Today I was working from home. The internet is fast enough to do what I need now that we’ve installed a WiFi booster and aerial – it claims to work up to 5 miles offshore with a good signal and line of sight! But where we are a few boats down from the dock transmitter is fine too, even though there’s a big beast of a motor boat in the way. Anyway, the reason I based myself here today was to be around for the first stage of the dodger install. Two guys from Iverson’s came down from Washington and up from San Diego – they also have a few other jobs in the area. The frame was mailed to me last week, and today they set it up and measured out the panels.
I love sailing without a dodger (what we call a spray hood back in the UK). It gives you so much visibility, and you feel much more like you’re part of the world around you. On Rancote we almost always sailed with the fold-able spray hood down. Thinking about that always makes me feel lucky to have had such good weather for our trips over the last few years. Either that, or exceptional planning and weather awareness. But we’re going to be heading off for longer offshore trips when it’s going to be wet, windy and grim, and we’re going to be heading south when hiding from the sun is just as important as hiding from the spray. This thing will have fully removable windows so we can use it in sunshade mode too. The trickiest decision is going to be choosing the colour! We got a new sail cover a while back in taupe, thinking that we’d get the spray hood done in the same, but having looked at samples today I’m thinking that a coffee brown would be nicer. These white plastic boats could do with a bit more brown.
It’s been super warm, too. And really peaceful. The wind is blowing slightly onshore which means there’s no highway noise at all. Only the chink chink chink of halyards against masts, and the gently plop plop of tiny waves lapping against the hull. And yes I did manage to get some work done. However it does really set the mind thinking about getting away from the dock and off to new places, away from cities and gazillions of people.
Rose got back from a trip to the David Hockney exhibition at the De Young museum with Kate and then we took the kayaks out for a paddle as the sun went down. You can just see the city in the background. Last night was the full moon – a “mini moon” – the smallest this year. I bought some 7×50 binoculars last week and we checked out the night sky last night – with Jupiter above the moon as it rose. I was sure I could see Jupiter’s moons – is that possible through binoculars?
Road and Ocean 