Mate's Log - July 21, 2001

1100 - Just up from my nap to find George with tools, flashlight and electronic manuals in hand crouched in our back area figuring and fixing. The radio will not connect to send our email. Is it the computer, the modem, the tuner, or something else? Once more it is a beautiful day with birds swooping close to the water. I try and try to get a photo, but always seem to miss.

My job now is to push this button on the computer, that button on the radio while George makes tests underneath. Suddenly, nature's magnificence forces us to take a break. We are surrounded by 30-40 HUGE dolphins breaching just at our side, not four feet away. We must be in some good food. Again I grab the camera, but the creatures are too lively to get caught. In minutes they are gone. My photos only show water and sky.

12:48 - Yesterday's fish is devoured, the nut loaf no longer looks appealing. Lunch is saltine crackers with peanut butter and jelly, one of my mom's favorites. The distance to land is now 53.8 nm. We will definitely make land today. I am excited to explore the new country, but sorry to leave this magical world of ever changing ocean, sky, tireless graceful birds, and watching George solve problems. I think I should take a shower, clean Hannah Brown, get her ready for landfall, so we can jump out and explore or drop off to sleep in clean sheets ... but I only want to sit and enjoy this world a little longer.

1800 - As we approach land, I think how different life is ashore. Land is a place where dates and time are important and where you get from one place to another by following a fixed road. It is a linear world. Here on the ocean there are no strait lines. Everything is curves and circles. For example: the waves, the wind patterns, the bird's flights, and the way we sail, using easterly wind to move north. The closest point between two places changes by the moment with the wind and underlying currents, with the temperature and the phase of the moon. Things I never paid attention to growing up. To be safe on the ocean, we must be fully present "in the moment", a concept nearly impossible to practice on land. Nearly three weeks at sea.... I am searching for the right words to conclude my thoughts, but it is time now to put the sails to bed and help George find a good place to dock.

1850 - We are tied up next to an old red work boat "ELDINGIN" in Kopavor Harbor. Holly

Captain's Log - July 21