Sahalee Sail

Another week has gone by, lots of advances and some unexpected discoveries on the big’ol Quick Silver.

The good part is that I’ve been getting more familiar with the sailing and very familiar with my new franco-family: Pat, Mê, Paci… getting to find out all the family dynamic and seeing where I can fit in to complement and stay out of the way when it is none of my business.

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I joined Billy and his friends for a sail with his boat "Sahalee" this past Thursday. It was quite a windy day and the sea, while not bigger then 4 feet, the waves were not far apart, which made for quite a choppy ride. Ups and downs, I started to feel very heavy and ultimately, useless. That was followed by a strong sense of upset stomach as I decided to relocate my carcass to the stern (back) of the ship as I prepared for the inevitable... As I lay there, I had time and creativity to make up and sing some lyrics to a blues melody that played in my head. I love these moments of “creativity V.S. vulnerability”.

Port side of Sahalee
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As my final moments of integrity drew to a close, I began to pollute the deep blue waters with a mixture of bile and that morning’s breakfast. In between each upward throttle of my stomach, I seamed to find the energy to shout in amusement of the situation and pure physical relief!

Me recovering...
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The rest of the ride was even better and we put up the jib (front sail) so we were moving twice as fast and soon we entered the Boot Key Harbor from where we had left several hour back. That was a good day to learn many realities of sailing, and when Melanie offers me some tricks to prevent sea-sickness I will gladly accept such a gracious offer. Thanks in advance Mê.]

So it is looking like there is a window opening up Tuesday or Wednesday. If all goes well, we will set sail at that time. However during this month I have been disillusioned several times, as I was always thinking that we would leave and every time ended up staying longer. Above everything, the last 3 months, especially February, has been a great lesson of PATIENCE. Every few days it surprised me again, to find out that I had been deceived once again. I saw this as a learning opportunity and concluded that patience is indeed a virtue.

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Blessings to all…

USA Reflections:

Saturday was the official day we were to depart from Marathon and set sail to Cuba, but once again, the weather has shown us otherwise and it seems we still have business to do here. So I decided to write some reflections of my experience in the United States of America. I realise that I won’t be able to please everyone, everything I write is from my personal experience and networking with friends. This is not an attempt to define, judge, or discriminate anyone in any way.

This is where I was born and grew up - Farm Satori, Brasilia, Brazil

I spent my childhood in Brazil then moved to Toronto, Canada as a young teen. I never visited the US before; so most of my knowledge and opinions were based on the distress and mass destruction that the US has inflicted on all corners of the globe. I developed a bias to avoid any transaction with the States, whenever possible.

As I started to formulate the idea of this odyssey (Infinity Cycle), I became aware that the US was not only geographically essential but I also needed to get rid of preconceived ideas and find out for myself, through its people, and first hand experience. It also tied in nicely with the intention to experience both extremes and unite South, Central and North Americas together as one.

Sunrise in the state of Delaware, late October 2008

As I cycled through the states of the east coast (NY, NJ, DE, MA,VA, NC, SC, GA and FL) I intentionally let go of pretensions and negative thoughts that came up, trying to absorb it all for what it is. I found most of the people I met to be very welcoming and generous in lending me a hand by offering camp/shelter, shower, food and/or most importantly their friendship. In between a number of set destinations to friends, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends houses and so on, I had wonderfully unexpected experiences meeting new friends, who would in turn give me more contacts of their friends in places further along the road.

A deer near the Hudson river, Stoney Point, NY

I feel it is also important to talk about my impression of the “American way of life”. How in this country, almost everything is disposable. Many of the places I went through I found its people to be disconnected from each other and their environment. Small cities have lost their sense of community and are dependant on oil and technology to survive. Only a handful of villages had a little character of their own and most had multi-national chain shopping centres as their only source of food and other living essentials, putting most small/family operations out of business. It made me very upset to find that the ONLY place I could buy camp fuel was in Wal-Mart, one of the multi-nationals I boycott. I tried to buy my daily food from local farmer’s road stands and small grocery stores whenever possible, but sometimes had no option but a big chain store.

My bike in the morning before hitting the road - Tifton, GA

I was told by friends that in school children are taught that the USA is the BEST country in the world (wealth, health, power, etc). Strategically, to some degree it promotes patriotism, which can be a good thing when it is combined with common sense. But the frustrating part is that most of the population doesn’t even have the curiosity to find out for them selves, and instead choose to live arrogantly ignorant without ever leaving their home country.

Flying on an Ultra-Light in up-state New York

I felt privileged to be present at such a glorious moment when the people of the USA elected their first African-American president, Barack Obama. This marks a great milestone in history and gives hope to the rest of the world for a future with peace. I hope he can pull the integrity of this country back together to make peace not war, environmental responsibility with recycling/composting programs, better education, free health care, strengthen communities, teach the public about the importance of holding ourselves accountable for our actions.

Finally I am glad I had the opportunity to see and experience for myself the reality of the American life. This way I will be sure to remember the contrast with other nations of the south, where resources are not such a privilege and material goods are not wasted in vast quantities. Thank you to everyone I came in contact with during my stay in the USA.

Peace and respect,

Lalo

After having written this text, I came across a documentary movie that I highly recommend.

Zeitgeist Movement - please take some time to watch it...

The wind decides when

It will be a week tomorrow that I have been in full commitment to Patrick and Melanie's sail boat. We are working hard to get everything in order, and we are basically ready to go but we missed the last window to cross the gulf stream, because we are still waiting for a specialized part to arrive in the mail. We are in the mercy of the direction of the wind to tell us when to go, a window usually opens up around every 7 days, so it seams we will be here for another few day still, which will be useful to get the last details sorted out.

All the sails where open, that boat catches a lot of wind
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This past week has been great. Every day I go from "Otarie" Sail Boat to where Quick Silver is docked. we work for the days and then I go back to Otarie to eat and sleep... It has been a true pleasure to be doing this everyday. I got to meet the crew of a Canadian Sail Boat called Ghost Dance. Gram, Rob and Joanne very friendly peeps from New Brunswick, Canada.

Quick Silver's first ride on open waters... It was very foggy that day, .5 km visibility. This is Jameson, Pat's friend who was working with us.
Enjoy the photos and videos on my flickr page (click here)

It takes about 25 minutes to row from Quick Silver to Otarie that is anchored at the end of the harbour, and it is usually a very enjoyable ride weather in the morning, dusk or night time...

This is the v-birth of Otarie, where I sleep at night, that window allows for the moonlight to shine thought on my face... delicious nights!
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I'm hopping I get to see my friends from Conch key before I leave the states for good.

Moments before the sunset, I was rowing under the Boot Key Bridge on my to Otarie!

Enjoy the photos and videos on my flickr page (click here)

Getting ready...

Since last friday I had been cycling from Conch Key to Marathon to help prepare the sail boat, for our trip to Cuba then Guatemala. I took Sunday off to say goodbye to my friends at Conch Key and as of Monday, I have been sleeping on a boat. It is called Otarie, she belongs to Patrick and Melanie before they aquired QuickSilver, they one we will cruising on.

Otarie is a much smaller sail boat and it is really comfy for one or two people. Last night was the first night I have ever spent on a boat. I cooked a couscous dinner, eat it outside looking at the stars. Then later I fell asleep to the full moon light shinning on my face. I Slept like a baby....

The other day I went up the Mast of Quick Silver to change a light bulb, it was a nice view up there...

I think that I have come upon another passion of my life that had been dormant, as I had never been exposed to it before. Many thoughts of living and travelling on a sail boat with my dear, have come rushing through my mind several times the last 20hrs. I'm super exited for this leg of the journey and have been working hard for it.

Enjoy the photos and videos on my flickr page (click here)

We are aiming to sail to Cuba this Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Stay tunned!