18 Mar. 12
The last few days I have become more and more restless as I try my absolute best to sit still and rest my arms as prescribed by the doctor. My eyes keep wandering across towards the repairs that I have to get done and I feel I have to keep stopping myself consciously from touching and working on them. I find myself discussing the many different solutions to each problem in my mind and want to check each possible solution to pick the easiest one but I am not allowed. This situation makes me want to do it even more because I am not allowed. However the first few days on medication I did do some work and found it to be very painful so armed with this memory I am able to win the battle that is raging in my mind being fought against myself.
This morning I decided to read last night’s blog to Lola. Now I should probably explain the situation first. The day before yesterday the cirrus clouds appeared from the North West and the barometer dropped from about 10 12 millibars to 10 00 millibars. So we waited patiently armed with the knowledge that the weather was going to turn bad and the wind was going to increase dramatically over the next few hours. During the course of yesterday the cumulous clouds came hurtling faster and faster across the sky above the boat and by late afternoon the wind started to build. The wind continued building and building until it peaked out at about eleven o clock last night at which point it was howling through the rigging and created quite some chop in the waves in the marina. The marina is quite well sheltered and doesn’t have a very long fetch so the waves are never very big but do allow the boats to bounce and move around quite a bit. In fact our last set of visitors that came when we were still in the water and the conditions where similar felt quite seasick. Now back to the point. So I read my blog to Lola and she eyes me suspiciously then says. “so let me get this straight, the weather goes really crap and suddenly you want to take the kids and me sailing.” “I think we are going to have to rethink this thing.” Ha ha.
20 Mar. 12
We started planning yesterday for the Inhaca race that we entered at the end of this month. The boat isn’t nearly ready and we would have to move faster if we hope to get ready in time. It hasn’t helped that I have been on medication and had to take it easy in order to rest my sore arms. Yesterday we started clearing out some of the shelves in the starboard passage and threw away two dustbin bags full of unwanted rubbish that had been on Yrumoar since we bought her. This guy we bought her from kept so much useless stuff everywhere that I can’t really explain. Things like old pieces of plumbing and half rusted away hose clamps. He also left a selection of spanners that had been cut grinded and modified into art pieces that could never be used anywhere besides on a display at a scrap dealer.
Ryun from “Sea Shoes” came around last night to help with the planning of the race. We decided to take him along since we enjoy his company and he had volunteered very eagerly when we approached the subject.
I switched on our chart plotter to view the electronic chart in an attempt to establish whether our machine has the chart we would require for the trip. As I am scrolling around on the screen I hear Lola’s voice in the background asking me what I am doing. I also felt her presence directly behind me and could sense her impatience as she shifted around from one foot to the next trying to lean over my shoulder. Now as I zoom in and out and shift the chart up and down slowly trying to find our required destination Lola asks me again what I am doing. This time I heard her quite clearly and picked up the irritation in her voice, so I decided to step out of the way and watched as she took over and fiddled with the machine. She pressed one or two buttons then quickly gave up and sat down.
We started to discuss the passage plan again and the moment I mentioned that we cannot even discuss a passage plan without a chart Lola’s tone changed and I could again pick up the irritation in her voice. Our conversation became more and more tense as she reminded me of a stubborn mule refusing to budge. I wasn’t sure what to do anymore and changed the subject instead. As the evening progressed I discovered that even every time I broached the subject of charts Lola became quite irritable. At some point I could take it no more and told her that she reminded me of a stubborn mule refusing to move. Luckily she found it amusing and then she explained that somehow even though we have done exactly the same amount of sailing and all the same sailing courses she doesn’t have the same confidence as me in our ability to do this trip.
This morning when I read my blog to Lola she first tells me jokingly that she’s not sure that I love her anymore. Then she adds “I suppose there must be people that love their donkeys”.
21 Mar. 12
We have between now and the 28th of this month to repair and prepare Yrumoar for her first maiden race voyage. There is so much to repair and so little time that I am hoping we don’t run out of time.
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