That’s right, gone awry, on part two, recovery and reconstruction.

So, after a return to the homestead where we dropped off a very unhappy but maybe ambivalent (who really knows what goes through a cat’s mind) Jones and unpacked Piper and reloaded all of our stuff into Angry Bird, part two started.

Southbound out of Tumwater once again and making much faster time than with the combo rig, we blasted through Washington and Oregon to our first night on the road in Angry Bird.

Our intrepid E had booked us into a nights stay in Red Bluff California for an overnight on the way to the bay. The Holiday Inn Express in town was very clean, comfortable and close to restaurants and provided a breakfast bar that included all the fuel a body could need for journeying on in the morning. On the road relatively early and into the Oakland area for a couple of nights at Teacher Tom and Mommy Max’s with a bonus day on Quixote. Mommy Max has not been well and so we decided to hang out there and help some around the house instead of making the stop in Yosemite. Must say, we have been to Yosemite and found it’s beauty a definite second best to helping out family in need. We did some much needed reorganization for the house and helped out then got some time on the bay.

I introduced a new name in the paragraph above: Quixote. Quixote is the name of the Hunter Legend 35.5 sloop that Geezer Guy (E’s daddy) purchased and keeps at moorage in the Alameda Estuary. All of us are sailors and enjoy the water and as you know I make a living on the water with boats. Quixote is a well mannered wing keel sloop who loves to dance and play. She is a little helm heavy under power but when you turn off the iron wind she is nimble and lite, handling ghost winds and 30 knot gusts handily. As a treat for our vacation, we got to the boat around 2 pm and were planning on just a nosh aboard tied to the docks with views of Jack London Square. We arrived at our appointed time and were greeted by Geezer Guy (Captain) and Val (Chief Steward). We were presented with a nosh and then Captain Geezer instructed the mate (me) and our deckhand (E) to cast off and away we went, down the estuary, headed for the bay. What a beautiful 75 degree day. The Iron Wind took us out of the estuary and into the bay where we wend to sails and Quixote began her dance for us. We played in the 20 knot winds, enjoying a totally nice day of wind, water and sun. All too soon we were running under 60 percent Jib back downwind for the estuary after playing in the bay. We arrived at the slip and the Chief Steward whipped up some scrumptious dinner for us to enjoy in the waning light of day in the cockpit. Val also loves to cook and bake and seems to always have a supply of chocolate chip cookies or some other goodies she has concocted for us on hand and much to the consternation of my doctor about blood sugar, I just can’t turn down. With the day turning into twilight, our faces tingling from sun and wind and our bellies full of dinner, we said our goodbyes and turned for Mommy Max’s house.

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Dear readers, I believe I will leave you here with dreams of sailing to the calls of distant shores and the words of Poet John Masefield.

Sea Fever

BY JOHN MASEFIELD

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by; And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking, And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking. 

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tideIs a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying. 

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover, And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

And so, I say good night my friends and wish you well.

Until next time,

BFD

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