We have six weeks to spend on a small boat with two total strangers which sounds a bit risky, and it is, or can be, but we have been very lucky with Mike Taber and Lisa Goodwin. More on Lisa - ARC's "Julia Childs"- later.
Mike is an experienced sailor with around 25,000 sea miles accumulated over a lifetime of sailing. He recently sold his 50 foot schooner "Dove II" which is an 1870's reproduction that he restored and sailed for the past few years. As you know earlier in the trip he saved the day with his ad hoc diesel repair of our leaking injector return valve. It was quite impressive -Michael Jordan in Game 7 of the NBA finals" as I have referred to it. There have been many other instances where I have learned some valuable techniques for repairs. He is a diesel mechanic and a carpenter, basically a "can-do" fix it mentality; exactly what you want in crew.
One thing I have noticed about Mike is that he has a wealth of knowledge to share, and he doesn't mind sharing it. Like a lot of smart and knowlegeable people, if he doesn't know how to explain something he will create "ad-hoc" explanations for comlicated things. I have a friend in North Carolina, John Umstead, who does the same thing. On one sailing trip John was able to use the hydraulic "Bernoulli Principle" to explain everything on a boat including sail trim, a broken toilet issue, a fishing planer that would rise to the top of the water for no reason; basically he could relate everything to the "Bernoulli Principle." Any problem, any issue; the Bernoulli Principle was the answer. I can only imagine his wife Toni and kids Devin, Chloe and John, have been hearing about the Bernoulli Principle for their whole lives.
Mike does the same type of thing. A couple of days ago we went on the foredeck to put a reef in the mainsail in anticipation of some heavier weather that never came. We had some very tangled lines that I described as a "damned hornet's nest" of lines; essentially three or four reef lines and and some tie down lines all connected by the movement of the boat. I was prepared to sit on the deck and untangle the hornet's nest when Mike calmly analyzed the situation and professorily explained that we needed to "remove the hockles" from the first reef line to solve the problem. Hockles? I am pretty sure he made the word "hockles" up, and I will check it when we get into port, but he "explained" to me that a hockle is when the line is twisted and needs to be gradually untwisted from the first accessible point to the bitter end of the line. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not, but I have my doubts. Mike knew I wanted an explanation, so he gave me one. Often when my kids were slightly sick growing up I would give them a Flintstone Vitamin and say "hurry, you need a placebo. Take this placebo pill right now and you'll feel better in a little while!" It worked every time.
A few nights ago, probably the second day of this leg, we noticed some high thin clouds that you often see on a pretty night. I have always thought of them as cirrus clouds but Mike explained to me that no, these were not cirrus clouds, they were "alto-cirrus clouds." I have never heard of alto cirrus clouds, but it sounded immediately to me like a made-up terminology - one that he would use casually hoping that I wouldn't challenge his knowledge, and knowing that I do not have the benefit of "Google" out here on the open seas. I began wondering if the are also "tenor-cirrus" clouds, and would they be better or worse than "baritone cirrus clouds." He changed the subject and acted like he didn't hear me, and he no doubt was hoping I wouldn't continue the questioning.
Mike said that these "alto-cirrus clouds" were very predictive. I was very impressed with his knowledge and of course asked them what they were saying. He carefully explained that alto-cirrus clouds mean only one thing - CHANGE. These alto-cirrus clouds mean that change is in the forecast. That is great knowledge to have of course. If you know there is imminent change you can prepare for it.
I asked Mike if it meant there were going to be storms. Like an Indian Chief to a young warrion - "Not necessarily," he replied. He told me that the "mare's tail" shape of these particular "alto-cirrus" clouds was a further indication of CHANGE in the weather, and he confidently explained the history of the "mares tale" terminology as if he had known it for a lifetime, and that mariners had been observing it for centuries. The change was uncertain, Mike said, could be EITHER Good or Bad!!! "What?" I asked. It's not an indication of bad weather necessarily, or of fair weather necessarily; it could be either.
So here I have learned about "alto-cirrus" clouds and "mare's tail" clouds, but I still don't know what to do with the terms - should we put in another reef in the main, or should we let out the reef we have? The "change" could be either good or bad, and there was no way to know which it would be. That was FOUR DAYS AGO I should note, and the winds have been consistently from the South/Southwest at 15-18 knots with seas consistently at 1-3 feet. There has been no change in the weather whatsoever. Mike explained this morning that the change could be delayed by several days. I feel like I went to a $25 psychic and she told me something was going to happen but wouldn't explain what or when, or even whether it was going to be a good or bad thing that was going to happen. Usually the psychic wants more money at that point, but Mike wasn't wanting anything. He was just trying to explain the unexplainable.
I am sure that Mike's wife Jeanne and his daughter's Danica and Emily have been learning from Mike's "creative instruction" for many, many years. He says he would often relay his "stupid Daddy stories" to Danica and Emily; relaying things that he had done that in hindsight were not the best choice. The girls liked to hear those "stupid Daddy stores," he said, since it made them realize that he was vulnerable to make mistakes like everyone.
We are having great conversations, and I am making up some thories of my own that I know have no foundation whatsoever. When we get to land he will discover I am a fraud on most of my knowledge. His will probably check out, but until then there is mutual respect.
Finally - A Tack
We are now on a Port Tack - this is the first change in sail direction since we left last Wednesday. The wind is from the Southwest and we are heading to the Northeast. We are trying to avoid the "Azore's Highs" and other areas of no wind. So far, so good. We have only used the engine for 3 or 4 hours so far except to charge the batteries. When we do that the engine is in neutral. We still have a problem with the Generator; it is leaking water and then shutting down after over heating. We have decided to not use it any more, and we will probably not deal with that until we are in Lagos, Portugal. If we try to address it in the Azores someone will probably have to order a part and things could get complicated. We don't need the generator, but it's nice to have. It is quiter than the engine and uses 1/2 gallon of fuel per hour and the main Yanmar engine for the boat uses about 1 gallon an hour. But with the wind we are having we should be fine on fuel anyway.
We will report back later. It's another great day on Wild Goose. Thanks for reading.