Creepy French Kissers
It’s as if I never left the boatyard: Taputu’s still as helpful as ever, midday lunches with the crew, blazing mid-summer heat, up and down the ladder till my feet ache, and how could I forget: the obligatory French kiss-kiss cheek greetings. The boatyard seems like a rather cruel place to uphold this greeting ritual, […]
Grime Under My Nails Again
Nov 15: My eyes open early and I’m full of energy to get this ship back in order. I’ve got a full a full day before everybody’s back at work, so I dig in. Haul the cushions and pillows out into the sun, commence 9 loads of laundry (the rats peed and pooped on EVERYTHING), […]
Home Sweet Home?
The sky is fading orange in the west as I wander about the deserted boatyard to find a ladder and haul it over to Swell. I struggle to set it vertical and slowly mount the 10 rungs up to the deck. All looks as it did when I left…oh so good to be home! I […]
Gallivanting the globe sans Swell: 3
Via the wonder of air travel, I was back to Cali just in time to celebrate Sean and Beth’s union, where an owl feather and a night with fantastic friends helped ease the launch into 5 weeks of solitary book-making confinement in Goleta (thanks to the Ault family for providing me with the most amazing […]
Gallivanting the globe sans Swell:2
I flew back to San Diego for less than 24 hours to slam together a slide show for the Dear and Yonder Ventura Patagonia Premiere and I’m headed north on the I-5 en route to Ventura: nervous and sleep-deprived, hands slippery with sweat on the steering wheel: “Just picture them all in downward dog…” a […]
Rewind…Gallivanting the globe, sans Swell: 1
After my bout with dengue fever mid-June, only a few days remained to get Swell out of the water and sorted before the once a week flight to Hawaii for one of my oldest friend, Nicole’s, wedding. Due to the leak in the hull, I couldn’t leave the boat in the water while I was […]
Squatter’s Rights? Rats Amidships And I’m Finally BACK In Tahiti!
Well, well, well….I made it back to Swell yesterday evening after a ridiculously fun 2 weeks in Hawaii. Since my three week trip turned into almost 5 months away from Swell, I guess its only fair that she found some new company while I was away. It’s a more cuddly and personable creature than Swell’s […]
Ketchup on the Presqu’isle
Here is a bit of everything from the last two months on the Presqu’isle… between my engine woes, the WCT circus, my recent submersion in a writing assignment (check out the upcoming October issue of Surfer’s Journal), a bout with Dengue fever (or Beamish flu?), a last minute haul-out, and the Ahuna-Marotta wedding in Hawai’i… […]
Rum and Nothing Better to Do
It was the last weekend of the locals’ two-week vacation and there’d been lots of action around the marina lately. My empty refrigerator had inspired a ride down to the ‘Snack’ which had turned into a spontaneous gathering of many who’d been in the Teahupo’o line-up lately. I rolled back to Swell on my no […]
Raimana’s Push
It’s another morning in the Teahupo’o marina. There is grass growing out from the cracks in the rotting wooden planks. Some are missing completely; the water pipe below the dock nearest Swell is cracked and constantly spewing freshwater into the sea. But the sky water spews constantly, too, so maybe that’s why no one around […]
