waiting for better weather
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17:46.27S 177:22.90E Waiting for better weather Saturday 6am The new hot water heater is in and working. Still no
generator; have to wait until we get to NZ. We are now waiting for decent weather. The 2 days here
have been a mission of intelligence gathering; learning what everyone thinks is
a good departure time. We have to be careful not to fall into the trap of
following the herd mentality of starting out just because all the other boats
are doing so. That being said, the scuttlebutt and our own weather maps
confirm the wind is on the NOSE at true wind speeds of 25-30 knots; so we would
feel an apparent of even greater. We have heard that an Island Packet 45,
Southern Star, which I last saw in Bora Bora, left a week ago and has only done
500 miles and is moving at 2 knots as it pounds into the waves. So we are
waiting; notwithstanding Thom’s English desire to “experience some
real weather”. Thom would also like us to set off sooner, so we
arrive in time for him to watch So, with just about everything done except last minute
shopping for fruits and vegetables, we are sitting her today and likely
tomorrow. In the meantime, I finished a good light book which I got in
the Fiji airport on my way home last month; ”See Naples and Die” by
an Australian journalist, Penny Green, author also of “When in Rome”.
She recounts her year as a 30 something journalist, working for an internet
wire service and her experience of learning and loving Naples, notwithstanding
the frequent murders and motor scooter purse snatchings, taking place
around her in the central city and a general civic malfunctioning, with the
most visible being the piles of uncollected garbage. Early on, we learn
she has to find meaning to stay among the chaos, and she finds it in work
and love and the book traces her path. “Men are like phone booths;
ones that aren’t occupied, don’t work.” Penny’s landlady
to her. I didn’t find this line overly funny, but it gives you the tone.
I assume some may find the line hilarious. So, the weather considerations are very serious; perhaps the
most of the whole trip and we need to watch, and for now wait. More soon Babelfish |