Archive | February, 2014

Years ago I read about a cruising boat that offered the villagers of the San Blas Islands a ride to a nearby village.   The twist to their story was that the villagers brought their dead elder on the boat to be transported and then buried in the village.   As New Yorkers, we are trained to avoid contact with people carrying dead bodies.   Actually, our ignore RADAR tries to avoid most other humans.   One of my goals for the cruise is to exit my comfort zone and have more experiences with the locals.   We have been discouraged from exploring the northern towns by the Marina boss.  The script has been the same “Never walk outside.  Only take cabs.   You most likely will be killed, even if you follow our advice.” We have been lucky as all of our Brazil dealings have been safe and crime free.

As you must know by now, Two Fish is the belle of the ball and we often have people in Brazil asking to take a photo of themselves with the boat.   Less common, actually never, is a request for Jason to join in the photo.

Supermodels come to Two Fish

After our first night in Fortaleza, our boat was a backdrop for a swimsuit model shoot.   Gail informed me I would get no credit for exiting my comfort zone if I invited the models aboard.

While dropping off some waypoints at a friend’s boat, we were flagged down by the coast guard to come help a person ashore.   When we arrived by dinghy we were greeted by a paragraph of fast spoken portuguese.  We responded with the international face for “I am flummoxed”.    This got the typical response.   Many more paragraphs of Portuguese with increased speed.   Next time you are helping a tourist whose English is not great, please speak slowly.

After some gesticulation, it became clear to us that they wanted Two Fish to be the back drop for their wedding photos.   Only problem was that getting to Two Fish is not easy or neat.   The docks in Fortaleza are designed by Frankenstien and move violently.   We are med-moored but the stern is not close enough to walk onto the boat.   So one has to ferry across in our wet and slightly muddy dinghy.   Getting in the dinghy requires sitting down on the rusty dock and then rolling, falling and gently landing into the small boat.   Repeat process in reverse order to board Two Fish.   The loving couple made it aboard without falling in and we also had their entourage of two photographers and two wedding arrangers who carried props such as parasols and champagne. After about an hour, we shepherded them back onto the dinghy.   I wonder if, in 30 years, they will have a photo of Two Fish on the wall of their living room.   I can not fault them for good taste.  Maybe we should get an agent for Two Fish’s modeling career.   I would stand for more than a 5% cut to the agent.

Jason

(written January 26, 2014)

I am still a bit anxious when the breeze “freshens” as our sailing instructor Michael liked to say. So for those of you who consider 20 knots on the nose just the start of a breeze, you live in a different universe from me.

There is no typical “day in the life”. Today, it is 6:30am and I am sitting in my pj’s on our deck lounger working on the computer (for those of you who don’t know me, that means I am enjoying myself). The rest of the day will be a mix of tourism – exploring a local market – and boat work. I will finally get to re-mark the anchor chain. We are at a marina in Salvador, Brazil and despite having been here 24 hours, I have yet to go off-compound. Why would you when you have 6 restaurants, Nespresso coffee and real showers at your disposal? I guess it is the NY’er in me; why would you leave your 5 block radius when the bagel store, 25 dry cleaners and 3 supermarkets are in your neighborhood?

Contrast that with a little more than 2 days ago. I came on deck for my 2a.m. watch to find Jason trying to steer through a series of squalls while maintaining optimum boat speed and progress to our destination. As we approached a squall, the breeze built:

“22 at 90 degrees starboard”, I yelled.

Jason eased the Genoa.

“26”.

Jason put a reef in the Genoa.

“29”, I said a bit louder. Panic began to set in for me. What if the breeze increases? Two Fish sailed along but I was not happy. Jason was in heaven as he trimmed and eased. Technically it was my watch but Jason stayed on deck. If he had left me alone, I would have put the sail away and motored along, losing a full knot of speed along the way.

Finally, “15”, “12”, 110 degrees. We sailed through the rain.

“Are the portlights closed? #!@#!”. I went inside to close them and dry the shelves.

The wind lightened as we went through the squall and then returned to its 10 to 15 knot range on the other side.

Jason trimmed the Genoa. The seas were lumpy. The wind lightened some more. We furled in the Genoa. The wind built. We unfurled the Genoa. Trim. Ease. Trim. Ease. Repeat 10 times.  Did I mention that Jason used to race J-24’s?. The next day, Jason remarked: “You did great out there.”

“What?”, I said.

“You really were able to pitch in and get us through the storm”, he replied.

That’s not how it felt. I felt like I was too uncertain of what to do. Actually, I consider it a triumph that I can sometimes sit on a night watch for 30 minutes without Jason checking in with me. By the way, would someone please cut the Genoa a bit higher so I can see under it?

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