Woooowoooowoooo!

That's the sound the wind makes when blowing at 20-25 knots, an unceasing
woooowoooowoooo! Luckily it is not a 'nails on chalkboard' woooo or
someboday would have been pitched / jumped overboard by now. Actually we're
having a good time! It is very blowy up top, but for those who have been on
our boat you know how cocoony it is below, makes you just want to curl up
with a good book (or several!).

We have reached a final resolution on the HF radio, it is a paperweight with
no repairable qualities. After testing the software, the modem, the tuner,
the wiring, the antenna, the only thing left was the radio and after an
intensive diagnostic test and discussion with the technician at Sailmail,
the technical diagnosis was, "We're beating a dead horse here" which we
through painstaking research have translated to mean it's time to give in
and buy a new radio. Okay, fine, we've reached a decision (yipee!). Since
this is the piece of equipment that will get us a weather report no matter
where we are and, equally important, will allow me to email no matter where
we are, we're not quibbling about this particular purchase.

You wouldn't believe what it looks like up top - bright sunshine, wind
whipping across the bay, seafoam green water, choppy little waves with
little whitecaps on top. The wind has died down a bit, we think it's more
15-20 rather than the 20-25 it was earlier. We'll need to check
Windguru.com to see what today's hour by hour forecast is. In our learnings
about weather, we've found that the NOAA VHF weather forecast is good for
the next 5 periods out, today tonight tomorrow tomorrownight next day, but
doesn't really give you a longer view than that. NOAA's short term forecast
combined with Windguru (which goes out about 7 days) gives us a better view
for planning. Of course, the further you go out the less accurate the
forecast is, but it's helpful to know if there's potentially going to be a
front immediately after the current front, you might make different
decisions. We're looking for other useful weather indicators and rereading
our weather books.

It's interesting, we read every book on this we could get our hands on
before doing this and dozens of blogs written by those actually out there,
but somethings really aren't covered and somethings you just don't
understand until you're in the middle of them - they are too abstract from
day to day living. Here's an example we were talking about this morning, we
know that the weather in Florida in December and January can be rubbish, we
KNOW that! I spent 9 years living here and in the 6 years we've had the
Tampa house, we've spent many a day sitting out on the patio saying, 'Boy,
I'm glad we're not out on the water today!' So why would we not make that
connection - if the weather is crap on land, why would we think it is going
to be any better on the water?! We're very silly, I know.

Another topic of this morning's discussion was an assessment, would we have
been more prepared if we had started sailing when we were 12 and had years
of experience? The decision, in a few ways, yes, in most ways, no. We
would be better at sailing, but little better at cruising. Sailing is
different than Cruising. We would have spent more time on the water, but it
would be a continuation of our Tampa experience, being very selective about
when you go out and running back to the marina when the weather turns bad -
and paying someone to fix things when they go wrong. I sincerely doubt we
ever would have chosen to anchor out for 4 days in 20-25 knot weather if we
had the option of doing something else.

That said, it has been a great experience! It makes you think in ways you
never usually get to. You have to react quickly and intelligently. We're
living more 'in the world' or exposed to the elements more than we ever have
before. And we've discovered that the cushioned lifestyle we've been living
has made us more hesitant about doing things than we realised, more fearful.
The societal messages that we receive, thousands and millions over the
years, have made an impact on us. Don't do this, it's dangerous! Don't do
that, something could happen! Stay in your safe house in front of your safe
telly and if you want to be really risky, try a new restaurant - but be
careful, you might get food poisoning! You hear those messages over and
over until you're afraid to put a foot in the water!

I'm not confusing a lack of fear with stupidity - if you see sharks, don't
jump in next to them with a fish fillet! If the wind is blowing 30 knots,
don't go out in it! But being braver will be a big focus for me in the
coming year. Fear creates a very narrow, small and confined world. Bravery
opens up the whole world to you!

Back to day-to-day living though - Steve is studiously reading now and has
carefully avoided any mention of the Bananagrams tournament, but I know what
he's up to! Let there be games and movies and popcorn - woowoowoo!!!