Written by:
6/6/2011 5:45 PM 

Blogs are tricky things sometimes.  It isn’t quite a diary where the most intimate of details are shared.  A simple log is usually boring and lacking the personal aspect that often ties the reader to the writer.  Occasionally I find myself in situations that are too personal to share on the web, but important enough to shape the course of my future.  This is the spot I’ve found myself in for the past few months.  This limbo has been wholly encompassing and I am just beginning to find my way through.

My mind has been locked in the analysis of every conceivable option I have before me.  Do I sail East and return to French Polynesia to try and break into the charter boat operations.  Should I return to the States to resume a position with my old employer.  Can Jargo manage on her own for a few years in storage in a foreign country.  What does it mean to me and my life if I sold this floating mass of glass, resin, wood, steel, and aluminum.  if I walk away from this voyage now would I ever be able to return.  In the end I’ve concluded that everything and nothing have changed.  My only course is to carry on.

Jargo is one of the last boats still in New Zealand that came here for temporary shelter from the now long gone cyclone season.  Saying goodbye to the likes of Arctic, Mooneshine, Atalanta, and Endemyon has cemented the isolation I was already feeling in this country.  The majority of critical boat projects has been completed and now I wait for safe conditions to sail NE to New Caledonia.  Things change with the winds but the plan is to cross the Indian Ocean to South Africa this year.  It will cover nearly 11,000 nautical miles, equal to that I’ve already covered.  The route is firmly in the trade wind belt and should make for beautiful sailing with but three stops at Bali, Cocos-Keeling, and Mauritius before landfall at Durban, SA.

The New Zealand winter is cold, gray, and wet.  There are limited days where good work can be done outdoors and I’ll need to maximize all the time I am given.  I hope that a few lows blowing off the Tasman Sea from Australia will weaken allowing me to jump in the next seven to ten days.  I haven’t yet left New Zealand and already I feel I am running late in the season.  Tolerable windows instead of ideal are beginning to look more and more appealing.  I’ve sat idle for so long it may now be more important to jump and get moving again than to wait for the perfect window.  I know one thing, it is time to get moving.

Trackback Print

Tags:

Categories:

Location: Blogs Ship's Log

Your name:
Your email:
	(Optional) Email used only to show Gravatar.
Your website:
Title:
Comment:
Security Code Enter the code shown above in the box below
Add Comment   Cancel