ANZAC DAy in El Salvador
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Mon 26 Apr 2010 03:23
Zealander it is ANZAC DAY, to commemorate the "diggers " (Australian and NZ
soldiers lost on a messed up beach landing at Gallipoli in Turkey in the 1st
world war, and 1000s were lost, which was huge to the 2 young small nations
of Australia and New Zealand, most of us had someone in the family effected.
So through out the world on this day aussies and kiwis where ever they pay
there respects.
So I was up before daybreak to see daybreak rise, I got in the rowing dinghy
and went out into middle of the estuary, and watched the sun peak above the
mangrove horizon and rise up. I was alone in silent of the running water and
at peace a time for reflection and remembrance.
To those not from Australia and New Zealand you may think this tradition
would die out with time but it is actually going the other way, the young
are all respecting it and making time. Two good examples:
1/ I was on Jessica Watson's sail blog (she is an 16 year old Australian
sailing solar non stop around the world, she will be come the youngest) she
is now rounding Australia and within 2000 miles of home, she was knocked
down in 10 m swells (which I think is too big, so lets say 30 feet swell),
(a knock down means she nearly capsized her mast hit the water, and she got
a lot water in, she recovered and today she was rising before dawn to mark
ANZAC day.
2/ Back in the 80s I visited Gallipoli beach, I jumped on a bus in Istanbul
full of young Australians, Kiwis, South African and Canadians, we pulled in
on the 24th and partied all night or late, but before dawn all the Aussies
and Kiwis were up and down at ANZAC cove beach for the morning service (even
writing this brings goose bumps to me), the non Aussies/ Kiwis could not
believe that we were all up, dressed and ready for a service, they came down
to see as they had travelled with many of these people for months, and it
was not normal behavior. We were there with 100s of Kiwis and Aussies mostly
young, but others to pay respects, we had walked down through the memorials
and as the sun came out the silence was echoing on with the wave swell
below, tears came down many of our faces, and the service went on.
So as I rowed up the estuary today my thoughts were back with that memory on
the beach, I have paid my respects at this time of day in so many places in
the world, but it is always special, today I was the only Aussie / Kiwi here
(Chula with the other 2 left last week). When the family woke I played two
up with Sean this is traditional game of chance with 2 coins.
The heat of the day rose but Tracy and I were able to get on and tackle many
of the preparation projects today, getting the boat ready to leave, I
removed all the major electronics so I can put them in a house off the boat
just in case of lightening, secured things away off deck and made sure the
boat cover is secure.
We have a new boat coming in this week, and we have the first tropical storm
of the season building off Costa Rica, it will come up, but is forecast to
stay off the coast, and stay at tropical storm level but we expect some
rain, we will see how it develops, and accelerate our preparations.
So it makes for an interesting week, I will be keen to see how things like
the docks, moorings and wind is handled in the estuary, stay tuned.