Home again.
It’s a long way home from Vancouver to my ship in Auckland, Skytrain
in Vancouver (great public transport, quick, quiet and cheap! Well done
Vancouver BC) then a flight to San Fran, (very nice airport terminal by the way, so much
better than LAX, in future I’ll be
paying the slight difference in airfares to avoid the latter) then the
loooong 11 ½ hour flight across the Pacific,
then two buses and a 2 km walk towing my suitcase. 25 hours in all.
You have no idea how glad I was to walk up to the crest of the hill
and look down on the river!
Just a comment on airline comfort, Air New Zealand now has seats where a family or
friends can fold the oversized leg rests of adjacent seats out to make a couch.
Behind me there was a couple with a young child, and they were able to get much
more comfortable than is usual in cattle class.
I was super lucky on this flight and was the only one in a row of
three so was able to lie down flat, got some “real” sleep which makes a big difference.
Recommended, even if you can’t get an empty row those seats are better than any
others I’ve seen.
Other than that, I watched (again, for about the fifth time) the
first two episodes of “The Hobbit”,
noting all the places in the scenery that I know and have been to.
Its an odd feeling watching a fantasy movie and recognising the
mountains and the hills in the background, fun though.
I made it through the trip in fairly good shape which is a relief, a
couple of trips ago I would not be fit for much for a week or more afterward
but today I’m good. It will take a day or two to reset the sleep cycle, but
today I’m going to be working on the drawing board some, have to do some
lawnmowing, will be off up the river in the kayak for my excersize run for the
day, and will be putting the mast box into SEI.
There is not so much to do to the little boat now, and I’m
determined to get her in and sailing in time for our summer.
I miss sailing small boats, they give a feeling of connection to the
water that bigger boats don’t, and its been a while since I had a boat that I
could sail on impulse, my little gaff sloop takes an hour from arriving at the
ramp to sailing, and an hour to pull her out and unrig her. Much too long for a sail after supper, but
SEI will take maybe 10 mins, less if I leave the rig set up and just bundle the
sail and spars.
Note that the rig fits in the length of the boat so its all “inside”
when being transported, I trimmed the mast by about 100mm and altered the plans
to do this, makes things much easier.
On sails, for SEI I have one of the OZ Racer RSS sails from Mik
Storer, you can get these from Duckworksmagazine
Nice sails, very well made, and super well priced! I expect to be able to put up a post telling
all about performance and set, but from what I have seen so far I’m impressed.
Its dead of winter here, the shortest day is only two weeks away, we
lose another four minutes out of an already short day, dawn is about 7 30 am,
and sunset about 5 15pm. Yes I know its
not anything like the UK or the Northern states, Canada or Scandinavia, but its
still wetter and colder than summer, so its heater on so the pens will work,
and sitting at the drawing board with my dog curled up asleep in the warm.
Nice, I don’t mind the weather at all.
But roll on springtime.
J
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