Resolutions

From the Log . . .

When we got back to the boat, we had a nice westerly breeze and it was apparent that we could sail out of the harbor and across the bay towards Todos Santos Island and Santo Tomas Point. We pulled up the anchor and lo and behold the anchor stop was bent into a curve of a hook. We had, had a southeasterly blow of about 35 miles an hour, the day before and had to move, due to the fact that one of the small Mexican coastal steamers seemed to be drifting too close to us. We moved well out in the harbor and I thought all was well until we pulled up our Herthill Anchor and found the shank of the anchor bent so that the flukes of the anchor would not pass up and downward over the shank. We sailed around the Silver Bull to say goodbye to them, but they were ashore. We waved goodbye to Ensenada on a beautiful, clear, sunshiny day on October 23, 1953, with about a 5 knot breeze, which sailed us close to the tip of Pt. Banda, the lower part of Todo Santos Bay. This point is approximately 10 miles from Ensenada. We put out the trolling lines and fished all day long, but were unable to get any fish. We saw them jumping, but for some reason or rather, the lures that we were using did not appeal to the fish. Whether it was the lure, the lure, the leader, the spped we were going or what it was, but we did not catch any fish.

We had to make one tack in order to clear the rocks at the end of Pt. Banda then sailed on a quarterly breeze towards the Santo Tomas Island, another 10 miles down the coast. This, we rounded about 5:00 o’clock and we then went in, underneath a little . . .

(gap in the journal)

______________________________

I don’t make New Years Resolutions. Somehow the typical idea of making resolutions at the beginning of the year, then breaking them later doesn’t appeal to me.

But a couple of things have happened to me since I started this blog, and today isn’t such a bad day to reflect on the resolutions that those events instilled in me (well, at least one).

This is not a New Years Resolution. It’s a resolution that started with this blog.

I tend to be very good at starting things, less so at finishing them. The theme of this blog is twofold. To transcribe the journal that my grandfather dictated and Marilyn typed up as multiple carbon copies (typos and all). The copy that I’m transcribing from is a photocopy of one of the carbon copies.

My typing skills are limited, and Microsoft Word’s spell checker may introduce some corrections, but I hope the spirit of the thing comes through.

The other theme is to relate what I find so inspiring about sailing. To reflect on the lessons learned, the beauty of it in all of Mother Nature’s moods. Woven into this theme is the experience of learning to sail as ‘Captain’, including experience of the dynamics of being responsible for a vessel and the souls on board, and the effort to do so in a gentle manner. Many of the threads of this tapestry are colored by my own life time of sailing experiences, the experiences of the people I sail with, and recently, the impact that other sailing blogs are having on me.

This blog is not about me, me, me (like some blogs I know ;). It is first and foremost a sailing blog. Sailing is unique among the activities of people. When people go down to the sea, or out on the water, they are confronted with something so completely different from their life on land.

To experience moving through this world propelled mainly by the force of the wind, is a very special thing. To realize that it is not just the wind, but the imbalance of the forces of the wind on the sails and the water on the boat. That everything is in motion, and exerts a force.

It is the most dynamic world we can immerse ourselves in.

The feeling of being in control, and the humbling that occurs when we are not.

So as I write this, I realize that today's part of the journal is so very appropriate. It is about leaving a safe harbor, sailing away from an anchorage, with a damaged anchor, and navigating between an Island and around a headland, venturing out onto the open ocean.

Since my tendency is to not finish things, to be distracted and go exploring, the resolution that I made in September was to finish this thing, the transcription of the journal.

Along with that, I also hope that a dedication to finish something will bleed over into my non-sailing life.