Survival of the Brother

I may or may not have mentioned that my brother Harland has set off on a long-term sailing adventure. He bought a 41ft ketch, named it Paladino, and finally set off.

He sailed from San Francisco to Acapulco, mostly in day trips. Starting out he had a crew of two, a couple. However, somewhere in Mexico (maybe Zihuatenejo) they bailed on him and went to crew on a much bigger boat. So he decided to just go on alone. He talked to a lot of solo sailors, one of whom was 10 years older, and they all assured him he could do it. After all, it was only a 35-day crossing. And about 3500 miles.

And he did. He made landfall in Fatu Hiva island in the Marquesas yesterday (29 March). I got a text at 2:30am edt. This is officially the middle of nowhere.

Text at 1:30am edt Wed. -- there's going to be a celebratory roast pig pickin' tomorrow with poisson cru (Tahitian lime-marinated tuna salad), poulet salad (chicken), banana pamplemousse (grapefruit). Sounds good to me.

I'm very proud of him.

RIPs & Misc

RIP for Glen Frey of the Eagles; Signe Halvorsen of the Jefferson Airplane; and Abe Vigoda, actor, in my memory on the series "Barney Miller."

Tomorrow I'm having a temporary ceiling installed between the lofts to help with heat retention. I'll be using foam insulation boards (4x8) and will use eye hooks and wire to make a web for them to lie on. They're so light that it'll be easy to move one if I want to get up in a loft, or move them all when summer comes and I want the heat to go out the ridge vent.

Both Mateo's and Amy's cars are in the shop (hers just tomorrow, we think) so there's lots of juggling with my car. I may take Mateo to work tomorrow so I can have the car to do errands. I was going to use Amy's car but now that's not possible. Sigh.

My brother and his crew are wending their way down the Mexican coast and will be provisioning at Acapulco to set off on a 34-day crossing to the Marquesas Islands in the mid-Pacific. Certainly wishing them all the best.