Our friend Bugs sold his boat, S/V "Euphoria" this week, despite the fact that a surveyor found a damaged through-hull (that's one of the necessary holes in the hull that we never stop worrying about), and a weak chain-plate (the device that anchors to the hull the shrouds that help hold the mast in place). Both are crucial issues demanding repair, but the through-hull is already being fixed. The chain-plate is for a mizzen shroud and the boat can be sailed without the mizzen, at least for now. It's an old boat, built in 1977, and yet in amazingly good shape.The new owner, Dan, is a gentle Nordic giant from Denver out of Minnesota, an engineer stoically resolved to deal with whatever tasks come up in readying "Euphoria" for sailing to faraway destinations. Although an inexperienced mariner, he's put in quite a lot of time in dreaming, studying sailing books and planning his adventures, and he's got that determined gleam in his eyes, now that he has acquired The Boat. Bugs has recommended that Dan look to the Capt as a mentor, so we'll probably see quite a lot of him in the future.
And now that he's "swallowed the anchor" (a sailor term for permanently returning to land), Bugs is back at home in Santa Fe, cramming for an exam tomorrow on physiology. One of the hardest things about going back to school is learning for the first time at age 50 to study. He was one of those who should never have been graduated from high school, he confessed. If he can hang in there for four years, he'll earn a nursing certificate and be able to put all his experience as an emergency medical technician into service in a geriatric hospital. Not a future I'd ever dream of, but I recognize the gleam in his eyes. This is what he really wants, and he's going for it.
Meanwhile, our friend Mark on "Sol Mate" who has been in a slip at the marina for the past few weeks, is eager to leave for Baja today, if his wife in Canada agrees to fly down and join him. Marina life gets old after a while, a bit like living in an RV park, and Mark's got a yen for wide open seas. He's hoping we'll be able to transport his Toyota on the ferry and spend a couple of days with them in Santa Rosalia.
My first ferry ride, a visit to one of my favorite Mexican pueblos, a little time with my friend Wendy (one of my favorite people), a little getaway for us. Now, that puts a gleam in my eyes.