3º 07.077n 123º 57.845w
Sun Apr 28 2019
It
doesn’t make any sense. Thad, our close friend, former trauma care nurse, and
excellent sailor wanted to make this passage with us, and we were delighted to
have him aboard. Unfortunately the motion of this particular boat on this
particular ocean has left him feeling less than his best, but amazingly he has
powered through with a big smile on his face. Oddly enough, no matter what
night watch slot he gets, the radar lights up with squalls and he ends up
dealing with the challenges that result.
Two
nights ago Isabel and I both had rather benign night watches, what we would
refer to as “low workload”. Thad had the 0100-0400 watch and had to deal with
all manner of rain and wind. He took a picture of the chart plotter radar image
to show us the big blobs of red; no way around, just had to wind up the jib,
harden the main sheet and motorsail through.
Kind
of reminds me of the Van Halen 1984 tour. They introduced the “wall of sound”.
Thad keeps getting the “wall of water”.
Last
night I was on 2200 - 0100, and Isabel was on 0100 - 0400. The sky was mostly
clear and the stars were spectacular. When Thad came on at 0400 Isabel
suggested he would enjoy a nice quiet night full of stargazing.
I
came on at 0700, and found that Thad had once again been hustling through his
watch; no rest for the weary. There were dark clouds all around and showers in
the distance. The good news is that the boat got a needed bath. The bad news is
that while putting the jib away and hardening up the main sheet, Thad did too,
and he didn’t really need one.
When
we were little kids, each Sunday dad used to lock himself in the car for an
hour or so with the newspaper. That’s the one with the color funnies. Safe
refuge from overactive children, I suppose. Dad would read the Sunday funnies
first, then he would roll down the window an inch or two and poke them out for
us to enjoy.
I
don’t see print newspapers much anymore, but back then there was a comic called
“BC”. In that strip there was a character who always seemed to have a rain
cloud chasing him. I can’t remember that character’s name, but is it possible
his name was Thad?
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