light.   I looked through the hatch and sure enough, to my dismay, the port lights were wide open.  In my rush to prep the boat I had over looked them.

It occurred to me that this was hilarious—I could visualize a firehose of water blasting in through the window and into the bilge.   What a gas!  Sure enough the bilge was filled to the brim. 

Amazing, what a numb-skull I am.  There are so many things to do to get ready to sail, and I botched it up a bit.   But I didn't reckon it was all that serious.  The water seemed to have went straight to the floor.

 

The rest of the day was fine.  We went out to a fine fine dinner, a Indian joint.   It was only that evening after Kim had left that I started realizing how "un-funny" my flood had been. 

The bottoms of many books were wet.  My tool locker was drenched.  Every map I had was saturated.  All my cds/dvds were soaked in salt.  This was going to be a drag to clean.  At first I thought I could simply dry them, but that would leave them covered in salt and they would scratch.  Each cd had to be bathed in fresh water, then dried.   The case itself was ruined.

For a while I was rather bummed, cleaning tools, cds, dumbing bucket after bucket of salt water out of my forward, non-draining bilges.   But it soon occurred to me how amazing lucky I had been.

If this event had occurred to my starboard side instead of my port side, as it had, I would have lost my computer, my two camera's, my inverter, my battery charger.   In short, everything electrical is on the other side of the boatl—and vulnerable.  I would have been wiped out in one stroke.

I had never concived anything like it.  I had no idea how vulnerable I was to total disaster.   I was so so near.  I am so lucky to learn what I have.  The cleaning has taken several days.  I have a new colony of flies.   But the lesson is well learned, yet the chances that need to be made are not yet clear.

Also the importance of an easy, clean reefing system are also appearant.  If I had had a reef in none of it would have happened to begin with, and maybe the lesson would never have needed learning.   But it seems it does.  Meanwhile, my bilges are getting a thorough scrubbing.  War is declared on the flies and the books and charts are drying in the sun and breeze.

The Flood

San Jose – Santa Cruz

 

On the morning of my birthday (Sept 20)  I awoke with a call from LeAnne.   Her mother-in-law lives in San Jose and she had brought herself and her two kids from Twin Falls Idaho to visit her for a couple of weeks.  We haven't seen each other in a year.

She told me her mother-in-law, Lavon, would be in San Francisco that day, and if I wanted to, I could meet her in the city and get a ride to San Jose to stay for a couple of days.   Seeing as I didn't have to work until Saturday at the earliest, and it being Tuesday, and my birthday, it sounded perfect.

Leaving my boat to dry, I hopped the ferry and met Lavon on time.  We enjoyed the long drive to San Jose with good conversation—we had never really had time to talk much before.

Her house was beautiful.  We pulled into the drive and LeAnne, Alissa, and little Elijah stepped out of the door.   Elijah, only four, I had never met before.  Alissa was a year and a half.

 

The afternoon was spent talking and catching up.  She gave me a long needed haircut.   For dinner we had salmon and wine and LeAnne had baked me some brownies for a b'day cake.

The next day we took Lavon's car to Santa Cruz with the kids.  We walked the town and went to the beach.   We could hear the barks of the seals from far away on the wharf.  I felt like a dad-for-a-day.  The kids were good and we were back by early afternoon.   Lavon had a meeting or something of the sort so she sent us out to sushi.

 

I left the following day by train.  It was Thursday the 22^nd.   On the train I opened my book for the first time.  I am starting Lord of the Rings for the third time.   As I started the first chapter, called a Long Expected party, I realized that the book began on the same day, Sept. 22—Frodo and Bilbo's birthday.

It is interesting to start a book on the same day as the story itself begins.  It is almost ominous.    

check this out

I was to submit a story to this magazine.  Check it out.

I think it would be a good fit for me.

What do you think????

www.pology.com

--
Jonah Manning
General Delivery
Sausalito, CA  94965
(415) 377.3985

www.freejonah.blogspot.com
email - bellyofthewhale.gmail.com

Rolling along

Got a job.
Construction.

 

Visited an olf friend from France this weekend.  Went sailing.  Flooded my boat.  (Will be more on this soon.)

But the weather is finally beautiful.  My birthday is tomorrow.

 

I spent all day Sunday cleaning out my boat (because of the flood) and now the bilges are as clean as ever.  It has also helped in some major organizational concerns.

I finally got the solar up and running again.  This is such a relief I can hardly describe.

Though, now I realize that I burned up my starter motor on the Farymann.  It will need to be rebuilt.

It looks like I have crew for my next passage south, which will likely take place early November.

Sunday night I ate one of the best dinners I can remember, the last being the night Wendy took me out to Sushi Hana's.   THis was Indian.  Chicken Tika Masala.  The best damn chai.  Wow it was awesome.  Thanks Kim.  What a day that was.
--
Jonah Manning
General Delivery
Sausalito, CA  94965
(415) 377.3985

www.freejonah.blogspot.com
email - bellyofthewhale.gmail.com