Sigh.
The water looks so flat, almost mirror-like. No way.
If I'm ever blessed with a daughter she will not be named Gail. Yeah I know, the spelling is different; Gail, Gale. I don't care doesn't matter.
Is this the calm before the storm? I should know better by now, right? The clouds say something, a portent of weather to come. That Alan Watts book on reading the clouds I've heard from some is a good resource. I believe I have thumbed through it. One of these days I should study that stuff, learn it. That day has yet to come. The disbelief. "Have you ever looked at your wallet and it's empty?" Someone told me a while back. "You don't want to believe that. Or you hear a rumor that your woman is cheating on you. You don't want to believe that either." Gale watch. That's what the weather service says. The freight train is coming. But, there is still time to get off the track.
meandering mutterings
A container ship made way into Los Angeles. A picture showed many of the boxes sitting lopsided on the deck. I didn't catch the number of boxes that went over the side. They're all out there floating in the ocean now. There was that Robert Redford movie I couldn't bear to watch. There's that book "Moby Duck". I think some years back a shipping container full of rubber ducks fell overboard. Many of the rubber ducks survived, floating into the darnedest of places.
The weather service announced a Gale watch. Here we go again. As you can see I've been through this before. Visions of taught anchor lines. Visions of the storm jib. Hove-to. A boat on the rocks--I really don't want to think about that. Where did the easy wind go? Ten knots of breeze, love that word, BREEZE, in July, with plenty of summer left over. Like money in the bank. But this is New England, I should know what that means. But I don't want to know what that means now that it's late November. This is Rhode Island, I should have an ideas of what that means. Narragansett Bay.
Which way is this wind supposed to come from? From over there is good. From over there is bad. In the lee of, or on a lee shore. Crosby, Stills and Nash have that Lee Shore song. Not quite as warm and fuzzy as Southern Cross. I remember from many years ago that cruising guide for the coast of California. "... and If the wind turns to the (wrong direction) the anchorage will become a SUICIDAL LEE SHORE!"
While one is actually anchored in a particular anchorage mentioned in that California coast cruising guide it's probably a helpful kick in the behind to read that startling warning. I guess it's similar to GALE WATCH written in red, capitalized.
I think my experience from cruising the California coast way back in the day showed that once south of Point Conception and among others who'd sailed the same route using that same cruising guide, barroom boastings and rantings would often turn mocking. "IT'S A SUICIDAL LEE SHORE!! GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!!" That all said in some sea dog of a bar after one too many.
A few boasting tuffies may even be heard exclaiming, "BRING IT ON!" Drunk madmen at three in the morning in the same bar.
The blue sky money in the bank crowd is mostly long gone and far away from Narragansett Bay in November when a Gale watch comes. At least they're not out playing on a boat, and the pretty fall New England foliage is now a massive pile of dead brown leaves being removed by armies of rakers.
Gale Watch.
Meandering mutterings.
Fair Winds.
Captain Bill.
The water looks so flat, almost mirror-like. No way.
If I'm ever blessed with a daughter she will not be named Gail. Yeah I know, the spelling is different; Gail, Gale. I don't care doesn't matter.
Is this the calm before the storm? I should know better by now, right? The clouds say something, a portent of weather to come. That Alan Watts book on reading the clouds I've heard from some is a good resource. I believe I have thumbed through it. One of these days I should study that stuff, learn it. That day has yet to come. The disbelief. "Have you ever looked at your wallet and it's empty?" Someone told me a while back. "You don't want to believe that. Or you hear a rumor that your woman is cheating on you. You don't want to believe that either." Gale watch. That's what the weather service says. The freight train is coming. But, there is still time to get off the track.
meandering mutterings
A container ship made way into Los Angeles. A picture showed many of the boxes sitting lopsided on the deck. I didn't catch the number of boxes that went over the side. They're all out there floating in the ocean now. There was that Robert Redford movie I couldn't bear to watch. There's that book "Moby Duck". I think some years back a shipping container full of rubber ducks fell overboard. Many of the rubber ducks survived, floating into the darnedest of places.
The weather service announced a Gale watch. Here we go again. As you can see I've been through this before. Visions of taught anchor lines. Visions of the storm jib. Hove-to. A boat on the rocks--I really don't want to think about that. Where did the easy wind go? Ten knots of breeze, love that word, BREEZE, in July, with plenty of summer left over. Like money in the bank. But this is New England, I should know what that means. But I don't want to know what that means now that it's late November. This is Rhode Island, I should have an ideas of what that means. Narragansett Bay.
Which way is this wind supposed to come from? From over there is good. From over there is bad. In the lee of, or on a lee shore. Crosby, Stills and Nash have that Lee Shore song. Not quite as warm and fuzzy as Southern Cross. I remember from many years ago that cruising guide for the coast of California. "... and If the wind turns to the (wrong direction) the anchorage will become a SUICIDAL LEE SHORE!"
While one is actually anchored in a particular anchorage mentioned in that California coast cruising guide it's probably a helpful kick in the behind to read that startling warning. I guess it's similar to GALE WATCH written in red, capitalized.
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| Heed the warning of a GALE WATCH and avoid this. Photo by Captain Bill Podzon. Sailing Hither and Thither. |
I think my experience from cruising the California coast way back in the day showed that once south of Point Conception and among others who'd sailed the same route using that same cruising guide, barroom boastings and rantings would often turn mocking. "IT'S A SUICIDAL LEE SHORE!! GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!!" That all said in some sea dog of a bar after one too many.
A few boasting tuffies may even be heard exclaiming, "BRING IT ON!" Drunk madmen at three in the morning in the same bar.
The blue sky money in the bank crowd is mostly long gone and far away from Narragansett Bay in November when a Gale watch comes. At least they're not out playing on a boat, and the pretty fall New England foliage is now a massive pile of dead brown leaves being removed by armies of rakers.
Gale Watch.
Meandering mutterings.
Fair Winds.
Captain Bill.
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