I’ve mentioned before that one of the charming definitions of cruising is; fixing your boat in exotic places. We jumped right into the reality and spirit of that sentiment, breaking and then fixing; batten slides, running lights, our windless, steering system, doors, drawers, halyards, dodger and more. We do that in order to keep the boat safely moving along and for cruising, often the “moving” part is as important as the fixing part. You see, for our plans as with many cruisers plans, we don’t have an infinite amount of continuous time available to us even though, being retired, one might think so. We’re on the clock as they say, not the work clock or even a personal, social clock. The clock we are on is nature’s very own, the world’s clock, the earth, sun and moon that drives the winds, tides and seasons.
Where we’re headed in Mexico has a hurricane season, typically that runs from August through October. We, like most prudent mariners avoid that time. So our plan is to enter Mexico in the beginning of November cruise the coast until about May when we’ll put the boat on the hard in a relatively safe, dry storage area and then head back to our home in Eugene Oregon.
It’s not just the boat that needs care and fixing. Her crew needs attention too. Bev’s shoulder has been acting up with all the pulling on lines that she’s been doing on board. While in Half Moon Bay Bev has been able to get a couple of very good therapeutic massages that have done a lot to relieve her shoulder pain.
My knees are in rough shape as the arthritis in them has been acting up quite a bit lately. I’ve just managed to get an appointment to have them evaluated for joint replacement surgery with a very good doctor back home. I’m not a big fan of surgery or nor do I enjoy talking about medical issues. I only bring it up here because it’s an integral part of “keeping our boat moving”. A boat and her crew are highly interdependent. It would be foolish of us to take care of one with out taking care of the other too. I see a beautiful symmetry and balance in that reciprocity.
I’ve been asked if it’s wise to go cruising at my age and if it’s wise to continue sailing with my knees acting up. I say yes and my sprit shouts-out a resounding YES. You see, while its the body that carries my sprit, it is my sprit that propels my body. In that way, they are very much like a boat and her crew in both their interdependence and the necessity for them to care and nurture each other.
We’ve got a good weather window to head south starting tomorrow. We have a good boat and her crew is well rested and excited about out next destination, the Channel Islands located off the coast of central California, about 300 miles south of us. Tomorrow morning, if wind, tide and fortune continue to favor us we’ll be on our way.
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