Means of Seeing what the eye brings

Spent yesterday working on the dingy. There’s this little 7′ dingy that’s been laying outside the shop for a couple years now, and i’ve been wanting to get it back in the water for months. This past spring, i put in a few days getting the centreboard trunk back in place, and repairing thwarts. This time around, i’ve spent a day here and there getting a new topmast built, and mounting the gudgeons.
Marty off Bolero passed by one afternoon and saw me working on it. “Ah, the ol’ Dyer Dingy!”, he exclaimed. Apparently, they’re great little sailing dingys (if you can squeeze in under the boom!), and worth quite a bit new. Well, that was fun to know.
Yesterday, i was just carrying on, working on bits and pieces, when it dawned on me: i could get this done today. Not the varnishing, final sanding, painting, etc., but i could get it together just enough to go sailing. What a fine lovely sail it was! Tacking and gybing around the harbour, ducking in between all the moored yachts, playing with the wind and generally goofing off.
The red sail is crossed by a white stripe, emblazoned with a “DD” emblem. The name we’ve settled on around the shop? “Dire Dink”. Yes, yes, it’s that silly… but what is sillier than a 200-lb fellow bombing around the harbour in a 7′ boat?
Today, after a little re-working of the mainsheet arrangement, i’m taking an afternoon off… to go out in the Dink and sail sail sail…

There’s this oft-repeated line from the movie Shakespeare In Love i’ve fallen in love with. When asked what the fallout will be from whatever calamity happens to be befalling the protagonists, this one fellow often says, “It’ll all work out in the end” When asked exactly how this will come about, the shrugging reply is, “Nobody knows… It’s a mystery!”.

(more…)

i have a few great friends “at home” who need to know where they’re going in order to get there. i have other great friends who can’t get anywhere if the destination is known! Which of the two are in the better position? Myself, i’ve struck off on a largely destination-free journey, much to the dismay of some of my friends and family. Some of my peers are “on-track” with clearly-set goals and pathways to success. i feel that the only real indicator of “success” is how each of us internally feels about where we are or where we’re going. The worst thing has to be being stuck in one place, wishing you were somewhere else (or moving, and wishing you could settle down!). i’ve felt both ways in my time, and still don’t know which is the better (or worse). i’m sticking to this one plan for now, because i’ve found that constantly changing my plans means i never actually realize any of my goals!
i used to say to a dear friend of mine, “Don’t worry so much. Everything will work out…”. In exasperation she once fiercly retorted, “Yes, because I make it work out!”. Months later now, things are working out quite well for me, with a minumum of stress, almost effortlessly, even. My friend is still up north, “making it work out”, and not enjoying her life nearly as much as she deserves to.
i’m hoping some friends of mine stop trying so hard and just let it happen. i think you can only stem the tide for so long! After that, it’s just a matter of riding the current and seeing where it takes you; where you end up might not be where you wanted to be, but it may just be where you needed to be all along. i’m sure my friend will find herself ultimately successful one way or the other, by whatever standard she cares to measure it.

Heard another good quote awhile back, in somewhat the same vein. “Everything will be okay in the end… If everything isn’t alright, this can’t be the end!” i wonder when and where that one will apply? Well, everything will work out, in the end or otherwise. How? There’s no knowing… It’s a mystery!

After 15 long back-to-back days in the yard, it was great to take a break and go sailing for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, the couple running Bolero rounded up some of us West Endians and took us sailing for the day, as a way of thanking us for our help and hospitality during their stay in Soper’s Hole. At least that’s how it started…
Soon enough, it was we who were taking them sailing! West End is full of unassuming folks who’ve logged hundreds of thousands of miles at sea, all over the planet, and the “passengers” aboard Bolero that day were the cream of the crop!
What a ride! Bolero herself is a beautiful wooden yacht, designed by Sparkman & Stephens for Atlantic ocean racing and built in 1949. She is regarded as one of the great ocean racers of her era, for both her beauty and speed, setting many long-standing records.
As we all had hoped, we took her out and got onto a fabulous reach, setting her signature mizzen stays’l and kicking it into overdrive! When Marty handed me the wheel, it was hard not to grin and giggle like a little kid with a brand-new toy; in this case, a multi-million dollar toy!

Christmas morning had many of the same group of West Endians (and a few others) sailing up to Jost Van Dyke with Robin on Kuralu for the fourth annual “Bubbly at The Bubbly Pool” outing. The bubbly Pool is a small, nearly circular beach and natural pool, walled in by a rock wall. In the north wall, there’s a narrow cleft leading directly north, and when the Atlantic is swelling out of the north, the waves foam through into the pool, making for a great bubbly foaming wash! Of course, we had our requisite champagne and OJ at hand to compliment the seafoam swirling all around us!
That night, i was invited to a Christmas dinner at another friends, again attended by many West Endians. What a great time! Food and drinks galore, but best of all, real Christmas decor, with an imported evergreen for the tree (not the more usual local potted palm), and proper seasonal music, wreaths, and such! Over the last few Christmases, i’ve been missing these “northern” touches…

Today for Boxing Day, Paul & Diana have invited me out to sailing aboard Simba this afternoon, which should be great fun, as the wind and weather is perfect for a rollicking good time in the north sound. This evening it’s a full-moon beach party over at Smuggler’s Cove, to which we may yet end up dropping the hook and swimming in to enjoy!

Maybe it’s just the Cancer in me… moons and holidays combining and colliding to create weird and weirder moods, shifts, and swings. A shout-out to those other signifigant Cancers i know out there this holiday season!
Fighting with myself, getting along with people i usually don’t. Missing some near-strangers, but okay with being away from some dear friends and family.
Is something wrong with the signal? Is that noise white or pink?
Watery emotions indeed.