june 5, 2002

hi folks --

tried again to head for the azores, had what seemed like
a great weather window, boat was ready, i was ready, had
told usenix i wouldnt make it and lynda, trent and ned were 
going to cover for me, and we left.

headed east and made 149 miles that first day, a great
start since we usually make closer to 100 miles a day.

listened to an informal boat-chat group on the single
sideband radio and lots of the boats were having second
thoughts.  herb, a guy in canada that does weather forecasts
for sailboats, recommmended that everyone go south to avoid
a nasty weather trough.  so we headed south and a bit east.
next time we tuned into the chat group (they are on only 9am,
3pm, 9pm), several boats were turning around and going back
to bermuda instead of going south.  and the next time we
listened all 14 of the boats were heading back.  so we turned
tail and went back too.  about 200 miles out and 200 miles
back again.  the azores seem hard to get to.  but on the
bright side we have now been into bermuda harbor enough
times so we can do it at night :-)

st george where we are is a small town, you can walk the
downtown in 1/2 hour and the whole town in 1/2 day.  so
its a bit boring and also expensive.  during the week it
is full of sunburned tourists from the cruise ships and
on the weekends its just the locals and very nice.  many
of the shops are tourist places that arent quite my cup
of tea.

we have now been out twice when it was pretty rough.
biggest problem when its rough is managing to get 
around on the boat without becoming one big solid bruise.
you get thrown around unless you have 3 stable attachments,
like 2 feet wide apart and one hand grabbing onto a post
or handrail.  given this pre-requisite, imagine trying
to pull up your pants after going to the bathroom.
takes two hands, the bathrooms (heads) are tiny with
no handholds and a bowl full of stuff needing to be
flushed and sloshing around dangerously.  i am finding
new uses for my head and shoulder as i snuggle a post
(the mast down below) and jam myself into a stable 
position to have hands free.  another challenge is
climbing up the steps to the cockpit with a cup of
hot coffee in one hand.  climbing steps inherently
has one foot on a step and the other in midair.  one
foot and one hand attached well makes a great pivot
and your whole body gets swung around the hand-foot axis.

before i try again i am going to usenix in monterey and
then if my brit's boat is still in bermuda, will come back
and try for the azores again.  he is used to sailing alone
and is anxious to get going before hurricane season starts
in earnest, so may not wait for me.  but thats ok too.

hugs to all.

-evi