Boat Jobs and Sailing Stories

It was hot yesterday.  No wind, no clouds.  So I hung out on the boat all day working on odd jobs trying to avoid the sun with hopes of saving my recent layer of new skin.   Some water got left in the hose leading to the head and during the four months Dosia was in storage in Raiatea and some nasty stuff grew in there.  Every time I turn on the sink or the shower in the head, it smells funky, you might say “ripe,” for the first 20 seconds.  I began the job of pulling out the hose to see what can be done and made it about 4 feet before I cranked up the computer and started surfing.  This cartoon explains it all.

So I was looking up some sailing stories and found some interesting stuff.  In Australia the other day, they found a dog who fell off a sailboat some 4 months ago and, after a 6 mile swim, survived on an island by herself eating goats.

Then I got onto ghost ships and read about the old time Mary Celeste, which was found abandoned at sea in the 1870’s sailing herself merrily along towards Gilbraltar.  That story led me to the Kaz II.  Stories like these are freaking crazy.  A small catamaran is found drifting off the northern coast of Australia in 2007.   The engine is running, a laptop is sitting out turned on, and the table is set.  There is even a video camera with footage of the crew right up until the time of their disappearance.  No signs of distress or foul play.  Only a sailboat missing its three-man crew floating in the ocean.

There’s 94 boats on the puddle jump list.  And I know of at least one other coming from Ecuador that’s not on the list.  I talked with Mike from Polynesia Yacht Services the other day and he said his emails dropped from 300 last year to 50 this year so it looks like it may be a slow season.   I don’t know whether that surprises me or not.  You wouldn’t think the economy would have such an effect on cruisers who, most likely, have been planning their departure for years but maybe some had to actually cancel their plans.  Who knows…  I guess we’ll find out soon enough.  Much of the fleet has just arrived in the Marquesas and will slowly make their way towards the Societies.  It sure will be nice to have some english speakers around.