Weather and boats 2 Jul 19

16º 27.031s 145º 22.020w

Tue Jul 02 2019

Did you know they don’t celebrate the 4th of July in England? I do, perhaps because Isabel was born and raised in London. They have it as a day on the calendar, of course, just don’t make a big deal about being rid of those ungrateful colonists. July 1st was Canada Day, and I’ll be darned if they don’t celebrate that in the USA. Go figure – anyway, I’m embarrassed to say that neither Isabel nor I know much about Canada Day, other than it seems to be their celebration of independence from somebody. As Canada seems to have ties to both the English crown and France, it could be one of those countries I suppose. Isn’t it funny that so many Americans expect others around the world to know about America, accept American manners and behavior, and speak ‘merican? I’d call it English, but it’s not, really. When I met Isabel she spoke English, and we both like to joke that the reason we got along so well initially was because neither of us understood more than perhaps 30% of what the other said, despite our so-called common language.

Isabel went to university in York, a really interesting old city in the region of England where my family sprang forth and immigrated to the new world sometime back in the 1600s. Word has it we were pig farmers and got thrown out of the Quaker church for drinking and carousing. Personally I can’t imagine a more delightful reputation.

There must be some corporate memory in me as I enjoy afternoon tea almost as much as any Brit. I love visiting England, think London is an amazing city, and find the countryside absolutely beautiful. Isabel’s dad will be moving with her sister and partner down to the remote Southwest bit of the country very soon, so we’re looking forward to a visit late this year. It’ll be an opportunity to catch up with family and friends and see one of the most beautiful parts of the country. As we generally enjoy visiting places that are vastly different from our current environs, it seems that this trip will be immensely satisfying. Let’s hope for better weather than is generally forecast down there at that time of year, as it is pretty similar to what we’ve got at the moment. Visibility is about 1 kilometer, it’s raining and blowing up to about 35 knots and forecast to be worse. At least it’s warm and we do remain dry if we don’t venture outside the saloon. The cockpit is a bit soggy, but we’ve got a plan to correct that soon.

It turns out you can freeze ripe bananas, which is a good thing because when you get a bunch of them up in the Marquesas, and I’m talking a long stalk of them here, they all ripen at once. Having about 30 ripe bananas on hand becomes a challenge, and we hate to waste good food. Isabel determined that she could peel and mash them, then freeze portions of the mashed bananas to use in bread or other recipes later on. Apparently one of the things one does after a massive SUP paddle when it’s rather icky outside is bake banana bread and then consume massive quantities of it after buttering generously, of course.

This is one of those comfort food sort of days, and while it isn’t cold, if we were planning on a roast chicken, mashed potatoes, bread sauce and roasted parsnips for dinner followed by Toby’s trifle for dessert, that would be just swell. We did ponder buying a frozen chicken up at the village a few days back, but Isabel just couldn’t believe it would be an appropriate meal item in this tropical environment. I think she’s wishing we had bought that chicken now!

Folks in monohulls are down below in their cocoon-like environment reading and playing cards and cooking, while we catamaran folk are up in our saloons with a 360-degree view of the world making sure we know just how ugly it is out there. While I do like the safety and awareness that our view provides, the coziness of a monohull saloon with the adjacent galley just can’t be beat on yucky days. Oh, to be an ostritch. . .

JollyDogs is a little too small to offer those sorts of amenities, but if we had a FORTY SIX foot catamaran we could have a private settee in the owner’s side, and a nice galley up in the “party central” area. That would incorporate just about all the design elements of our last dirt house. Isabel keeps talking about the older owner’s version of the Leopard 46, but I’m not sold on a boat hull that incorporates balsa core construction, and despite what articles were written about it back in the day, I bet it sails like a turd. JollyDogs is more modern and expensive foam core, much less prone to hull problems in the event of leaks around deck penetrations etc. and sails like a dream in light air.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.