Swell
I found myself in utter denial of my departure from French Polynesia. I seemed to just keep putting off the inevitable because I didn’t feel quite right about it… I wasn’t ready to leave. And how would I do everything I wanted to do in the next few months? I… Read the rest
For a second I thought he was dead, lying there face up right below the boom in his sailing harness. I’d come out of the cabin from an attempt to rest to find him splayed there across the cockpit. It had to be nearly 3 a.m.
“Nalu! Nalu!” I leapt… Read the rest
I heard a voice outside calling my name, and popped up to see Raimana and Tim and Eric in the familiar orange poti marara. “How’s it going? Are you safe? Everything okay?” Raimana asked.
I filled them in briefly on the boatyard complications and promised to see them in the… Read the rest
Then came my most dreaded part–tight maneuvering amongst a bay of expensive yachts. The wind fell to a whisper as we entered the deep horseshoe cove. Swell glided in on our leftover momentum. Unsure of where to go, my crewmate scanned with the binoculars, spotting a herd of sailors on… Read the rest
Overcome with the rush of competition, we trimmed the sails and urged Swell on as we approached the middle of the fleet. But as the boats ahead of us rounded the upwind buoy, a rainbow of spinnakers sprouted across the lagoon. Just two weeks before, I had traded my only… Read the rest
Chat about the T-Cup Regatta had buzzed around all week. It was a yearly, just for fun, local regatta, but still up to my gills with projects, I ignored the other sailors’ taunting and tempting. I had no intention of putting the extra work on my plate for some silly… Read the rest
Busy last few weeks trying to get through this:
The ever-expanding “LIST”…
So that Swell can sail again…
Here’s a sneak peek of Swell’s trial run inside the lagoon last weekend… the first sailing regatta I have entered since I was 11 years old!!
Swell, seven minutes late to the… Read the rest
On the evening of the 27th… Read the rest, I was FINALLY ready to leave the dock. The last two weeks in the boatyard marina had driven me to the brink of boat hatred. It seemed no matter how hard I worked to wrap up the last projects, I found new
Swell was finally set afloat, leak-free(!), by my crew of boatyard friends, ending an era I won’t soon forget. Eleven months total spent there since August of 2008!? In the wake of my sea freedom, I got inspired to write a poem about the place that brought me so many… Read the rest
This somehow looks less scary when your big brother is standing next to you.
It’s said that what goes up must come down, so after nearly a week of clear skies and light winds, I wasn’t surprised to see towering thunderheads and swirling wind gusts on the morning we prepped… Read the rest
