Friday, October 10, 2014

Opua: just in time



        A raw and rainy day.  The temperature has remained in the low 50s F/ 11 to 12°C, but feels colder and has penetrated my aged bones, my left shoulder in particular which has been painful ever since I used that arm to steer the last day of the passage.  
        I had planned to go ashore today and do laundry and then sail to some of my favorite nearby anchorages for a few days.  Painting can wait.  But that didn’t happen.  Maybe tomorrow.
        A hot shower would have been nice too, but that didn’t happen either.
        I am sitting in the Great Cabin wearing fleece with a sleeping bag as a lap robe, a plastic of whiskey at hand.  Unfortunately not Laphroaig.
        The good news is that my newly rebedded forward hatch has not leaked.  I did see a few disconcerting drops of water on the cushions, but then realized that they were condensation fallen from the overhead.  This rain is by no means the equivalent of waves washing over the deck; but before the rebedding, there would have been puddles beneath that hatch.
         The photo was taken this morning shooting through the closed companionway.  The shadow is the boom.  The red, the American flag tied to the backstay.