Archive for February, 2010

The Great Tsunami of 2010

Actually, it’s early in the year to make a proclamation of that sort, so I may be tempting fate a bit… there could certainly be an actual Great Tsunami at some point later in the year in which case I’ll probably regret my sarcasm here. Let’s hope not, for reasons other than the potential [...]

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Decadent Living

Decadent Living

My timing of the tides and currents through the San Juans en route to Seattle proved to be masterful and heroic in scale… yet deficient in one particular: Spieden Channel.
I’d worked out our trip from Sidney to Seattle precisely accounting for the tides and currents at Sidney, through Haro Straight, down San Juan Channel, and [...]

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Heading home too soon

Heading home too soon

Too soon, and too fast! Our sailing for the past two days has been fantastic, and we’ve been rocketing along at hull speed under clear blue skies, feted by porpoises, unimpeded by Customs. It’s all come too soon and gone too quickly.
Our last couple of days in Vancouver were just spent wandering, taking [...]

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Having it both ways

Having it both ways

I don’t want to say that I am feeling cozy, particularly, because that’s really more a word that my wife would use and she would mean something completely different than I might mean by it, so it’s probably best to avoid it entirely.  Especially because right now men’s figure-skating happens to be playing on the [...]

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The Olympics, from the water

The Olympics, from the water

One of the primary benefits of cruising is going interesting places and doing fun things there, and there may be no place that is at once as interesting and fun as a hosting city during the Olympic games.
Vancouver is alive with the buzz of fans and athletes, a special place at a special moment in [...]

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A Day of Rest

That’s what today was supposed to be, at least. And certainly, I’m going to hit the bunk right after writing this, because tomorrow’s busy schedule calls for an early departure and promises a day of, shall we say, interesting, sailing and navigating from start to finish.
To start, we will have to pick our way [...]

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Just waiting

All our tanks are full, the lines are singled up, provisions are loaded, cabin stowed… I’m just hanging around right now waiting for my lovely wife to get home from her big presentation and we’re heading north as the sun sets behind us, bound for Vancouver, and the Olympics.
Tonight is just a short hop to [...]

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Slow boat to Vancouver

Slow boat to Vancouver

So our weather window for hoisting someone up the mast to check out our malfunctioning radome has slammed abruptly shut on us with the onset of the familiar vista of clouds and rain coming in from the south last night. We got into town too late yesterday, which would have been a beautiful day [...]

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Plans and Planning

I have a whole raft of quotations that I love about plans and planning.  They oscillate between those that favor the planning process and those that deride it.
Everyone has heard the old proverb, “He who fails to plan, plans to fail,” but I just find that pithy and condescending.  Come on, if you’re not planning, [...]

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