By John – Page 10 – Caro Babbo

Life is a Mangle

7-APR-2019, Port Townsend, WA – Contranym – a word that is its own opposite. The noun mangle and verb mangle are life at the moment. A mangle is a machine with rollers that smooth cloth. I think of them as the wringer rollers on a washing machine, or the machines that iron sheets in a hotel. The verb is to destroy usually by twisting and cutting.

Hilary is dying. It blots out much of what I intended to write about.

She stood in front of the temple and spread herself upon the wind, thinner and thinner, until only the wind remained.
Apollo referring to Hera in Star Trek episode 33, Who Mourns for Adonis

Transitioning back

DL2955, 114 Minutes east of Seattle, 19-MAR-2019 – It is a transitional time. We’re headed back to Seattle with two houses sold, one undergoing renovation, one about to start. My friend and editor, Peter Coleman, sent me an email discussing the boat he bought in the UK (he lives in Australia), his plans for motoring through the canals of France and a sincere invitation to skip our transatlantic sail and join him and his spouse.

We’re going home…soon.

Decatur, GA, 7-MAR-2019 – With the Edgemont house listed, there is time to get back to life and Caro Babbo. Jennifer and I have been celebrating by seeing friends in the afternoons. Yesterday, we went to Marlay’s in Decatur and drank beer.

Lastnight, I registered for a Captain’s license course that I will start later this month. There is an irony. The course was offered in Port Townsend, while I was here in Atlanta, and now that I will be back in Port Townsend, I will take the course in Seattle, 2½ hours away. Keeping Caro Babbo on Lake Union proves itself once again, as I will be able to stay in Seattle the evenings after the class. I can also tele-attend via an internet connection from Port Townsend.

In short, it’s time to get back to the fun stuff.

Hilary, Spelling and the Camino; GPS, the Bahamas, and when will we ever get home to Caro Babbo.

Decatur, GA, 19-FEB-2019 – At times I’ve written that the true subject of this blog is Hilary.

Dyna and husband John at the 2019 Atlanta Orthographic Spelling Bee.

I received this email from Dyna Kohler, the Doyenne of the Atlanta Orthographic Spelling Bee. Dyna saw a picture of our dinghy, the Hilary Hoffmann stored on Caro Babbo’s foredeck.

I am really dumbfounded now to learn Hilary’s full name. Hilary Hoffman, did she walk the Camino in Spain in 2003? If so, I met her.…

Clothing

Working here in Atlanta, getting things done, means that posts go out well after they have been started, followed by a flurry of posts. Sorry for the delay.

Decatur, GA, 6-FEB-2019 – Last week, a cruiser’s forum email asked about suitable clothing for cruisers.

‘‘Anyone found any sailing-themed fun clothing at a reasonable price point not made from cheap tourist tee shirt material (like all the ones on Etsy)?’’

Sand Hill Cranes

Decatur, GA, 10-FEB-2019 – Jennifer thinks the call of Sandhill Crane sounds like the clattering of crockery dishes, a distinctive sound that carries for miles. I had always, somehow, thought that Sandhill Cranes were endangered and rare – they are neither. Though they do mate for life.

There is a very small anchorage in Cecilia Island, BC, just north of Shearwater, where a mated pair return each year. The first time we heard that pair, we stood stock still on the deck of Caro Babbo. The sound is loud, really loud. After a while we spied the pair on shore.

John Riley

Decatur, GA, 24-Jan-2019 – Jennifer and I flew from Seattle to Atlanta yesterday. We had traveled by bus and ferry from Port Townsend to Caro Babbo, on Lake Union, the day before.

Owning Caro Babbo introduces us to a greater cross section of the world than anything I have ever done.

We meet people who have bought new power boats for millions of dollars and people living on derelict sailboats that will never move again without a tow. Unlike doing business in New York or the third world where the mega-wealthy and the destitute live side-by-side, sailing Caro Babbo, we do not merely see the spectrum of wealth and social standing, we spend time with the socio-eco spectrum of mankind.

I lived in NYC during the dark Abe Beam years. The city was at its nadir: murders were around four per day. It was dangerous time, and a time to learn about people and gain street smarts.

Lady K nearly sinks, and a Saturday morning reflection

Port Townsend, WA, 5-JAN-2019 – It’s ten after seven on this Saturday Morning. It’s dark and won’t be light for another while. I’m trying to think where have we spent that last few winters such that I am surprised it is dark.

I remember winter sailing from Lake Union the first year we had Caro Babbo. We left the dock at 6.30; it was very dark.

This morning I have a bit of panic: I don’t know what to work on. For a moment, I had a ‘‘I’m retired’’ panic. What do I do with my time? I’m not head down in a house to be sold, I’m not literally head down in a boat bilge.

Work has translated into physically doing something. And I don’t have anything physically to do.

The great refuge is email and the web. An email from Darrel Walters suggests I watch a video of a Canadian pleasure boat sinking in the Bahamas. Their nightmare lasts ninety minutes and all is well at the end, but it makes me look at Caro Babbo in the light of their calamity.

Back in the PNW

Back in Port Townsend, after an overnight on Caro Babbo, we return to a water leak at the PT house.

Port Townsend, WA, 30-DEC-2018 – It’s 4 am. I haven’t made the complete transition to west coast time.

It is a fitting morning to be in Port Townsend. The wind howls and buffets Jennifer’s house here, while Caro Babbo sleeps 30 miles away, across Puget Sound, safe in her slip on Lake Union