Notes from along the way... Life Below the High Tide Line browns turn to golden as the sun peaks out from the clouds. greens become florescent. colorful sea stars dancing on the sandy bottom. colorful starfish clinging to the 'three ugly sisters' thru every surge and swell. sea grass and countless kinds of kelp kissing the surface of the sea...growing towards the light, creating shadows for crab and fish. When sailing your senses sharpen exhaustingly. Constantly making judgments and choices. Always alert, aware, keeping balance in yourself, the helm and the sails. cried today. feel like a really good cry, almost can't stop it, but need to be more alone than this 32 feet can give to let it all out. figuring it all out as we go....scared, homesick, feeling useless and selfish. the dream is never the daily working, yes working, reality. Motoring more than I thought, daily alone time...not happening, yoga...yeah right, even the pleasure of grinding coffee beans has turned into just another chore. I'm almost 40...that's a bit more of a reality since turning 38...all of yesterday. Broken Group : sailing with choppy swells, jib alone. pulling steady after a hurky jerky rise amongst a tangle of sheets. my body feeling the power of the flogging clew. steering towards rocky islets because that's the direction the building swells and building winds are pushing you. the breaking waves sound just like the surfacing whales....both too close to enjoy. too much concentration is needed to steer and navigate to actually enjoy the sights or document the moment with the camera. shoulda hoisted the stays'l. jib down without dunking in the salty swells....a good accomplishment as we're now head to and I can see them lapping the bowsprit. tick tack motoring through the rocky islets...thinking of the many grand ships lost in these waters, among these very rocky shores. the first exploreres who knew these waters without a chart... wow. powering down until I can plot our position. (I credit mark helprin for this next wee bit. I'm currently reading a soldier of the great war and came across a passage that so well fit our current circumstances I had to pull a few phrases to complete the picture of my thoughts. my paraphrased bit is in 'quote') 'very hard to discern the hundreds of islets, islands and their protrusions, constantly shifting and reshaping....nearer, farther, not seeing your open channel till its too late to turn around....trusting the chart, your navigation. but careful attention to the chart doesn't stop your surroundings from continual mutation. as soon as you think you understand the relation of one feature to another, your position has changed and you become almost lost moments at a time in this perspective-and-distance-charged landscape.' we decided to abandon the first ''all weather'' anchorage due to the 18+knot wind and wavelets blowing straight in. the salty solo sailor in just ahead of us securing himself in the most tucked away corner of effingham bay, which turns out to be much smaller than we anticipated. continuing on across coaster channel and weaving our way into joes bay, protected by the proximity of turtle, Willis, Dodd and chalk islands. Bruce set on the first go, a relief as my adrenaline has peaked out. We're wind and sun burned on our faces...the rest of us has been bundled in fleece and foulies. It feels like late afternoon with the sun breaks between the fast moving clouds, but its past 7pm by the time we're settled. ah settled. OK..that's all I've got in me to peck out at the moment. Off to get laundry out the drier. Those two coffee drinks, with refills, really helped this evening. As did a marina with internet as I was able to be in the comfort of my home, listening to my husband snore As I typed these words. Don't know when I'll have the luxury of time to put thoughts down on this here blog but I'll keep up with the quick updates on facecrack. Take care of yourselves and each other... love, alison

Hey! Is this thing working? Got back from Alaska and spent 4 years working for Hasse and Co. at Port Townsend Sails. Hauled out two different times for a total of 10 months. Now it's one week till we cut the dock lines for our open ended cruise....stay tuned :)