DISCOMBOBULATION

It’s been a while.  So I thought that I would start out with a slight wander or meander around the question of why it is I have been neglecting my blog.  The short answer of coarse is that like everyone in this strangely over hyped world of consumerization, I kind of lost the plot.   It was never my real intent to bring attention to the everyday ablutions or rantings of free flowing streams of self-indulgent consciousness.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  I just seemed to drift as it were in the ether, oblivious to the noise of popular discontent.   

 

So what’s new?  Well lots really I have been diligent in the pursuit of my ambitions busy preparing the boat for my double transatlantic.   At the end of last season I found that the boats steering was stuck in reverse which would be acceptable for any regular conscientious objector but problematic for me.  First of all an Albin Vega is quite contrary when placed in reverse due to the placement of the prop which is aft of the rudder.  This would explain the few dozen or so turns I made around the mooring field in reverse trying to recover my buoy.  The people on the shore must have had assumed that I had finally lost all sense and wit while expressing myself with what appeared to be some nautical form of modern  interpretive dance or bazar ritual. 

 

It is a combi variable pitch prop which when angled one way directs the force into forward motion or as in my case when angled the other had me looking like an agitated imbecile.  Consequently, I pulled the boat on shore and had a look at the dam thing.   I discovered that although mechanical in nature the worn mechanisms of the unit rendered it to the pile beside the work shed marked scrap and that was the end of that.  I pulled the old MD7A which even after almost 50 years of service would still start first time after a long cold Canadian winter.  I have replaced the old Volvo with a brand new Bata 14 with upgraded transmission and coupling.  I also installed two 40 gallon fuel tanks providing me with a cruising range of 1800 nautical miles which is excessive for a 27 foot sailboat. 

 

I have been sailing a bit as the Navy flew me out to Victoria Island to be certified by the International Sailing and Power Association.   I was ranked at the Yachtmaster Off shore level which was a good confirmation and validation that my efforts in trying to get some certification of competency are starting to pay off.  I will be back out to instruct a bunch of young well educated and privileged few this summer.  Which means sailing throughout the Pacific Gulf Islands as skipper of the STV Goldcrest for a month or so.   That’s it without capturing all the specifically disturbing details.  I will try to do better but not at the price of actually doing something.