Fickle Winds

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Sat 16 Jun 2018 04:16

Position: 36 58.8 S  149 58.3 E
Course: N  Speed: 4 knots
Wind: WNW  F3-5 gentle to fresh breeze
Sea: slight  Swell: SE 0.5 mm
Weather: sunny, mild

Our brief sojourn in Eden allowed us to get in a few supplies, do the laundry, and enjoy a couple of ciders in front of the fire at the local pub.  An elderly gentleman joined our table and garrulous Kate immediately struck up a conversation.  In little time she had found out the  gentlemen’s name was Gordon, that he was 98 years old, that he had been a seaman in the merchant marine for some thirty years and after that had started a trawling business out of Eden with three trawlers at one time.  He had sold his business and retired only a few years ago. Sadly, we also found out that Gordon had lost his wife only two weeks previous.  He struggled to contain his tears as we struggled with words.  He was the youngest of three and his two brothers had departed many years prior.  It must be strange, I thought to myself, to live at that stage of life where virtually everything that we ordinarily consider to be of value lay in the past and all that lies ahead is each day.  Wanting to be back on board before sunset, we reluctantly took our leave of Gordon and hiked back to the Cattle Bay beach where Sylph’s dinghy lay waiting.

Later that evening, Kate and I enjoyed a pizza and movie night, ‘The Cat’ snuggled on Kate’s lap.  The ‘movie’ was a couple of episodes from the classic western space opera Firefly series, nearly all the major characters not a day over thirty.

This morning, after a casual start, we secured the dinghy on deck and weighed anchor.  A fresh westerly is forecast which is only just starting to fill in.  Our destination is back to Narooma, which we enjoyed on the outward bound leg of our little voyage.  We hope to arrive sometime around high water at 2230.

All is well.