no orcas

Saturday brought top notch February sailing conditions - damn near mid 50's - this is warm, not warm enough to bring my olive oil back to a liquid state - but you know, it was comfortable. The day was notable for its absence of killer whales. K and L pods had been spotted at Port Madison the day previous. So, my orca researcher friend came out with us and we waited patiently in Port Madison and anyway, nothing - just nice wind and sun - so, you know, no complaints.

panama

last winter on the boat was tougher, more grim, than i expected - i vowed not to repeat it.

so this winter i have done two things different

i set up some house sitting gigs between december and april to give me some respite from puget sound

and, in mid january, in the nadir of the seattle winter - i spent a week on the Caribbean sea.

this does not mean that my will is broken or that the dream is over -

this just means i am refueling - that is all.

a sunny yet cold and blustery day in February

President's Day brought sunshine. It also brought the promise of 48 degree temperature. This is pretty good for February. But the presidents also brought wind, lots of it - white caps and damn big rolling waves that lifted the bow up like a lap dog then dropped that bow down like a hot potato. The boat didn't seem to mind, although, we were momentarily concerned. But then we raised the main sail, ran downwind and the sea seemed to calm for us. All in all - a fine day on the water. Afterward, we crowded in the cabin, smoked cigarettes and got to know our new crew member, Andre. Andre is from Poland. He is very soft spoken so it is hard to be certain, but from what Micah and I can gather: he is living in exile from Poland after dodging a draft, he moved onto his girlfriend's boat last year and, unfortunately, his girlfriend has abandoned him and her boat so that she can work on an oil rig in Texas. Andre seems detached from everything. During small craft advisory conditions, he arrived at my boat, ready to sail, wearing dress pants, loafers and a button down collared shirt. I told him he absolutely had to go find something more to wear. When he returned a few minutes later he had added this tweed sport coat to the mix. It goes without saying, I was a little jealous.