Archive for December, 2006
Stuff & Nonsense
December 27th, 2006 | 
Author: 
Meanwhile a few miles away friends at Terra Santa are getting ready for their 6th Annual Symposium from Jan 12th through the 20th. Now that they are bloggin up a storm I’ll just send you right over there.
So that’s today’s stuff.
As for nonsense. . . Oh, don’t get me started on the nonsense! . .
Well here’s the thing; I’ve added a new page to the site as a starting point for all things Puerto Rico which as you know will be a major topic around here in the coming months. I will be adding material there as I go. I’ve already got some nice links to share and people to credit and wine to drink. . . (wait, scratch that bit about the wine.) But then life is life and it seems silly of me to start a new blog for the trip. At least up until the point we are actually there and on the water. So I’m just going to keep chatting about the trip right here and using Google’s fancy “labels” (Puerto Rico specifically) feature to sort them out for people who’d rather avoid my comments about Welsh maid servants. . . In fact if I can I might break away to post a bit on the preparations today.
Happy “Winds-day”, OWL!
“Winds-day?” Bah! This is just a mild spring zephyr compared to the big wind of ‘67. Or was it, uh, ‘76? Oh, well, no matter. Oh, I remember the big blow well. It was the year my Aunt Clara went to visit her cousin. Now, her cousin was not only gifted on the glockenspiel, but being a screech owl, also sang soprano in the London Opera. You see, her constant practicing so unnerved my aunt that she laid a seagull egg by mistake. . . .
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Boxing Day
Come on and tease me like you do
I’m so in love with you
Mama’s got a squeeze box
Daddy never sleeps at night
She goes in and out and . . . .
-the who
First Safety. It’s a very bad idea to be listening to music in an environment where you should be paying attention to other traffic on the water. Last thing we need on the water are paddlers acting like drivers with cell phones. It’s bad enough too that the big boats can’t slow down. How much worse then, if you can’t hear them coming!? Or maybe it’s for the better??
The New Ipod Nano second generation is slightly, and I mean very slightly larger than the original. If you got a new Ipod this year be sure you get the right Otterbox. It will say “Next Generation” on it. Sadly this little change may cause issues with all your Ipod gear so watch carefully when you buy new stuff at the moment.
Waterproof headphones sound like garbage. Well, that’s not exactly true. The manufacturer has to decide what they are going for. Sound moves differently through air than it does in water. If they were going for nice underwater sound, then above water the headphones will sound tinny. Most often it seems there has been some compromise made and the headphones sound below average both above and below the surface.
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So how was your Holiday? For my part I became quite ill the night before Christmas eve and writing this is almost the only thing I’ve done from a vertical position since my last post. Sadly I spent most of Christmas day wishing for quiet and coveting the couch. ( in hindsight I feel extra bad seeing that over 1000 of you stopped by here on Christmas day! Sorry!!) I spent all of Christmas Eve Night practicing new cleansing technique that would have made Edina Monsoon proud. While at the same time enjoying a crushing headache that made it quite impossible to listen for reindeer on the rooftop. And people wonder why I often feel like Charlie Brown incarnate!?? Chances are I will spend the rest of this Boxing Day back in bed and missing out on the historic Welsh tradition of chasing around servant girls with holly branches.
Ahhh, Wales.
Pirate of the Caribbean
Just stand there I could say so much
But I dont go there cuz I dont want to
I was thinking if you were lonely
Maybe we could leave here and no one would know
At least not to the point that we would think so
-matchbox 20
I was sitting on my computer working my way through yesterdays blog when a knock came at the door. “Who the hell is that??”, I thought. I was still not even 8 am. As I opened the rickety old screen door a delivery guy held out a big brown box. I signed off on the box and wished him a happy holiday. Setting the box on the counter I grabbed an old kitchen knife from the cupboard and sliced the packing tape. I folded open the box to find two Silver packages with pretty red bows. “Ahhh”, I mused. “Liquid refreshment”. “Cool Beans!” I slipped the bow off bottle number one to find a tempting bottle of Jameson. Obviously the gift of someone who’s never seen me sitting by a symposium fire late into the night 3 sheets to a blended Irish wind. When I opened the second I was sure of one thing, “Someone’s trying to get me into trouble!!” In my best Old Irishman impersonation I said to myself, “Ach, the lord loves a woman who gives a man the gift of whisky”. I am truly blessed. 
Late into the evening I received a phone call from my 20-something son, Julian. His car had turned in it’s cards and was now sitting at a British Petroleum station in Madison. Suddenly I was off once again to the city that’s been vexing me so much as of late. When we got back home it seemed as if there was no choice but to find the local. It seemed too soon that the blond young woman behind the bar was ushering us with a smile toward the door. You know the old saying, “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here”.
And speaking of vexing. This morning I went back to read Wenley’s blog. Wenley unlike me, seems to need a cattle prod to keep the ladies at bay. I made a short comment regarding his burden. Wenley of course thought I might catch up to him soon. He weaved an image of my silly hide on a Caribbean beach with a bottle of Medalla and soft, thin waisted brunette. . Where does he get these ideas?? Although the thought of a brunette with deep green eyes did resonate somewhere in the back of my mind. (A male brain does that you know.) Of course I’m a bit more of a pirate. Unlike Wenley’s debonair James Bond-like persona, I tend tend to be a bit more scruffy. My wanderings tend to include a bottle of nice Puerto Rican Rum and the brunette would trade in the thong for a big white billowing cotton shirt and worn, well fitted leather trousers with Knee-high boots. Hmmm, maybe a few bottles of rum. “I think we’ll need a bigger boat!” Maybe a Menai 18?
Feeling a bit tired today. “”To sleep, perchance to dream. . .
Ay, there’s the rub.”
Prospero Ano Nuevo!
Gonna be proud of me
And many before me
Who’ve been called by the sea
To be up in the crow’s nest
Singin’ my say
Shiver me Timbers
‘Cause I’m a-sailin’ away
-tom waites
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It’s so fun to just sit and write about yourself in the 3rd person isn’t?? Well. Let’s start this out a little less formal shall we?
I’d been thinking about a trip for quite some time. Think back to that chat I had with Simon Osborne last summer. Thing was I really wanted to go somewhere that was not on the “expedition” radar so to speak and yet, I wanted to have a fairly reasonable learning experience. It would be stupid of me to try to run off to the artic (Too bloody cold anyway)! Especially being a novice when it comes to expeditions. I’ve never planned or paddled 20 or more days straight. I’ve never worried about finding a decent landing site, shipping boats, long open water crossings or any of the rest. So I also needed a place that I could perceive as just a bit “friendly” a bit of a proving ground if you will. Puerto Rico seemed the perfect choice.
Sure I’d like to see Cuba. That had been a conversation at one time. But getting in could be a nightmare. And something about it wouldn’t feel right for me. I wouldn’t paddle around Haiti & the Dominican Republic either. There are more important concerns there. Sure you could possibly bring more attention to the islands and their political and social needs but do I really take my voice that seriously!?? No, Bono should go to Haiti. The neurotic kid from Wisconsin should go to Puerto Rico!
Over the coming weeks I will share all the little details of planning this first trip. I want to give everyone an opportunity to see my successes and mistakes along the way. Hopefully I’ll get your help and show others that following your dreams (as Wendy K often talks about) is possible. It’s just got to start with that first step. Lord knows there’s nothing I can do that YOU can’t do better!! Who knows what will happen along the way. But the first step is just to announce the trip.
Already I must thank, Nydia Kien for all her help. I’m going to owe her bigtime! Also, Mary, JB, Silbs, Meg, Justine, Freya, Keith, Alex, Jeff & Simon for their encouragment that has carried me from a passing fancy to a dream to a goal. Oh and of course my masked partner who thinks spending a month with me and my neurosis might be a lark! Even though she’s not ready to admit it publicly yet!! I can’t blame her! LOL! We’ll talk about finding a partner after the holidays. . .
And with that,
feliz navidad, Prospero Ano Nuevo!
Photo Provided by Peter Johnson – Thank you!
sea change
This lonely spiral I’ve been in
Hey monkey, when can we begin?
Hey monkey, where you been?
- counting crows
I watched a preview video of Andrew McAuley and team working their way south along the Antarctic peninsula. Justine asked in her blog why I had not offered any comments yet. I was thinking how I can remember getting my copy of This Is The Sea about the same time I started coaching. It was like Christmas. Now her work was part of the tapestry of life. Funny that. I often want to just tell her how honored and aghast I am that she would ask. How do you review Christmas? In the end I kept wondering how it is that Andrew could go days without a proper shower and keep looking better when I can’t even get up in the morning without looking like a creature from a 1950’s nightmare. I think he was drawing some mystical energy with every mile. At one point Andrew observes that the area around a landing looked like “Mordor” from Lord of the Rings. It does. You kept expecting Sauron the dark lord to appear and help set up the tents. You’ll see what I mean when you see This Is The Sea 3. I’m sure you all know now that the best way to see it will be on the big screen at Canoecopia.
I had to take some pictures for a client and finish up some Christmas shopping. I took off for the 40 minute drive to Madison under low grey clouds and mist. My new pink Ipod kept me company. Chasing down the holy grail of Christmas light displays is not a bad way to make a living. Still, “Christmas in the Mist” would be an odd title for a holiday story. I thought, in my odd thinking way, this story would have to have a monkey in it. I found all the places I was meant to find. I found every sign. The bar. The Church. That road that leads off of the other road. Like many knights Templar before me, however I returned to England empty handed. I couldn’t find the grail.
I sat in a traffic jam. I watched the taillights melt across my windshield. I saw a woman in mini-van mime an argument to her cell phone in the car at my side. Her free hand occasionally chopping at the air to make her point. In the blue glow of her dash lights she seemed like a zombie. I found myself wondering if zombies could use cell phones!? Red lights dimmed and she moved ahead.
I wandered through Borders book store with a Latte burning my hand. I noticed all the magazines in the “Men’s Interest” section had pictures of women on them. Yeah, that about says it, doesn’t it?? I thought of all the friends I had who will open ties for Christmas when all they really wanted was a Maxim calendar. I’ve always been too embarrassed to linger. Like seeing all the ladies wandering around a shopping mall with those little pink bags from Victoria’s Secret. Sometimes you find yourself wondering what they get up to. It’s not good. Not good at all. Seeing a guy hanging around the “Men’s Interest” section in Borders you often wonder what he doesn’t get up too. It doesn’t have the same effect. I prefer to keep my interests a bit more cloistered.
I found a little corner behind the inspirational section. Although many people lack inspiration, I’ve found this is the best place to find an empty chair. I thumbed through a book about the use of color in modern graphic design that I had picked up earlier with no real thought of buying. But my mind kept wandering like those little animated blue birds around the head of a memory. I’ve found myself distracted lately. I pulled my cell phone from my black coat pocket. I flipped it open with my thumb and looked at the numbers. I set it, open, on the coffee table beside me, and sipped my Latte. I burned my lip. I glanced at the phone. I couldn’t think of a justifiable reason to push the numbers. I closed the book and stood up. I picked up the phone and looked again at it’s dim blue glow. I snapped it shut and slid it back into my pocket. I paid for my “Dummies Guide to Spanish” and walked back out into the mist.
“What’s wrong with me?” I thought as my jeep slid off the ramp back into the traffic stream heading north. I wondered about the nature of my distraction. I remembered the Tempest, “Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea-change, Into something rich and strange.” Somewhere a thought drifted into my head like a scent from a childhood memory. “I remember this!” I thought. I know what it is. I clicked my Ipod and Counting Crows were playing. I turned it up and sang along as the wipers pushed aside the mist. For a moment there was clarity.
If I could make it rain today
And wash away this sunny day down to the gutter
I would
Just to get a change of pace
Things are getting worse but I feel a lot better
South Georgia Clip
while he stood there
with tomorrow in his suitcase
and yesterday disappearing as vapor on the hot street
‘We will always have the ocean’
- gainor helen ventresco
If you’re really wanting to get immersed, you can download a South Georgia Island Screen Saver From PBS right here.
*image by Jeff Allen. Used by permission. Thank you!
an island called "Quest"
God, could you help cause this quest is crazy spacey?
-tribe called quest
Well then I started wondering. How would I paddle around it? Which way do the prevailing winds come from? What’s the ocean floor look like? Is there big nasty surf or nice gentle sandy beaches? How long would it take?
“How Long would it take!!??” Now you’re for it!!
Well, If I were going to guess I’d say my little island was something like 330 statute miles in circumference or 531km. (Doesn’t look like it does it!??) And certainly I don’t want to paddle at a crazy pace. Maybe I’d bring a friend. (digital of course) Ok, I thought just for fun I’d take Sandy’s idea of about 17 miles a day (about 27.4km). So let’s see; On average I paddle a bit over 4.5 mph. But of course miles take their toll. So if I were planning to paddle around the island I think I might base my estimates on 3.5 mph. Especially if there are two of us. But to give myself some cushion and to make my math easier, I’ll say 3 mph. Ok, then. That means 17 miles would take me around 6 hours, give or take. Yeah, that’s a nice lazy pace. Well, in the beginning anyway. But if my math is right it will take me about 19 days to paddle around and I’m not getting any younger. . .To look at it another way, If the island is about 330 miles in circumference and I’m paddling at 3 mph. I’d need 110 hours of paddle time. So If I paddle about 6 hrs a day, that would mean I’d need 18.33 days. So 19 days. Still with me? Ok then, let’s say I give myself 3 weather days and another 3 days just to lay on a beach with that bottle of Wollersheim Winery’s Prairie Fume that I stuffed up next to the skeg. (Maybe I could fit one on each side of the skeg. . .) That gives me 19 days on the water and a 6 day cushion. Now I need 25 days to circumnavigate this island called “Quest”. Assuming of course that I can get my kayak inside my cpu. This calls for an all night TRON marathon!
Now in the real world our distant friends (who have interestingly just added Rutabaga to their list of sponsors. . . ) have estimated 80 days to cover about 2700 km or about 1678 miles. So go ahead, grab a pencil. How would you go about it?
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