Success

 The Willyweather Report this morning says "Temp: 8.4°C Feels Like 0.5°C". The wind has been howling all night and is still doing it.  There is a "Dangerous Surf Warning" posted, and although it would previously have made me grab my board and go surfing,  these days it's just a no offshore sailing day .... even if my boat was ready.  



As it's mid winter here I am getting plenty off reading done.  I've just finished "The Sea Was Kind"; a WW2 era escape under sail from the Japanese. A good read about sailing under duress,  lack of food and equipment,  fear of being beheaded by the Japanese or Moro-Philippines crew.  I've also just begin rereading "Tinkerbelle"; Robert Manry's solo transAtlantic sail in a 13' converted open dinghy. I must have previously read this with candy coloured glasses because I'd read that a newspaper editor bought a dinghy,  put a cabin on it and sailed across an ocean.  Even as I write this it seems trite.  But the reality was that after rebuilding a neglected dinghy,  he sailed keenly,  alone and with his family for several years. This included long sailing legs on Lake Erie. Manry then undertook a refit that included installing a cabin,  large iron drop keel and inbuilt flotation.  He describes how,  for every danger he identified,  he developed a strategy eg. spare rudder,  materials for a jury rig, even shark repellent.  This guy was not some lucky nutter. He worked hard & purposefully over a number of years to see his goal through. And that was just getting to the start line.

When I undertook to fit out a 25 foot hull amd sail solo up the coast, I recall being busy with work,  study,  girlfriend, triathlon training & surfing, but the number one priority was building the boat. As I got closer to setting off I recall being totally bloody minded; singly focused on that one goal. Everything else just got no attention.  That's what it takes to soft from casual weekend sailor,  to becoming an adventurer under sail,  don't underestimate the sacrifices made or focus needed.   If success was easy everybody would do it.  

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