A different voyage

Nov 29, 2014

8:53 pm Saturday on board WW II …still tied to the wharf.

I was saying as recently as this afternoon how special it was to sit on the patio of the yacht club and have WW II sitting at the wharf right there in front me. Well now it’s right in front of a rock and roll band and I’m finding it hard to think straight.

It’s definitely not congruent with the thought of starting out on an ocean voyage. Somehow I had something else in mind but I am OK with it. People are having fun. I honestly don’t think I’ll get much sleep tonight anyway. One very positive thing is that the customs people have been and gone so I can leave whenever I want to. I said goodbye to Alek and Maryanne this afternoon.  None of us were looking forward to it so we made it short and sweet. 

The GPS is loaded with tomorrow morning’s way points and my warm cloths are laid out on the bunk – my old uniform. There is plenty of space in the area I’m moored in till this afternoon when two big boats pulled in behind me after their race and I think they are here for the night. This will make it rather difficult to get out six hours from now, but I’m sure I’ll make it somehow. The moon is waxing which will brighten my nights at sea. Hopefully it will be there to illuminate my transit of Bass Strait which will make it easier for me to see the traffic and hopefully for the traffic to see me.  

I’m both excited to get going and also a little nervous. The circumstances around me being here now are very different from the last time when I arrived back in January. This is a new adventure on a whole different scale than the last voyage. Going to the store today to provision was on a much smaller scale. Same food, just a whole lot less of it. WW II is well up her lines and will sail very well in the light airs that I may get. Psychologically, it’s very different as well. First of all, it’s not as daunting, four weeks as opposed to forty weeks! Four weeks is very doable. And, there’s no pressure. The fuel tanks are full and if I want to power, I can. The water tanks are full as well so hopefully no rations with that either. The library is filled with great books, and to top it off Barry has downloaded lots of movies and documentaries. I only have four dozen eggs to turn instead of 30. But …there won’t be any funny jokes in amongst the cartons that Cathy and her friends did to keep me entertained.

This is so far from the last voyage that it’s difficult to imagine, and yet the ocean is still very much there with all its unfeeling force and indifference to me even being there. I believe WW II is ready and well equipped to stand up to the force and meet it head on. I am too. 

Well the yawning is getting more prevalent here and I think I should succumb to it, and get some sleep even though the party booms on around me. I will write again soon.