Somebody Bumped the Weather Machine (Seeking Motivation With Harry Heckel)

As I walked out the dock on SUNDAY to a bracing cold 50-degree drizzle, I had this thought... "Somebody bumped the weather machine".  I chewed on that for a while and then shared the above photo to the other slip-holders asking our manager to please double check the weather machine in the office... someone had clearly bumped it to "Mid-November" and it should be reset to "Memorial Day Weekend".

After the extreme heat last weekend, I was looking forward to this weekend which was supposed to be cooler.  As the week progressed, however, it became apparent that it would not just be cooler, it would be cold, wet and nasty - with temps in the low 50s, lots of wind and "real feel" temperatures (the modern equivalent of "wind chill") in the low to mid-40s.

Um, NO!

If you had told me in mid-April (when we first launched) that I could go sailing but we would experience mid-50s and wet weather, I'd have gladly packed my parka and headed out.  This late in the season, I decided, my time was better spent Friday evening and Saturday watching YouTube videos with Tom Tursi showing me how to dock.  

I also spent the time reading "Around the World in 80 Years" by Harry Heckel Jr.

I first heard about Harry some 12 or 15 years ago when my friend Carl (who was close to retirement at the time) came into our church's Men's Group with a long face one day.  

Upon questioning, he shared that he had to leave right after the meeting and race down to VA to (I kid you not) "Take the keys to the boat from his FATHER before he tries to sail around the world".  Carl was deadly serious and I expect my face registered complete bewilderment because the other guys broke out laughing at my expression.  (I thought... surely if Carl had a father, the old gent was just dreaming of escaping his nursing home.)

In the ensuing discussion, I learned that this was indeed very serious... Carl had a father in his early 90s and in a phone call the night before he mentioned going around the world AGAIN.  It seems the gent had the means (he lived on a boat), the knowledge and a habit of sailing around the world - having done it twice in the last 15 years.  Carl was worried because he didn't know if Harry was just beginning to think about getting ready to sail around the world, or was he all provisioned and ready to cast off???

Harry's book came out a few years later detailing his two circumnavigations.

Mini Book Report:  

Harry retires as a PhD Chemist at 55 years of age, and after a few years living on their sailboat, builds out a custom boat (from a hull... videos here and here courtesy of Barry - the guy who purchased her) and he and his wife, Faido, take as a maiden voyage a spin around the Pacific (down the coast of CA into mexico, across to the Marquesas, Tahiti, other islands, may have hit New Zealand, before heading back up to Hawaii and back to San Francisco).  They find their way to the East Coast and set off across the Atlantic but she finds out she has breast cancer and they have to return to the USA for treatment.  

She dies a few years later.

Partly in grief, Harry (mid-70s by now) becomes a single-handed sailor, goes through the Panama Canal and begins to retrace their first voyage.  Around New Zealand, he decided to continue west and completes his first circumnavigation at I think 78 years of age (taking 2 years to do it).  After a year break, he decided to cross the atlantic and goes around the other way... this time taking 10 years, getting rammed by a Chinese fishing boat in the South China Sea, welcomed as a hero in Japan, becalmed in the northern Pacific and rescued by a freighter (before a side trip to Hawaii).  He finished the 2nd circumnavigation at age 89.

I'll be honest with you.  It's a nice book, but not the most captivating reading.  The book is basically his travel notes edited by his daughter with a chapter contributed by his granddaughter.  It IS a charming story, relatively short, and VERY inspirational (especially how he dusts off his grief and goes on living).  

I especially like how by sailing, he befriends people from all over the world.  It's also an interesting capture of the cruising lifestyle back when people had to communicate by snail mail being forwarded to different countries, ship to shore radio, and the like (so different from today where a boat like Delos carries it's own high speed satellite uplink).

I found this photo of Harry, Idle Queen (the boat he built)
and Barry (the guy he sold it to) on Barry's blog.

Harry sold the boat to Barry who (as of 2019) still sails Idle Queen and writes a blog.

I needed inspiration (and turned back to Harry's book again) because I've been feeling a bit "glass half empty" lately.  Vicky is still "trapped" in China (it takes her almost a month of various quarantines, etc., to get back over there) making it really difficult for her to be able to return home.  I had been looking forward to her return in time for our "shutdown week" of forced vacation next week, but with the recent outbreak of COVID in Guangzhou, it looks like it might be a long while before she can get back.  (Her family are all safe for now... fingers crossed.)

So it looks like next week will be a single-handing tour of some Chesapeake destinations... hence my interest in Harry.

While reading Harry's book, I decided to sample some more of the fare at Osprey Point.

Sunday dinner - Filet
(The broccoli was out of this world!)

Monday breakfast - Quiche was the hot dish.

After breakfast on Monday, I did finally get out on the water.  The "weather machine" was reset and I had a pleasant outing.  

But speaking of weather machines... I swear that the button on Seas The Day's cabin that winches out the mainsail also calms the wind in my general vicinity.  As soon as I pulled the sails out, the 12 knot wind dropped to 3 knots.  After bobbing around for a while (you could hardly call it sailing), I pulled in the sails and motored around, this time exploring a bit closer to the Rock Hall waterfront.  Of course, the wind picked up as I made my way back into Swann Creek.

I ended the day with lunch from the poolside bar and grill.  Captain Gary had gushed about their burgers last summer, but with COVID (and nobody really wearing masks around the pool) last year, I had not had a chance to sample it yet.

WOW!  This burger was a work of art... 1/2 pound... smothered in bacon and cheese, perfectly done (medium to medium well) with fresh real fries.  

Sunday Lunch - Bacon Cheddar Burger at the poolside bar and grill.

It was NOT low calorie.  In fact, I'm still full at 8:00 PM not having had any supper.

Note that I did stop in Chesapeake City for a little ice cream.  It's hard to believe it has been 10 years since my Horizon Creative Photography Workshop that was held there on Memorial Day weekend in 2011.  (I credit this course with much of my photography success.)  There's no sign of Steve's operation any more at their old building, but Chesapeake City was thriving.

Working, Dining, Cooking and Sailing... slowly

This weekend I was ready and packed everything before work started on Thursday morning, allowing me to leave right after quitting time.  In turn, that enabled me to get down to Osprey Point in time for dinner at the Osprey Point Inn.  I had their "Porterhouse Style Chop" and it was incredible as usual.  On the way back to the boat I did a bit of iPhone photography seen above and below.

Later in the evening, I had my nightcap from my favorite flask (yes, I am now a smuggler, I guess).

Friday was a solid workday with some meetings crowding out my normal lunch run to the liquor store. (For some reason I get an adolescent thrill each time I say that... those in the know... well... know.)

It's been a while since I had the Samyang Fire Ramen, so I tried that for lunch.  

Oh... my... god.... 

Feeling returned to my mouth mid-afternoon.  

I like the taste of these - I think it's a characteristic of mouth feel... the fire blends well with a smoky/oily taste.  They're better than my staple (the Shin Ramen) spicy noodles... I just need to remember to only use part of the hot sauce.

After work, Maryanne stopped by and performed my VSC.  This is a service where volunteers from the US Coast Guard auxiliary or the Power Squadron stop by and check your safety systems (number of life jackets, fire extinguishers, distress signals), discuss and check required waste stickers and management plans, as well as discussing environmental issues.  

Of course the real benefit is getting the boat owner to do the checks themselves before the volunteer arrives.  (I discovered that I must have lost the tie down to one of the head discharges... I'm guessing when they winterized it.  I keep a variety of wire ties on-board, so this was quickly fixed.)

In the end everything was good.  (I also realized during the interview that I had not checked navigation lights.  I don't sail at night, so I never thought of it.  Fortunately all lit up.)  I received the coveted VSC sticker which when placed on the port side of the mast, is said to ward off evil spirits like patrol boats (encouraging them to bother other boaters).

I celebrated the VSC by going to Bay Wolf Restaurant, a local German/Austrian restaurant by the blinking light in town.  I had the french onion soup and a filet.  It was good... but I keep wanting this to be a better restaurant experience than it usually is.  

A lot of the restaurants in town are complaining that "nobody wants to work anymore", and that was the theme here... a very limited menu and no substitutions.  I think the owners were the waiter and waitress.  I don't want to get too much into politics, but maybe more owners serving as waiters and waitresses may be the key to breaking the stagnation of labor wages, encouraging more people to "want to work".

I returned in time to do a QC check on the other set of Adirondack chairs for a bit.

On Saturday morning, I filled the water tanks, made a mental note to see about another cleat on the dock (new thicker dock-lines are a mess now), and then I finally set sail.

As you can see, there was essentially zero wind.  OK, it averaged between 2 and 3 knots with occasional guests to 4.1 knots.  I did pull out the sails, but my top speed (SOG) was 1.3 knots.  That very well could have drift from the current.

One impressive feat I accomplished was I did a self-tack at 1.3 knots.  

It literally took 8 minutes, but after telling Otto to mark the new course, and thinking for sure I was stuck in irons, eventually (on sail power alone) I was pointed in the right direction and back up to 1 knot or so.

Zero wind on the water... 0.4 kts of speed in the lower right.

In the past week the temperature had changed and Saturday it climbed from the low 60s last week to the low 90s (reported to go higher on Sunday).  I crashed after getting back shortly after Noon.  I typically do not react well to heat the first time or two each season.

After a lot of water and a long nap in the AC, I decided it was my turn to cook.  I used our new Instant Pot to prepare steak (sear setting) and mushrooms and nuked some stir fry vegetables.

It was a nice dinner as the sun set.

After cleaning up from cooking, I went out to the cockpit and just sat back and watched the boats pass on their return from sunset cruises.

I realized that sitting in the cockpit, feeling a gentle breeze blow by, saying hello to passers by felt a lot like doing the same thing from my old front porch with Dad.  Of course the scenery has changed, but that relaxed summer evening lazy feeling was wonderful - and nostalgic.

Sunday morning, I packed it in and headed home.  There was supposed to be decent wind - and also temps in the mid-90s, but I didn't want to push it and feel miserable for most of the week.  I also had a young friend coming over for help with her upcoming interview (something I've done for the younger whippersnappers for a while now).  A lot of people I know are seeking, searching, angling, maybe even just dreaming about new positions.  It's going to be an interesting summer.

B-Dock-henge and Sailing with Craig

This was a great weekend of working from the boat, getting some cool photos and sailing with a friend from work

I finished working on Thursday and then having packed everything, I had to cool my heels for a while until Amazon delivered a package.  I'm working on a project to be able to watch movies on Seas The Day when the WiFi is sketchy (which is most of Saturday and Sunday when everyone else is also trying to watch movies).  A key component was supposed to be delivered during the day on Thursday but was running late.

As a result, I arrived at Osprey Point right at sunset and caught two photos.  Note that this weekend was "B-Dock-henge"!  Twice each summer the setting sun aligns perfectly with B-Dock.  I don't understand why we don't have a party (sort of like Key West) to celebrate such a momentous occasion.  We have until July 30th (the next B-Dock-henge) to plan better.  There are better photos of this phenomena farther down this post.

On Friday, the rising sun woke me and I stuck my head out of the companionway to see this scene.  I captured this with my iPhone and used PRISM (an effects treatment app) to get this final look.

There's not much else to show from Friday... it was a full day of work.  

Here's a better pic of B-Dock-henge and a capture from TPE showing the alignment at sunset on Friday night.

Sol Searcher returning from a sunset cruise B-Day party!

On Saturday, I FINALLY got my friend, Craig, to come along for a day of sailing.  Craig was one of the first people I met when I joined my current company.  I first knew him as the loud voice on the other side of the cubicle wall which developed into a warm friendship.  We are both in a similar stage of life (pre-geezer) and can share experiences and viewpoints.  We can also disagree and then forget about it afterwards - not out of any magnanimity, but because aging brain cells help with that. 😉

Full disclosure:  This is actually the second time Craig came along sailing.  The first was in Sept 2018 as shown by the photographic evidence below.  Despite those party shoes, it must have been so uneventful that I neglected to write a blog post about the day

On Seas The Day (315) in Sept. 2018

We had been trying to get Craig out on the new Seas The Day since we purchased it.  He was our last planned guest in 2019 but "his day" turned out to be bitter cold (it was early November) and we cancelled.  Then last year in June, he was bumped when my son was able to visit at the last minute (we were uncomfortable mixing more than one family during COVID).  The increasing COVID concerns last year caused us to cancel a few more times.

But he showed up Saturday!

We once again (note the photo above) had very little wind.  But despite this, we set the sails and nudged along at about 2 knots.  After an hour or so of a great conversation and little headway, we realized we were going nowhere.  It didn't matter... the conversation was great... I was reminded of my old Men's Group motto  "We share our sure-fire secrets for keeping our wives and children in line, then commiserate when they fail to work as expected."

Craig's photo

Around this time we decided we would start the engine and head down to check out Thomas Point Light, passing a number of different vessels along the way.

After we returned, we had a quick dinner at Harbor Shack and then Craig headed home and I headed back just in time for another B-Dock-henge shot.  I also caught Shardana returning to her berth.

Early on Sunday morning, I updated my Raymarine firmware AGAIN.  This was a 2 GB update that took more than 30 minutes.  I completely get why people are reluctant to update firmware, but since part of my job is to convince people to do just that... I need to set a good example.

While the firmware update was progressing, I used that time to renew my Navionics card and app subscriptions.  During the last week, I briefly flirted with changing to SavyNavy -- a newer entrant in this app navigation market that touts all their digital interconnectedness.  But their main objective seems to be monetization and (during my free trial) the app informed me that despite my paying a premium price for their app, I would have to pay even more to get tidal information.  Navionics includes tides in my current (and cheaper) plan.  (Needless to say, I cancelled the trial subscription -- lots of promises... not much that was working.)

Firmware updated, it was time to go out sailing again.  Nothing special... just out in to the bay for a while and return.  It was cold when I first left, but slowly warmed up a bit.

I got back in time to cook a late lunch.  I was hungry for dumplings (and missing my dumpling supplier).

Finally, I packed up and cleaned up, leaving Seas The Day ready for her next guest.