Blogging – Caro Babbo

Repair, don’t replace (when you can)

Point Hudson, WA 4-FEB-2025 – The steering wheel on Caro Babbo has wiggled since, perhaps since we got the boat. There were times when I thought it might come off in my hands, or worse still, Jennifer’s hands. I thought about how I could steer with the sails, or with a wrench attached to the rudder post. Eventually, I had an emergency tiller fabricated in Hawaii.

But, most of the time, I knew it was just a bushing that had worn through. I didn’t know what the inside of the steering mechanism looked like. Like most things, until you’ve seen one, which I hadn’t, you’re frightened by what might be there, or when taking it apart what might pop out never to be found or reassembled again.

Calvin

This isn’t about boats, mostly.

21-JAN-2025, Port Townsend, WA – About 35 years ago, I read a piece by Calvin Trillin. He was writing with some bemusement about people he’d meet or who would write to him to ask about his daughters. He’d written about getting bagels for them on weekend mornings and the life of an urban family with two young daughters.

Time Discontinuity

Port Townsend, WA 4-JAN-2025 – I was thinking about a conversation I had with someone about her graduate school career. It was a story she’d told me many times, but this time she told the group the rest of the story.* It is a story I always looked on fondly because I was a tangential part of the story.

The Video Version of 2024

Port Townsend, WA 24-OCT-2024 – I belong to a Zoom group that started as fans of James Everson’s sailboat Zingaro.

I spent a few weeks on James’ boat in Aruba and would do a two-minute video every morning detailing what had happened the night before and the view from the boat.

This year, given it was our last time in Alaska and we were covering ground we’d never cover again, I asked the group if they’d like me to make two-minute videos in Caro Babbo. I was quite surprised when they said yes. I made them for a while and stopped. No one seemed interested. I asked a second time after stopping for a few weeks and everyone said yes again so I restarted. In this playlist are 52 videos made on the trip down. They are in chronological order and you’re welcome to watch. They are raw video: no editing of any kind, though I did stop and start recording in some videos.

Point Hudson: Caro Babbo is home for the winter

Port Townsend, WA, 15-OCT-2024 – We’re home, Jennifer, me, and Caro Babbo. Caro Babbo is floating higher on her waterline and will for the next bunch of months.

Last Port Before Home

Eagle Island, WA, South Puget Sound, 26-SEP-2024 – In my past posts, I’ve tried to keep you up-to-date with where we’ve been as a setup for talking about the people we’ve met. People who I thought I would keep in touch with. People I thought were fascinating and worthwhile – a small subset of the people we’ve met.

Floating Southward

Eagle Island, WA, 20-SEP-2024 – We’ve been floating southward with little urgency and less stress. Jennifer does not want to sail at all, but when there is wind I’ll set sail and we’ll sail for as long as it lasts.

The Last Leg

Port Townsend, 2-SEP-2024 – There was heavy dew on the windows and a grey sky. I opened the companionway door to a whiteout: Cotton Candy.

I could hear women’s voices speaking, ‘‘I keep hitting the front stop and that’s never happened,’’ the voice said. I turned and looked at the water level and could see sixty yards to an eight-person rowing shell sitting, the crew talking amongst themselves. Looking toward town, there was no town, I could just make out the ferry terminal, the large boat nearest me, and the Hawaiian Chieftain at her dock. A sailboat outboard of us had her mast top anchor light lit without a boat below. The two sailboats with no anchor lights were a mystery. The fog horn of the ferry said she was in the bay on her way to the dock. After a few moments, I could see her at a right angle to me.

Midcentury Star

Rebecca Spit, BC, 21-AUG-2024 – We’ve run hell-bent-for-leather to get south and now that we’re here we have two weeks to get a week’s distance. We’ll relax a bit on the pace, and then get there a few days early – we hope. The weather next week looks wonderful.

Ketchikan, 2024

Ketchikan Yacht Club, Ketchikan, AK, 07-AUG-2024 – The world has changed since we’ve last been here. StarLink is the major yachting change and the cities quest for more tourists is the other.

Here in Ketchikan, we’ve started speaking to the boats we’ve seen along the way. Everyone stops in Ketchikan. There are the groups that travel together, either from a yacht club, or a tour led by a manufacturer. These seem to be the normal number moving back and forth.

The power boats are oftentimes aging sailors who sold their sailboats and opted for a power boat. They seem to enjoy them. Other power boats are working people, who in years gone by could never have come here, but now with StarLink and no need to go to the office, are here. During this summer Ketchikan harbor became completely full with no slips available.