The first break is the deepest

I've broken a bone.  The first one for me, and this one hurts real bad.  Probably all of them hurt bad.  I broke my number 9 rib, which if you count on a friend from the top down, you'll get to it.  It is a few up from the floating ribs and I'm not quite sure the size, but I think I've eaten enough pig ribs to get a feel for the dimensions.  But probably smaller than a pigs.  Sounds tasty, right?  So here I am in Big Sky Ski Resort, in Montana, and we've been skiing for a few days, and we decided to go up to the top of the highest peak.  It was a long ride up with the Gondola, and when we arrived at the top we could see it was quite steep all around.  The south slope is the most gentle, but still a black diamond run.  I've done several black diamond runs and wasn't worried about the steepness, but as we began our descent, I noticed a lot of rocks.  It wasn't that the snow was deep and a few rocks stuck up, it was the snow was really thin, and rocks were underneath and everywhere.  The snowboard crunched and scraped from the rocks every few feet and I went over to a patch of untouched powder to get into deeper snow.  It wasn't deeper, in fact.  It was just the same, but not packed down, so I would sink into it and then hit the rocks.  I tried to go slowly and then turn and go slow again, but on one of the turns, I sped up a little (you have to speed up in the turns, because you point the board downhill for that short time) and then I fell.  I've fallen many times, and usually I slide a little bit, but this time, hidden in the powder, a rock was lurking.  It felt like a pillar kind of rock and I hit it with my side.  It hurt a lot, but when you feel the muscles tensing up and the pain diminish you know that it is worse than you think.  I tumbled a little, then came to a stop and lay back in the snow.  When i moved, I could feel a crunch.  Not a good kind of crunch, like the crunch of a bag of unexpected chips that you forgot you had in your pocket and discovered when you were hungry.  Not that kind of crunch at all.  So I figured I broke a rib, or two.  Lindsay was far down the hill, signaling for me to come on down and asking if I was all right and I eventually called her and said no.  She called the Ski Patrol, who arrived on scene and did all the Wilderness First Responder checks (things that I learned how to do last year) and put me in a sled and slid me down the hill.  That part was not fun.  It was a bumpy ride.  They also put me on oxygen, since I had trouble breathing and it was something like 11,000 ft.  Kind fellows.  Then they got me to the ambulance and to the hospital where they did an ultrasound to check for bleeding (and my spleen) and then an X ray to look at the bones.  I can't show you the actual X ray for me, because they didn't give it to me, but here is one I found online.  You can see the rib has a slight jump to it, and that is what you see with mine.  Not much else.
I'll be taking it easy for a while until it heals, hopefully in 4-6 weeks.

January

 Its been a nice january so far.  El Nino conditions supposedly mean that there will be lots of swell coming to Mexico, but up until this month those promises were not coming through.  But January, that wonderful month of gift giving, seems to be providing with waves.  As a result, and in no way an apology to a certian Seattlite complainer, I have been delayed in my blogging.  Too much good waves and no time to write.
So, what have the Altairians been up to this month?  You might not ever have asked that question to yourself, but in my conceit I will show and tell you all about it.  First of all, the weather has finally begun to be more like the "normal" winter conditions, with a thermal wind every day and great sailing conditions.  The water is getting cooler now, so I am ususally cold when I am in the water, unless I am swimming hard (and surfing hard) the whole time.  Sitting around gets chilly.  A wetsuit is too warm though.  We've made some friends with other boats, and one such invited us to go for a walk from Sayulita (a touristy town to the north) to another town further up the coast.  We had a nice time walking on the beach,

 On the way we found a ton of little beautiful jellyfish-like thing, the Portugese Man of War .  They look so cute we thought we should give one a little kiss...  No we didn't.  They are really painful and toxic stingy, so we watched out where we walked.  I made a little video of one that is moving its sail around.  I guess the helmsman realized he was aground and tried to turn the boat, but needed to change sail during the process...


After a bit further walking we came upon the river that flows down through San Pancho, and explored the life around it.  There was a Green Kingfisher perched in the trees, watching for fishes...

 And some firework flowers, or whatever they are.  Also, but not pictured, there was a small flock of Whistling Ducks.  Not the Fulvus Whistling Ducks, but the Black Winged kind.  Still, I am closer than ever to finding my first Fulvus Whistling Duck.  I eagerly await the day.  I didn't get a good picture so that is why you don't get to see them.

 After the hike, a few days later, I was challenged to a sailing race!  The beautiful Shamaness and I took off on a 4 hour sailing race around some islands and back to the anchorage where we started.  I like that they are willing to do impromptu racing like this.  Shamaness is a much heavier boat, but also longer, than Altair, and consequently, in light air I would have the advantage, but in lots of wind she can go faster.  There was plenty of wind on this day, so I was nervous.  Also, there was a good amount of waves, and a heavier boat can take the waves better than poor little Altair.
Initially, I had a spinnaker up and we were running nearly the same speed, with Shamaness ahead by 100 yards.  The wind shifted and I had to change sails (which took me a few minutes by my self) so I fell further behind.  Then at the corner around the island I put the spinnaker up again and gained to near even, and then in changing sails for the upwind run lost about 400 yards.  For the long upwind leg I chose to go a bit lower to the wind and it paid off, and I won the race by 30 seconds.  It was marvelous.
And last night I had a campfire on the beach, to watch the sun go down and roast a little bit of sausage.  There is a lot to do down here that is nice and peaceful, including surfing.

Dreaming

I've been dreaming about a different boat.  Altair and I have gone many miles that she hasn't always wanted to go, and I have been frustrated by a number of things in my boat.  I've come up with a list (and checking it twice) of things I'd like to have in a dream boat.  Would you like to hear?

1) Space for toys.  Altair is small, and so there isn't much space for anything, but I have found that in pretty much every boat I've seen cruising around, the original designers put a bunch of space in for people, but not for toys.  Altair was designed to sleep 5 people!  I think there needs to be a reality check there.  In this picture you can see the different berths for people to sleep in, and I have changed the boat around a huge amount in order to make it more usable for cruising. I made the double berth in the front into a storage spot, the Setee berth on the port side (upper in the drawing) is all part of the galley, and the starboard settee is now a bigger berth for two.  In addition, I have a kayak hanging off the port side of the outside of the boat, and three surfboards hang off of the railing on the starboard side.  Then we have a dinghy that goes on the front deck.  So toys basically have taken over the whole boat from the outside view.  Ericson didn't include a place to put things (like a dinghy) in the original design.  OK, so I want more space for toys.

2) An Engine Room.  Altair has the engine crammed under the stairs and if there is a problem, the oil drains down into the bilge to smell up the whole boat, any exhaust leaks go into the cabin to asphyxiate any humans there, and it is really noisy.  I can imagine an engine room that has its own bilge, lots of noise reducing insulation and a separate air ducting that keeps any smell or carbon monoxide away from the living space.  A CO2 fire system could also be installed and if you set it off, it would flood the engine room with CO2 and put out a fire, but not make the entire boat un-livable.  So I want an Engine Room.

3) Easy to put things away and go sailing.  I like sailing, so I want to be able to do that, and quickly.  Right now on Altair I have to put the dinghy away (or leave it behind) and that is a pain in the butt.  Also, the surfboards on the side are not the most seaworthy, and it would be nice to have them safe from getting hit by big waves.  The solution is really the first goal: Space for toys, but easy to get in and out from.

4) A diesel Electric system.  I want to have an electric drive motor to push the boat because it is easy to maintain...  There isn't much to break on an electric motor.  The diesel generator can then be put in an engine room and into a box to keep it quiet, and out of the way.

Ok, so I have these goals, and I have been thinking about a design that would accommodate them.  First of all, a super wide transom has the benefit of having lots of room in the back to put a dinghy garage (a little compartment in the back that you can stuff all your goodies into)  Here is an example of a wide transom: (from http://www.bernard-gallay.com/Images/bateaux/Sailing_Yacht_Open_60_DCNS_003.jpg) 
Also to note is that there are two rudders on this boat (an open 60 race boat) and so there is lots of room in between the two rudders for stowing stuff.  They aren't using that room at all on this open 60, but just keeping it open for walking around.  I would make the cockpit nice and high, and have a cave under the cockpit that would be completely watertight and have a nice big wave-proof door on the back and lots of fun watertoys inside.

Forward of the cockpit I would put the living space, in the shape of a rectangle, with a wall (bulkhead) that completely seals off the space in front and behind the living space.  So there would be three sections to the boat; the Aft compartment which includes the garage, the living space in the middle, and the forward section which would include the engine room, the head, a storage room, and then the chain locker (as you go forward).  The Engine room would be right over the keel, centrally located and well insulated from the living space, and also it would have one of those waterproof doors to go to and from the living space.  The head (bathroom) would be next to the engine room, and have a shower and also a waterproof door, so you could take a shower and not worry about steaming up the boat or filling the bilge in the main cabin.  I would hope the bilge in the main cabin would stay completely dry.

I'm working on this design and thus far I have a plan for building it out of aluminum, so it would be all chunky and lots of flat surfaces, but I can also imagine it being made of fiberglass.  Unfortunately, I don't want to build it myself, nor do I have the funds to do so.  I'd rather find a hull that is acceptable for my goals and modify it to work, but I don't know if that is possible, since this wide transom design with two rudders is a more modern idea.
Here's a screen shot of the basic shape, but there are no rudders, no keel, no deck, no cockpit deck, and not back garage door.  It wouldn't have a giant open cavity on the back, but that is just for showing how big I'd like the garage to be.

Fire twirling in Virginia

 I'm not in Mexico right now.  In fact, I'm not really that close to the ocean at all...   We flew up to Lindsay's hometown, in Richmond, Virginia, for Christmas.  It is packed full of food and family and last night.... Fire!  I got a few pictures and figured I could share them.

Yelapa and birds

 I've been told by an old Alaskan veteran naturalist that "to become a birder is inevitable."  If you spend enough time outside you will start to love the birds and get a pair of binoculars slung around your neck.  Any avid reader of this blog will know this happened for me years ago, but I went to Yelapa yesterday and sought out some of the birds that wade and flutter around the river over there.  The river was full of water and fishes.  And birds.  Here are a few photos.
Before going to Yelapa we sailed (and motored) out from Punta Mita, across bandaras Bay, to near Cabo Corrientes.  The water out there is super clear and we saw tons of fishes, with about 80 ft of visibility.  We also swam with dolphins on the way across, just jumped off the boat and swam for a while with them.  They were a new kind of dolphin for me, a "ragged toothed dolphin"
Now there is a hurricane coming and I am hanging out near La Cruz to be close to the marina in case we need it.
The birds:  Black Necked Stilt.  Then Magpie Jay, then Yellow Grosbeak.

Hanging around the bay

As you might be able to see from the picture, I am swinging from the mast like a monkey.
Bandaras Bay is quite warm, and after the scare from hurricane Patricia, I figured the season was winding down.  I am not quite sure, but looking at the forecasts for the area, it looks like there is another punch waiting.  And i don't know if we'll dodge it.  There is another storm brewing off the coast of El Salvador, that is predicted to come out, go past the headlands of mountains that protect the bay from the south, and then come sweeping in from the west.  Just like Hurricane Kenna did in 2002.  If this happens, I am not sure what I'll do.  Kenna destroyed a lot of Puerto Vallarta and the towns to the north.  The storm also took out the Marina La Cruz, the one that i will go into to hide.  They rebuilt it, and hopefully they did a better job of it, but nothing can really stand against a big storm.  So stay tuned to any hurricane forecasting site to see the epic battle between winds waves and fiberglass.  I will make sure that my person will be safe and sound, regardless of the state of my fiberglass.
That is all conjecture, but I am a bit worried about it.  You never know what the weather will hold.  In other news, the surfing is nice and the water feels great to be in, because it is so warm.  I am waiting for it to cool off, but El Nino is not going to let it happen that soon.

A swimming hawk

 We woke up today and watched the birds flying around.  There were pelicans plunging into the water after the little fishes, then the boobies diving in from the heights, and some little  Black Terns, and some Elegant Terns too.  Then we spotted a bird I didn't recognize...  It was floating really low in the water with a funny looking bill for a sea bird.  It was a hawk!  We got into the skiff and went over to it to help, and pulled it from the water with a net.  We set it on the deck to dry out, but after a bit it tried to fly away and didn't go far, back into the wet.  This time I got it and put a sock over its head to keep it calm.  We got it to shore and gave it a fresh water shower to get the salt out of the feathers and then the guards from the marina took it in and put it in a cage.  Later on they said it flew away, so I hope it is ok.  It was a "Grey Hawk" according to the bird book.  I am really impressed by the size of the eyes.  Also its feet were super strong and have great big knives on the ends of the toes and I got a bit cut up.  Not too bad though.

Return to Mexico, and a summary of the Fall

 I am back in Mexico again, and back on Altair.  My trusty sailboat was anxious to get out and moving, and I believe she was nervous about the big Hurricane that came nearby not long ago, but she was spared any damages from that by the Sierra Madre, the mountains that protect this area, much like the pantheon of Olympus would protect the underlings in Greece.  Hot, humid conditions, however, are taking their toll on the machinery, and I am doing my best to do battle to that.  Last wednesday, I took Altair out of the marina and out to go surfing, to my normal haunts and anchorages near this area.  A dark cloud sprung up from the south and the extremely warm water (which was 90 degrees F) fueled the convection frenzy.  The winds howled and I shivered with fear and the lee shore drew closer, but through the night the anchor held and we passed through the storm without too much trouble.   It was the biggest storm I've seen here, winds over 40 kts and waves near 8 ft.  It turned out that the Hurricane wasn't the big problem, but rather an unnamed storm that gave me the biggest scare.
Before Mexico, back up in Bellingham, I got a few pictures.  One of sunset at my brother's house, and one of his best man's daughter, in a bucket, the highlight of the wedding presents.

 And on the trip down, in which my friend Wes and I drove, we stopped in the middle of the desert in Arizona and I got a few shots of a cactus.

Pre-Patricia (and post)

I haven't been down to Altair yet, but I am on my way.  I'm not sure what I will find, because Patricia hasn't really finished.  I know that storm is really big and huge, but Altair is in a marina and I hope she comes out all right.  I don't  know, much depends on the mountains and the storm.
I, however, am totally all right.  I am driving south with my friend Wes, to go to our boats, and we have just crossed the border into Mexico today, and are in Hermasillo.  I'll try to give an update when i know more, but I am OK.

Everything turned out all right.  Altair is getting her wings back on slowly and I have to do some things, but we'll get out sailing soon.

Lego Sailing

In between "sailing" in Alaska and sailing (with sails) in Mexico, I have been sailing a bit in Seattle.  My friend Danny and I were racing his boats around in a pond and I decided to make a short video about it.  I know it is cheesy, but I had a good time making this.  About 10 more days till I head down to Mexico.

And here's the video:

End of Season

I'm back in Seattle now, with another season behind me.  I made a video from this season as well.  Actually, two videos...  The first one was from the beginning of the season and the second is from the end.








Here's the second...

The Last Juneau

 I saw Sitka for the last time this past weekend, and all I could think about as I walked about the town and at the bridge was my friend Ty Jones.
Then, I got back aboard the Wilderness Discoverer and my mind was wiped clean by the torrent of all sorts of things going on at once.   We stopped again at Pavlof harbor and there were bears there.  Mama with her little cubs have gotten a lot bigger!  This other bear is what I would like to call "papa" but I don't know.  The days are blending together and I am getting more and more mindless.  I can't remember any names anymore and the sun rises quite late and sets early.  Alaska is settling down for the long dark days ahead.

Still, there is beauty in the world.  A beam of sunlight shone down on John's Hopkin's inlet and we passed through it and found the fall colors delightful.


  I did the hike up the side of Lamplugh Glacier this week and we went high on the hillside overlooking the ice, then clambered down to it to get a closer look.  Looking up at the blue ice is magnificent, and the rocks that might cloud the surface fall off, so the ice is relatively clear.  The tops of glaciers tend to have a lot of dirt on them, but the bottoms are drippy and clean.  And shine with a blue dream.

 Pam was driving one of the skiffs and I got this shot, one of my best this season, I think.  She might have been traveling at mach 2.

 Just as we got to the bottom, we looked over and the ice calved in front of us.  It was magical.

Airplane! Salmon!

 It is feeling like Fall up here now, but I got my first float-plane ride last saturday!  The salmon are running like mad everywhere and it is wonderful.  I don't have much time to write, but I m eager to put up more photos and to be back in the world again.  It is raining up here.

Top of the season

 This week rained almost the whole time, and though I love this time of year, the season is winding down towards winter.  All the early season sunshine is a distant memory, back in the foggy recesses of Misty Fjords.  We'll go to Misty Fjords this next week, on a trip to a huge number of places I haven't been to before.  Now is the age of Exploration!  I'll talk about that in a week though.   We went to McBride Glacier this week, and I love it there, because there is so much ice.  Tons and tons of ice, everywhere and we don't get to go there often.
Here's a picture of some things I saw on one special skiff tour this week.  A bear from close up, eating salmon....

A dipper that didn't want to fly away...

 And a swimming deer.

 This is a portrait of my boot, because I have a new lens that I was trying out.

 And the beach in front of Riggs Glacier

 And at last, my new kite set-up flying high above the world.

Icarus, etc.

I flew too high, too close to the sun.  I didn't have wax wings, but they were destroyed by the hubris of heights, the awesomeness of altitude.  Also they were betrayed by the malice of monofilament.  I broke my kitestring, while flying my faithful kite up in the air above Golden Gardens park in Seattle.  Sadly, the kite flew itself out into the water (the puget sound) and also the camera (and my beautiful new slider set-up before drowning in the picture) were dropped from on high down into the depths.  It was a pretty sight, and no doubt will make a good video, should it ever be recovered, but it came down like a meteorite.  Gravity is quite effective.  So I lost all my stuff.  The next day (yesterday) I went to Glazier's Camera shop in Seattle to buy a new GoPro, since I am out one.  I ended up spending almost 1000 bucks.  Oops.  Luckily, my companion in kiting, The sage that I learned my high flying camera work from, Danny, was near a kite store (in Ventura, CA) where it is possible to get the same kite I flung away, and so I have two coming my way.
 I still need to rebuild my slider rig.  It used the most cute little pulleys you could ever see, tiny little things that cost 15 bucks a piece, and then there was a piece of the fishing rod that I use for flying the kite.  And a nice gopro mount that I will miss.  I'll make another one.  I have two of the pulleys still, and I'll find some piece of lightweight rod to make it around, but I still think I can do better than this.
Ok, enough of that.  I'm mostly through with my break this time around, but I have a few more days.  In the past two weeks I've been out canoeing and hiking in the North Cascades, and I got to see some Cedar Waxwings.  (see picture) On that trip we also went up to see Nooksack Falls, a beautiful waterfall on the Nooksack River up from Bellingham.

 So when I went to the camera store yesterday, I got myself a new lens, a 35mm lens.  I've been believing that I need this kind of a lens for a while, so here I am trying it out.  This one is a video lens, and it has some cool features, it is made by Rokinon, and has these little gears for adding focusing externally.  It is a Manual focus Lens, and is also manual aperature.  Maybe I won't like this as much as I think, but I am happy with it for now.  Here is a picture of some technology juxtaposition for starters....  The captian of the Orion busy with navigation...

 This lens is F/1.5, so that means it is super wide in the pupil, and if you ever went to the eye doctor and came away with those funny sunglasses after because they gave you dilating eyedrops, you understand that you can't focus on things.  This is because you have a huge aperture, and lenses with huge apertures have really narrow depths of field, which means that only a tiny bit is in focus at a time.

 It is a neat effect, so I took some pictures on the docks...