Paul Departs
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Position: 49 14.5 N 054 47.0 W
- Alongside Lewisporte Yacht Club We got underway from Twillingate at 10.30 a.m.
yesterday with a fresh southerly in our teeth. The initial leg was close
hauled on the port tack for ten miles before we entered a maze of islands for
the remaining 25 miles to Lewisporte, all up wind. So we gradually sailed up through this maze, the
mainsail reefed and the jib partially furled for the gusty headwinds, the seas
calm with the protection of all the islands and the sun shining. Max sat
at the back of the cockpit playing his guitar, Paul filmed the passing scenery,
and I enjoyed the sailing, definitely a Maslowe moment. We sailed into Summerford Arm a short way, looked up
into it but found no sign of an iceberg and once more I felt grateful that we
had found Proteus. We continued on our way. It took us 10 hours to
cover the 30 miles, sailing a total distance of 49 miles, thus averaging 4.9
knots which is quite respectable for old Sylph.
In the latter part of the day it grew overcast and even poured rain on us for a
while but for the last few miles it cleared, the wind dropped and we motored
the last 5 miles to the marina where we tied up at 8.30 p.m. A long day,
but pleasant, and I felt a good way to finish off Paul’s final day at
sea. Today Paul departs us. He has come a long way
to find his iceberg, 1723 nautical miles, that’s 3190 land miles or 5907
kilometers. Perhaps not that far in these days of jet travel, freeways
and cell phones, our beautiful blue planet has grown so small, but quite a ways
in a small sail boat -35 days on board, 19 days at sea, often in difficult
conditions – many days of dense fog and light winds, we effected a major
engine repair alongside in St John’s, and we found our iceberg. We
could have flown here, got a tour boat, and Proteus would have been nobody,
another chunk of ice melting to meld with the ocean. At one time it must
have been massive to have made it this far at this time of year and in our
present climate, truly an old man of the sea. I can feel a philosophical
moment coming on, metaphors abound … I shall resist the urge. Congratulations Paul and bon voyage. Talking of climate I was speaking with a yard person
in the marina here who has lived in Lewisporte all his life. He told me
in winter this sound freezes over and when he was a boy he and his father could
get in a car and drive all the way to Twillingate across the ice. Check
out the map! He says you haven’t been able to do that for a long
time. More on global warming later – it’s not all doom and
gloom by the way. We have a new crew member joining us on Friday, |