Living & Learning Aboard the Good Ship Learnativity

Small Town Boy Hits the Big Times!

That’s a phrase which my Dad used to like to use a lot and I was reminded of it with an Email I just received telling me that a story of mine has just been published in a magazine. 

If you’ve been reading my blog posts here for a while you’ve already read this one, but it was a neat treat to see my story make it to the “big times” when it was published in this month’s (Dec 2009) edition of Latitudes & Attitudes magazine.  Where else would you expect a story of mine to appear right?? <g>

Better yet, this is one of my favorite sailing magazines (I read a LOT of them) and they (Seafaring International) are also trying to figure out how to survive and thrive as a magazine in this day.  You’ll see that they are providing this link to an online version of the magazine (free) from their web site. In their case they are providing the online version as an exact duplicate of the print “real” magazine, ads and all, which is good in some ways but lacking in that it doesn’t take much advantage of being online such as links, searching, video, touch screen interface, etc.  But I digress and you can read more about my rants and raves on these more “serious” topics in my other blog Off Course – On Target if you’re curious for more on these kinds of issues.

The editors told me it is hitting the magazine stands now and you can also see an online version of it here on their web site.

Gifts in Living, Learning & Loving

I still look back upon this experience with great awemazement and easily one of the big events in my life from the past few years, which is saying quite a bit I guess.  While it isn’t something that I would wish upon anyone, it was a fabulous experience and one I’m glad to have experienced.  I know many don’t care for it, but I find great truth in the quip “That which doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger”  I know in this case I learned a lot and regard it now as a gift that I was given the opportunity to have all the experiences and all the emotions, good and bad, during and after this tsunami experience. 

In addition to some of the specific lessons I learned and recount at the end of the published story, it is the bigger life lessons that make this experience so rich and positive for me.  For example, pause for a moment and think about the retired sailing couple 2 boats away from me at the time.  One moment they were living their dream, sipping their morning coffee while basking in the early morning sun in their cockpit and literally the next moment he had his feet washed out from under him as he stepped onto the dock to release his lines and was gone forever and she had to motor away from the dock, and life as she knew it, alone.

I realize it sounds strange to many, but I regard myself as fortunate enough to have lived through several near death experiences.  I sincerely regard them as a gifts I’ve been given.  They have made me stronger and better as a person.  Being taught such things as how fragile life is, what is truly important in life, the humbling majesty of Mother Nature, how we never usually know when the last time is for most things, how important it is to live in and optimize every moment, how the world is full of many more good people than bad, are profound presents I shall be forever thankful for and do my best to put into practice. 

Hope you enjoy the story and that it helps all of us continue to learn from these great lessons in learning, living and loving.

Living & Learning in the moment

I was just treated to one of life’s wonderful moments when a mother duck and her 5 ducklings swam by the boat quacking merrily and treated me to a display of love, life & learning.  Everything and everyone can be a teacher if you let them.

* In case you are wondering, yes, I can count!  This isn’t my photo nor the ducks in question.  I struggle a bit with finding the balance between fully living in the moment and being able to share these with others such as here on the blog.  Even the word “capture” seems at odds sometimes with the notion of living in the moment and getting the most out of each one.  So I often choose not to interrupt such moments by trying to capture them with my camera and this photo from Flickr will have to do.

All 5 ducklings pursued their curiosity and swam up to one of the tires around the mooring pole I'm on.  While the others were content to explore the tire by swimming around it, two were brave and strong enough to jump/climb up onto the tire and one of these jumped into the water inside. 

But now how to get out?  The inside of the tire was rimmed with a vertical band of steel and too high for him to climb up on. (I assume he was male as girls would have been smarter!)  For a moment I thought I may have to go rescue him  but taking my cue from his Mom who was watching patiently from a distance, left on his own he figured it out and after a few tries jumped/flapped/kicked his way back onto the top of the tire and then back into the outer water to join his Mom and siblings. 

I thought what a great microcosm and vignette of life I was just treated to!  All five were curious and checking everything out.  Two decided to jump up onto the tire to explore further and one heeded the call to learn more and check out that inner water space.  Curiosity can get you into interesting situations but seems to me that those who are confident enough to risk getting into these situations will also usually figure out how to get out of them.

May we all continue to passionately pursue our curiosity and treat learning as a way of being.

Wonderdog #2: Rubi-Tsu

I’m now in Orlando Florida for some business and some time in my other parallel universe; the land of high speed everything and constant connectivity.  Doing my best to catch up with the mountain of backlogged news, info, Emails, Tweets, etc.  And most of all enjoying the chance to spend time with so many of my beloved landlubber friends.

I just had to share this update from Lisa and Garry, who are now back home in Western Australia after sadly having to leave their pride and joy, sv Biscayne Bay behind in Pago Pago as she did not survive the tsunami. 

** If Lisa & Garry and sv Biscayne Bay are new to you please see the previous 3 postings “Doing the Tsunami Tango” for context and info.

On the bright side, after spending so much time with Ruby onboard Biscayne Bay when they so kindly “puppysat” her and especially after the bonding of going through the tsunami together and being responsible for keeping Ruby safe through that incredible experience, they decided they had to have a Ruby too and this is her!  Lisa found and purchased her online while we were still in Pago Pago and they just picked her up when they landed back in Melbourne.  Here are some snippets from a few Emails Lisa sent leading up to this:

Hi Wayne,

I thought you might like to look at the new edition to our family, we have got one of Ruby's people joining us when we return to Aus Land...

We are thinking of calling her Tsu or Nami or Rubytoo. She is still very little and should end up about the size of Ruby, I have checked with the breeder who thinks she will be about 10kg and about 12inches high. She will have poodle wool too. We do not need another dog, but life is very short so I think we will enjoy playing with her.

A picture of our latest family member............Rubi,named in honour of Ruby the Wonderdog aboard SV Learnativity. On our way cross country to Perth with our new baby on board. She is beautiful, with that gorgeous nature your Ruby has.. very bright and so easy to talk to.. we have called her Rubi-Tsu... a little bit of a blend of all the possibilities we thought of.

Talk to you all soon,
Love Lisa and Garry

And so I add two more to the body count of those who have succumbed to the spell of Ruby the Wonderdog’s charm and yet another reason she is so aptly named.  I have no doubt that Lisa and Garry will find Rubi-Tsu to be just as wonderful and we have another Wonderdog in the making.

Wayne

Marvelous Monday

WOW!  What a Monday and start to my week here in Pago Pago, American Samoa.  Hard to believe that it has been a week since fateful tsunami Tuesday.

It was slow start as I awoke early only to find that our Wi-Fi was still out, having strangely disappeared last night.  Ever the optimist I leashed up the very happy to be going for a walk Ruby and headed over to the McDonalds ashore which had just opened on the weekend because they used to (B4 tsunami) have a great set of Wi-Fi signals, both their own network plus a super strong BlueSky signal which is the other network I bought time on when I first arrived.  I ordered an espresso, opened up the trusty laptop and Voila! we have a net connection!  It was on and working better than ever and since the tsunami they've made it open and free for all.  So I got all my mail from last night out, picked up some new ones, checked on flight options and then headed into town to see if I could book my flights for the upcoming trip to the USA, call NZ for a conversation with the authorities there about importing Ruby, see what was up with the state telco Wi-Fi we use in the marina and pick up some supplies.

Ended up taking me 4 hours on the phone to look after all my flight reservations, but they are now done and I'm all set, along with Ruby, to fly back to MCO on Nov.3rd.  Next, over to the state telco office, have them check and yes their Wi-Fi is down and they have someone working on it.  No ETA for the repair but ASAP.  Back to the phones for more calls, pick up some food supplies and finally, about 2pm walked back to the marina.

As I approach LTY what to my wondering eyes should appear?  A big stack of boxes which to my eyes brought a tear! 

I figured that Murphy's Law or some postulate would apply and there would be some packages still missing, but low and behold ALL remaining boxes were there!  From Saint Paul of West Marine there were 5 boxes: 3 solar panels, a bicycle and a box with windex, port LED light, and hand held depth sounder.  And from Santa John were two boxes with stove burners, winch parts, wind cups, grinder and some extra special cards from "our" shared kids.  And to top it all off there was the box that I came here for in the first place, all my transmission rebuild parts!!

With that, the decision was instantly made to leave in the morning and so I dashed off with my new passenger Chris from the likely to be written off Biscayne Bay boat to start the check out procedure, see about getting fuel, and head over the other side of the island where there is a CostULess to do all our provisioning for the month's crossing to NZ.  After many kilometers of walking back and forth between the offices we had our passports stamped and 80% of our check out procedure complete.  We need to go back at 7am tomorrow to finish the rest as the computer that prints our exit visa was down.  A few more walking marathons to find out we can’t get fuel till Wednesday as the HUGE tanker bringing fuel to the island will be taking up the whole fuel dock till Thursday and the deliver trucks have not been approved by the USCG yet to deliver fuel after the tsunami.  We’ll leave without topping up as I have plenty of fuel for the rest of the way to NZ if need be and can probably get some in Niue or Tonga.  We then got to rest our pooped puppies by taking one of the ever present bus/trucks that will take you anywhere on the island for a dollar out to the CostULess warehouse grocery store on the other side of the island where we could by all our provisions for the upcoming trip to NZ.  We drove by the massive Red Cross emergency aid supply station with hundreds upon hundreds of large plastic red and white coolers stacked up under tents and I assume filled with blood and other emergency supplies.  All the fields and buildings around the airport were equally covered with pallet after pallet of plastic wrapped boxes of more supplies. 

CostULess was a phenomenal find with selection and prices to match Costco and the like in North America and Chris and I filled two large shopping carts to the brim with all the food we’ll need for the next month.  We somehow managed to get this all into the small jeep taxi we hired and made it back to the boat just after dark.  With some help from our friends we did the human bucket brigade to move all the supplies below and I started to stow it all away into the nooks and crannies of fortunately voluminous Learnativity.  Lisa and Gary from Biscayne Bay had invited us out for a farewell diner at one of the local restaurants/hotels that was now open, “Sadie's by the Sea” and we enjoyed a wonderful meal by the lapping sea shore as we reflected upon the incredible experiences we have just shared and just how fortunate we really are to be at this table together, alive and well, ready for what life has to offer us next and so much richer for our new learnings and friendships..

Now I am back on Learnativity late tonight, the Wi-Fi is back up working, I’ve got most of the packages unpacked and stored and I'm a little shell shocked from the wonderful turn of events and having everything fall so suddenly into place.

Words can not express my thanks and appreciation I owe to the phenomenal effort of my state side shore support, John and Paul, for all their efforts to make this all happen.  It is second only to the other tireless workers here in AS who are still pulling 15-18 hour shifts trying to get all the supplies moving into and out of this island and onto others nearby.  Thanks guys!  Let's start planning where and when we are going to meet up for lunch or diner when I get back to Florida in November so I can thank you in person, swap our respective stories and toast the wonders of living while you are alive.

Learnativity will set sail southwards in the morning.  I have not had time to work out the routing just yet, but tentatively plan to head first for the small island nation of Niue to experience some of the clearest water visibility in the world and dive some of its underwater caves and grottos.  Then likely Westward to the southernmost part of the Tonga chain; Tongatapa/Nuku'alofa where we’ll prep for the jump south to Whangarei on the North island of New Zealand. 

I’ll be doing my best to post updates here along the way and keep you all informed as we go.  Approximate ETA in Whangarei is end of October.

Right now though, I’ve got more stuff to stow and some sleep to bank in prep for the upcoming voyages.

Wayne

Doing the Tsunami Tango in American Samoa: Part III

I’m not quite sure of the timing, but about 11am, four hours after the mayhem started on this fateful Tuesday, Sept. 29th, I decided that the surges were down enough and not coming back so I headed for the dock and tied Learnativity to the outside and jumped ashore to help others who were following my lead in.  I was anxious to find Gary and Chris who I’d not seen in the past hour while I was circling out in the bay and also to see what assistance I could provide to others who were looking for lost crewmembers as well as the whole situation ashore.

On American Samoa, as with most other islands the only real road is the one which circles the coastal circumference so it is all very close to sea level.  Normal sea level that is.  When the tsunami hit, the water rose up to a level about 5’ above the roadway and several hundred feet inland.  It cleaned out everything in its path, picking up vehicles and dropping them inside buildings and culverts. If the buildings were concrete and well built, the water neatly emptied all their contents, if not it simply washed away the entire building.  Cars were strewn everywhere as if some giant hand picked up the island and gave it a good shake.  As you walked up to the road there were manta rays, eels and tuna still flopping about on the dry pavement desperately searching for their watery homes.  Several hardware stores along the road had been emptied and tools were strewn everywhere.  Much of the edge of the water was lined with chain link fencing which had acted like a sieve and was now a colorful mosaic chockablock full of a plastic, paper, wood and weeds.

By the time I got up to the road though, people were already pitching in to help others in need and soon people started to clean up the mess that was everywhere.  Traffic was at a standstill of course with vehicles all over the road, wrapped around trees, sticking out of doorways and windows and parked in culverts.  Many had simply been washed into the bay.  There were injured people everywhere and soon the sirens began and continued on through the night and the next few days as more were found amongst the wreckage and on the sides.  Miraculously to me no fires had broken out which was a good thing as there was fuel and oil everywhere.  The gas station immediately behind the dock had all four of its pumps knocked clean off their foundations as cars had floated by and the water rose up over them.  Now they spewed raw gasoline and diesel out of their amputated pipes.  While out in the bay the smell of diesel, gas and oil was overwhelming as most of the large fishing and commercial ships that were swept away had ruptured their tanks and the water was slick with petroleum. 

I wanted so much to head for the West end of the bay to find Gary and Biscayne Bay and help them find Biscayne Bay, as well as see if Ruby had survived.  But I dare not leave Learnativity alone and there was so much to do on the docks trying to help those whose boats were still there and those who were missing crew members.  Gary actually showed up aboard Joan’s boat Mainly to help her dock it and there was still no sign or word of Dan.  And so the afternoon progressed as we all pitched in and drifted from one job to the next; cleaning, consoling, assessing and trying to comprehend what had just happened.  With son Jake on board Biscayne Bay to keep watch as looting had already begun on ships and ashore, Chris and Gary went back and forth between Learnativity and Biscayne Bay in the dingy, moving all their belongings and food aboard Learnativity as I invited them to live with me for the next while.

 

As we shuttled all their belongings from one boat to the other we decided to try to get Biscayne Bay back into the water and if she was not taking on water to try to bring her back to the dock.  Gary and Chris went back to the boat and with the help of some others and the next big surge, miraculously got her upright and off the mud bank and bottom into deeper water.  She was taking on some water, but it was minimal and the bilge pumps would be able to keep up with it.  The engine would start but something was wrapped around the prop or shaft or both and they were locked up solid.  There was limited steering but with a 25HP outboard on his dingy, Gary was able to push and shove her all the way up the bay and around the end of the concrete dock.  With Chris at the wheel and Gary using the dingy as a mini tug boat, Jake threw me the bow line as she raced toward the dock and I was able to wrap the line around one of the large steel bollards and with a final crunch against the dock she was back home.  It was hard to believe that only 8 hours earlier this crunched and battered dear boat had been quietly tied up next to Learnativity in pristine condition.

The search continued for our missing comrade cruiser Dan and with no sign of him by mid afternoon Joan went to the hospital and sadly arrived just as they were bringing Dan’s body to the morgue.  His body had washed up at the west end of the bay.  So difficult to comprehend all this.  How is it possible that at 7am you are sipping your first morning coffee together as a happy retired couple in the cockpit of your sailboat docked in paradise on the cruise you’ve dreamed of and worked for your whole life, and then minutes later be washed off the dock never to be seen again?  We all did out best to be with Joan as she worked her way through such questions and did what we could to be supportive and consoling.  Her boat would not start now for some reason and we were all anxious to ensure that our boats were ready to go at a moments notice should another tsunami strike and so several of us went aboard to set it right.  There was no shortage of skilled mechanics and electricians and we all provided tools and labor and Jack stayed aboard to find it was a bad solenoid and soon had it replaced so at least Mainly was back in working order.  Hearts and minds would require different tools, techniques and time before they would be so mended.

  Learnativity, Ruby and I came through it all pretty much unscathed.  Just the stainless tubing bow pulpit had been ripped apart and so I set about removing it and seeing what could be done to repair it.  It was beyond repair and so I salvaged the running lights and then set about using some low stretch line I had to create a makeshift set of lifelines to enclose the bow. 

Fortunately none of this is structural or will prevent me from continuing to sail to New Zealand where there will be lots of facilities to build a new one.  And I was planning on building a whole new dual anchor setup and sprit on the bow which would require a new pulpit anyway.  I just didn’t plan on removing the old one quite so soon.  Mother Nature apparently had a different schedule and I didn’t get the memo.

Gary and family were back onboard Biscayne Bay assessing the damage for the rest of the afternoon and it didn’t look good.  The more you looked the more structural damage and failed systems you found.  It was floating and they decided they could sleep aboard that night but I had them over for diner and cooked up a big feed of salad (expertly assembled by Chris) and my tummy filling spicy spaghetti and meatballs.  None of us had eaten all day and now with a chance to relax just a bit, the hunger and exhaustion set in.  We spent most of the evening quietly reflecting upon the day, dissecting it and discussing this extraordinary and harrowing experience.  I think it was very therapeutic for each of us as our minds started to deal with the reality of what all had taken place on this eventful day and what we would need to do in the aftermath of the days ahead.  Sleep was both restful and fitful for most of us that night.

Writing this now, two days later, we have continued in this pattern of cleanup, helping each other, repair and restoration of both ships, shore and souls.  It will be a long process for all of these.  The local people have continued to astound me with their genuine kindness and generosity.  In spite of great loss of life all over the island we have had a steady stream of people binging us cases of bottled drinking water, boxed lunches and cooked diners. 

In the span of two days I’ve witnessed the full spectrum of both human and mother nature and I’ve learned so many life lessons.  It is no where near a complete list, but to finish up this posting I’ll share a few of the lessons I’ve learned through this experience.

Some Lessons I Learned from the Tsunami in Pago Pago:

• It may sound trite but it is SO true that you never know when the last time will be for most things.  Living in the moment, maximizing every opportunity, are attitude and behavior to live by rather than cute phrases and platitudes.
• When it is all said and done, people, friendship and relationships are all that really matter.
• The best place to be when trouble or disaster strikes is ON your boat and out in open water.  Get there and stay there at almost any cost.
• I’ve renewed my conviction and love for steel boats.
• In times of great stress and disaster, human nature is on full spectrum display and is the same in all places and cultures.
• Put your faith and optimism in people.  There is much more good in the world than evil, many more good people than bad.
• A big powerful working engine in a sailboat is a safety device.  Make sure it is always at the ready.
• Mother Nature is a majestic and powerful force on a scale that is truly humbling.  It is likely a good thing to be reminded from time to time just how small and puny we are.
• Technology, especially communication technology is vastly under rated and under appreciated for how profound a difference it can make.
• Sat phones are essential safety devices for world cruisers.
• If are ever in the vicinity of a large underwater seismic eruption either get on a boat and head for open water or head inland as high and as quickly as you can.

I hope that by sharing some of these experiences I’ve been able in some small way to help others learn lessons of their own.  I’m off to bed now for a few hours to let my head sort through more of this experience and get some rest before another busy day of dealing with the aftermath of this extraordinary life and learning experience.

Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog
aboard the good ship Learnativity
docked in Pago Pago Harbor
14 16.514S  170 41.554W

Doing the Tsunami Tango in American Samoa: Part II

No time to think, just act.  With the chaos of other ships, some manned, most not, surrounding me and with the water swirling in every direction it was impossible to tell if I was moving forward or back.  I pushed Learnativity as hard as I could with full throttle to overcome the unbelievable opposing force of millions of gallons of water now rushing back in to refill Pago Pago Harbor and doing its best to suck Learnativity backwards into the concrete dock we were fleeing.  Looking back to try to gauge direction and progress I couldn’t believe what I could not see.  There was no dock to be seen!  Just boats and water everywhere.  Was I that disoriented?  Had we drifted that far?  Searching for the dock, I finally got my bearings from the buildings on shore and confirmed that I was just where I thought I was, about 100 feet away from the dock that wasn’t there.  What I can see is a pencil thin vertical line that is the light post which now has Gary, Lisa, Jake, Chris literally hanging on for dear life and Ruby wrapped around Gary’s neck.  I glance further west and see Emily, the stranded young lady from the California yacht Banyan clinging to the other light post.  Then I watch as Kirk, Catherine and Stewart on their sailboat Galivanter motor across the TOP of the dock and get out behind me!

When I think about tsunamis I envision this giant wall of water, a monster wave.  There was no wave here.  The bay simply emptied like someone had pulled the stopper out of a really big bathtub and then equally as fast put it back in and filled it all up from a giant valve below. 

** For some great graphics and explanations of how tsunamis work see this “Tsunami Infographics” site which John kindly passed on.

My brain is struggling to process these visual inputs and try to make sense of it all as I realize the whole dock is under water!  That safe, solid, secure concrete wharf which used to sit about 8 feet above the water is now about five feet under water and rising.  Boats which were previously tied up to the inside edge of the dock between the shore and the dock have broken free and are careening about in the swirling current, posting great threats to Gary et al on the pole.  I look west down to the end of the bay and see that it is filling up with a collection of every floating vessel known to man; pleasure boats both motor and sail of every size, 100’ steel purse seiner fishing boats, trawlers, cargo ships and rowboats.  Most seem to be unmanned and are randomly dancing together, running into each other and all headed West.  Biscayne Bay amongst them.

Learnativity and I escape the clutches of the incoming current and suddenly speed forward.  Hmmm, where did all that ferocious current go?  The water becomes eerily calm and smooth.  Again, you’d think this would be a good thing and again you’d be wrong. The cycle is now reversing.  All that water piled up at the end of the bay, having run up onshore and floated everything there from full buildings to cars, now wants to go back out.  This is the first sign of any wave I saw through the whole ordeal as the water rushes back from its momentary travels ashore and has now formed a low wide wave that is headed east back towards me.  I’ve now made it out into the middle of the harbor where the water is deepest and I have the most room to run and avoid all the oncoming ships and Looking.  I turn Learnativity to face this new rush of water, throttle at the ready to ride out the next surge of current. 

Glancing ashore through all this I watch the concrete dock magically reappear as if it is rising up out of the water in some perverse magic trick.  Then my brain realizes that the dock isn’t moving up, the water is moving down as gazillions of water molecules all rush to join their buddies down at the West end of the bay.  I watch in humbled awe as the water again drains away leaving the dock fully out of the water pilings and all. 

On the left here is one of the few photos I was able to snap in the midst of all this you can see the concrete dock with the tires on the side and the water at the level it would normally be at.  I was only able to take time for a photo because it is in that lull between surges in and out so this water level is between its high and low.  Oh, and you might also notice the sailboat that has been deposited up on top of the wharf!  Minutes earlier it had been tied up alongside the dock.  Think about it and you will have a better sense of the height of the water as it flooded in such that the boat could float up and over the top of the dock and then be dropped on top as the water receeded.

I would estimate the sea level dropped over 15’ in less than 30 seconds.  Then someone hits the rewind button on the video I’m watching and as fast as it dropped the water level starts moving up and my friends on the light poles rush back to it and brace for another dunking.  As it turned out, the worst one yet.

Due I suspect to the additional forces gained by the water all collecting its energy up on the western shore, the speed of the water now rushing out of the bay is the highest yet.  To make matters worse this was no longer “just” water, it was a giant tossed salad of debris from ships to cars to docks to scrap and crap.  All headed back for us with increasing velocity.  And again I am rendered helpless to watch with the disgust of not being able to do anything and the embarrassment of being so relatively safe and dry aboard strong steel Learnativity.  Lisa, Gary, Jake and Chris grip each other and that slender pole, their bodies now trailing off almost horizontal as the slimy soup rises and rushes past them making every effort to rip their hands from the pole and sweep them away like insignificant insects.  They would later recount that this second surge out was the worst of them all and they were within seconds of loosing their grip and the torrent of water began to slack and they returned to vertical as the cycle repeats; current subsides, water goes slack and starts to drop again.  The photo on the right is of this infamous life saving light pole in the middle of the dock and was taken just after I’ve come back in and tied Learnativity up just across from it.  Four people and a dog are alive today because this pole was there, and a similar one right beside me where the Emily from receded was able to hang on and survive.

As the water dropped away and drained off the dock, I can see Lisa and Jake, with Ruby in tow, make a mad dash across the now dry concrete, hit the shore running and kept on going, climbing up the hillside to watch safely from higher ground.  I spot Gary and Chris down on the dock and I speed over close enough that we can yell back and forth.  I’m desperate to help them get onto Biscayne Bay and be able to keep it out of any further harm.  I try to make a pass alongside the wharf so they can jump aboard Learnativity, but now there isn’t enough water beside the dock to float my boat!  I head back out to the middle of the bay and watch and wait for another cycle and then try another pass at the dock to pick them up, but the currents are simply changing too rapidly, there is too much debris to avoid and too dangerous for them to jump.  We all watch over the next 15 minutes as Biscayne Bay pilots itself westward down the bay being hit and hitting back other boats along the way.  With one of the next big surges she is lifted up onto the mud banks and leans over onto her side to rest high and dry, covered in oil and fuels and badly beaten up.

Another cruiser, Mike from Eureka California was having better luck and an amazing experience as his 27’ sailboat motored down the main street at the far west end of the harbor, circled around the intersection and went back out into the harbor!  As the surge he was riding went out it dropped him and his boat onto the ground and then just as nicely picked him right back up again on the next cycle and he was able to get it back into the harbor.  He quickly headed out to the far eastern end of the harbor for some clear water and space to inspect below but all signs show that he only suffered some serious gouging of the keel and hull.  Amazing!

While all this is going on, Joan on Mainly the boat out of South Merrit Island in Florida is letting us know on the VHF that she has still not seen her husband Dan, the one I saw being swept of the docks in the first surge.  One of the big disappointments of this whole experience is the complete lack of response or rescue resources from ashore.  I assumed, very incorrectly, with this being US soil there would be plenty such resources; again I was wrong.  I learned later that the USCG is land based only and it was over three hours later that they were able to respond with any presence on the water.  Nor was their any help from the port authority, no Navy presence, and we were left to our own devices to help each other and coordinate as best we could.  There were now about six or more other sailboats motoring around in circles with me in the middle of the bay as we turned back and forth to point into the next surge and tried to dodge the continuing barrage of unmanned ships, hulls and garbage.  Joan was doing a great job of single handing her boat and I and others started widening our circles to come closer to shore and cover more area in search of Dan or others who were in the water. This cycle of the tsunami “tide” coming in and out continued for several hours and was like a pendulum, continuously decreasing in height and velocity.

When I was first got out in the middle of the bay my instinct for some reason was to get the word out to both friends and family that I was safe and to let the rest of the world know what was going on.  I imagined that there would be lots of news reports about the eruption but very little information on just what was happening locally and I also desperately wanted to know if more was coming and what to expect.  Fortunately I carry a satellite phone and while expensive it certainly more than paid for itself in this situation.  I couldn’t take my eyes and hands off the tasks of piloting Learnativity and searching for people, but I was able to hit my sat phone speed dial and call John in Florida.  Thankfully the time worked out, it was mid day in Florida and John picked up!  I gave  him a quick synopsis of the situation and asked him to send out a note to the Email list of “Learnativity Followers” (people I send my daily updates to while sailing), post a note to my blog and log on as me on Twitter to relay the text messages I would try to send out as regularly as I could.  John has been my lifeline in so many ways, so many times, and once again came through with flying colors as he acted as my ship to satellite to shore relay station.  With his help and the wonders of modern communication technology I was able to let my friends and family know I was alive and get to the world at large with some first hand news about the situation here.  It seemed to work amazingly fast and I received inquiries from several individuals within the first 20 minutes, wanting to know about their friends and family and very soon thereafter started receiving calls and text messages from news centers around the world.  The Twitter feed was particularly interesting and seemed to be the one which spread virally the fastest.  It also allowed John and I to get a series of time stamped updates out which people could then review and see the progression of events here. (see http://twitter.com/#search?q=wwwayne for the feed of these Tweets)

Meanwhile, back in the all too real and present situation I was still circling the center of the bay with others, trying to see if I could find a Wi-Fi signal to get on the internet to get updates, avoiding the ever present danger of other ships and debris and be on the lookout for Dan and the growing list of other people who were now missing.  I wasn’t able to get on the net but was able to get updates from John and was well informed about the second eruption which fortunately didn’t produce any further surge or tsunami that we detected here in Pago Pago.  Whew!  Maybe this part is over?

================= end of Part II ============ to be continued ============

Doing the Tsunami Tango in American Samoa: Part I

Whew!  Now THAT was a full day!  As most of you will know by now I am in Pago Pago Harbor in American Samoa and yesterday (Tues Sept. 29, 2009) we took a direct hit from the tsunami effect caused by the undersea volcanic eruption that took place about 130nm south of here.  Reports seem to estimate it at 8.0-8.3 on the Richter scale so that counts as quite significant I think; certainly was on the Wayne scale!

** Paste my lat/long 14 16.514S 170 41.554W into Google Earth to see for yourself.  This is obviously be the "before" photo and we'll have to wait for the next satellite pass to see the "after"

I’m writing this a day later (Wed afternoon) now that I have a bit more time as things have calmed down a bit, both in terms of water action and more recently all the work in dealing with the aftermath.  Many of you have been able to follow this via various means thanks to the efforts of my main man ashore and overall phenomenal resource; John Alonso in Florida.  Shortly after escaping from the docks where Learnativity was tied up, I was able to get a few satellite phone connections and both talk to John as well as text him while I did my best to deal with the constant draining and then refilling of the harbor and dodge the endless onslaught of other ships, mostly empty, derelict hulls, containers, docks, oil drums and every other sort of debris you can imagine.  John was then able to relay these to all of you via Twitter and Emails and I can’t thank him enough for helping to get the word out and let everyone know what was going on here.  Now that I’ve got a bit more time let me start at the beginning and take you through the day of September 29th, 2009 on the good ship Learnativity.

I am up as usual about 6:30 and getting ready to go for my morning shower up on the deck when I became aware of a low frequency thrumming that I could both hear and feel.  This continued and my first thought was that there was a large freighter or other ship nearby and I was simply feeling the effects of its large propellers churning the water.  Stepping up into the cockpit to look around there was nothing in sight and it was otherwise the start of another day in paradise with the verdant hills surround Pago Pago Harbor rising up steeply all around me and piercing the few clouds in an otherwise brilliant blue sky.  The calm harbor waters stretched out as Learnativity tugged gently on her dock lines securing us to the large concrete wharf where we have been docked in about 15’ of water since arriving on Friday afternoon and joined about six other sailboats and cruisers from Australia, USA and Canada.  

But what IS that vibration??  It is about 06:50 as I step off the boat onto the concrete dock to see if it was perhaps just on Learnativity or the water?  No, it continued and was intensifying if anything.  Having experienced several other quakes including Mount St. Helens and the big quake in San Francisco and LA in the 90’s I began to suspect this as the source however it was too gentle and going on too long for my understanding of what an earthquake feels like.  And I can HEAR it as much as feel it.  Over a minute has gone by now and as I look ashore in search of other points of reference sure enough I can see that the lamp posts and telephone poles are waving back and forth like they were blades of grass in a gentle breeze.  Hmmm, I’ve only seen poles move like that once before and that was as I looked outside my office window in Sausalito during the 1989 Loma Preita earthquake.  OK, it may be different but I’ve solved the riddle and we got ourselves an earthquake.

A few of my fellow cruisers (people who live aboard their boats while cruising the world) have been awakened and are crawling sleepily out of their beds and joining me on the concrete wharf.  The mood is typically easy and friendly as we say quietly say good morning, compare notes and discuss just what’s going on.  The thrumming continues through most of this and I’d estimate at least 3 minutes in total.  We agree it must have been an earthquake and Gary, an Australian from Freemantle on his 52’ Irwin “Biscayne Bay” with wife Lisa, son Jake and Canadian crewmember Chris, joins us and tells that he has just checked it out online and found reports filed under “latest earthquake” of an underwater eruption about 20 minutes ago 130nm south of us

We continued to casually chat and discuss how unique the characteristics were.  None of us had ever experienced an undersea eruption or other such disturbances on our boats and we just left it at that as we dispersed back to our boats for breakfast and one person casually joked that we should just watch for any big wave we see.  No such wave ever materialized, it was much worse.

Just as I was bout to step back onto my boat it started to drop.  Huh?  Before I could even comprehend what was happening it then started to rapidly lean sideways as the dock lines strain and screech, tightening more and more as they take on the full weight of my very heavy steel home.  My instincts scream GET ON THE BOAT!   I jump aboard and grab onto the rigging as she continues to lean more and more and more.  THUD! Holy #^%& we are hard over on our side and ……. WHAT the …..?  the bottom of the bay is staring back at me as I dangle by one hand from the rigging. 

My mind  is cycling through every possible explanation, trying to come to terms with all the inputs and amongst the cacophony of sights and sounds as boats smash around me, deck lines snap, rigging strains.  These sounds are overlaid and an ominous and enormous rushing and sucking sound as the water all around my boat suddenly drains away! 

But a new noise, like fingernails across a blackboard divert my attention to the near vertical deck and I see poor Ruby (my 2 year old cockapoo and sailing companion) trying in vain to dig her claws into the steel deck, her legs thrashing like a cartoon animation character as she gathers speed going the other way and her tail end is headed for all the fish I now see and hear flopping around on the bottom of the bay as they search of their missing watery home.

Ruby’s a gonner if she leaves the boat so I let go of the rigging, do my best imitation of a full 180 mid air flip and lunge after her with one outstretched hand and desperately reach out with the other in the hopes of grabbing some other hand hold.  Just as Ruby is launched off the deck I get a right handful of the scruff of her neck and harness as my left hand wraps itself around the lifeline cable.  No time to think, just act.  Ruby in hand I scramble up to the opposite (Port) high side of the deck.  All hell is breaking loose around me both on my boat and all the others and I’m not going to be able to do much with one hand.  I look up above me and spot Jake, Gary’s son (14) standing on the edge of the wharf looking down at me and I yell “Jake!  Catch!” and throw Ruby up to his thankfully open arms.  He makes a great catch, Ruby is in good hands and I’ve got both of mine back.

Interesting how we all react differently.  Back aboard Biscayne Bay, Gary and family have been below making breakfast, when they notice the concrete dock rushing up past their porthole windows as if they were in an elevator shaft.  Their boat is in much deeper water around the corner from where I Learnativity is docked, so they are going straight down, lines straining, fiberglass crunching and that ever present surreal sucking sound all around.  Gary’s reaction, understandably is to GET OUT! and so they all dash up into the cockpit and scramble up the vertical wall of concrete and rubber tires as Gary pushes and shoves each of them up onto the top of the concrete wharf.

The sucking sound stops.

There is a moment of seeming silence that you’d think would be comforting but you’d be wrong.  It’s ominous.  And then a new set of sounds begin.  The volume with a ferocious velocity.  Faster than it has left, all that water is now coming back!  All the problems reverse.  Learnativity rights itself and is now rocketing skyward.  I grab my always-on-my-belt knife and dash down the port side from bow to stern slashing all the dock lines.  Scramble back into the cockpit, start the engine, simultaneously shove both control levers ahead, putting the transmission into forward gear and the throttle lever on full.  All six cylinders pick up speed as the revs cling, the turbine whines, the prop bites hard into the swirling water below and Learnativity starts to pull away from the ………………………… wharf.  What wharf?  It’s GONE! 

The water rushing back into the bay doesn’t stop at it’s previous level, it continues to go up and up and up the sides of the wharf.  It floods over the top and keeps going.  The speed and force of of the current created by millions of gallons of water flooding into the harbor is unbelievable water and is doing its best to push Learnativity backwards into the dock and marina as I put my faith into the power of diesel fuel and take a minute to look back and see if I’m going forward or backwards.

It is hard to describe what I see.  Closest to me, Gary, Lisa, Jake (clutching Ruby) and Chris are running as fast and best they can through the rushing water for a stone walled garden area in the middle of the concrete wharf that happens to have a small but tall light post embedded into it.  I watch helplessly as they climb up onto the base of the light pole, wrap their arms around each other and hang on as the water rushes past them, continuing to rise; up, up, up.

I glance along where I know the edge of the dock to have been and watch as one other boat with a great young crew of five from California have jumped aboard even quicker than I and are motoring quickly away. No wait, on the other matching lamp post down the dock I spot one of their female crewmembers who got caught ashore now clinging to this lamp pole.  Other sailboats, including Biscayne Bay have now ripped free of their tethers and I watch as they turn with the continuously rising current and crash into each other, taking the other boats in their path like falling dominos.  On the left is the “after” picture of this infamous light pole with (from left to right) Chris, Jake, Lisa, Ruby and Gary posing with much different expressions on their faces.  Imagine them and the water level half way up this pole!

As my eyes continue to travel further down the dock, I watch in horror as one cruiser is on the dock trying to untie his lines and is swept off his feet by the torrent of water.  His wife is aboard and manages to control the boat as it comes free but I can’t see any sign of her husband in all the flotsam and jetsam churning in the water. 

Worse than just the water though, almost everything imaginable has been picked up by this flood of water, torn lose from anything silly enough to try to hold them down and is now looking to smash into anything and everything in its erratic path.  I glance back to the lamp post where the Biscayne Bay crew are now climbing higher and higher up the lamp post, Gary has Ruby wrapped around his neck so he can use both his arms to hold on to his family and try to keep from being ripped off the post by the force of the water or hit by one of the boats or containers rushing toward and past them.  My brain is cycling through the question of “What can I do to help them?” but it is quite literally out of my hands and I have to turn away and bring my attention back aboard and foreword.  Fortunately diesel power overcomes even these humbling forces of nature and Learnativity and I escape to the safety of the middle of the bay.  Or is it?

========== to be continued ==========

That will need to do for the first installment, I’ll do the rest for you tomorrow.  I’m just back from a lovely diner aboard Biscayne Bay which while badly knocked up and damaged is inhabitable and afloat.  And as my Aussie friends would say, “I’m knackered”, too tired to do much more cogent writing tonight.  Hope you enjoy the details and 'I’ll have the rest of the story, more photos and video tomorrow.

Night for now.

Wayne

More Magical Moments

LTY UPDATE:
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Arrived in Bora Bora after sailing from Huahine

Location:        inside the reef, anchored in Baie de Povai, on the SW coast of Bora Bora
Position:        16 31.405S 151 44.336W (cut & paste into Google Earth to see for yourself)

Wind:             gusting to 20 knots at times inside the lagoon
Sea temp:       79.7F            26.5C
Air temp:        79.3F            26.3C
Humidity:        63%
Barometer:     1017
Weather:        mostly cloudy & overcast, threatening to rain but never quite does.

Today was very special for me with one of those magical memorable moments in life.  But before I get to that, let’s start by bringing you up to date with the most recent sail and Learnativity Update:

After a very rolly, fast and blustery overnight sail from our anchorage at Huahine (shown in the four photos here), Learnativity arrived in Bora Bora at first light this morning.  Julia, (my sister Wendy’s daughter from Comox) successfully completed her 2nd night watch and did great.  She’s very observant and a quick learner and it is a nice treat for me to have someone else on board to take over for a few hours while I catch a few more winks than usual on night sails.  Didn’t get too much sleep last night though as the wind was up quite high and shifting directions and we were sailing with just the jib as the main sail is still in being repaired back in Papeete. 

 

We had spent the past 2 days on the North side of Huahine, a small island to the NW of Tahiti and Moorea, anchored near the only village of Fave.  We were joined by our good friends Philip and Moni on their Outreemer catamaran Blue Bie and though the weather was overcast with a few bouts of rain, we enjoyed some time ashore and snorkeling inside the lagoon. 

With Julia’s time starting to run out (she flies out on Sunday August 6th) and wanting to have her see Bora Bora, we pulled up the anchor last night (Sat) just after sundown last night figuring that would put us at the pass into Bora Bora at about first light, which is around 6am local time.  However in spite of having only the one smaller jib to sail with,we made very good time, too good in fact, as the wind was quite strong for the beginning and end of the approximately 50nm trip. and we were at the pass just after 5am this morning.

Julia had made up supper just before we weighed anchor and so we enjoyed her tasty stir fry with “fragrance de poulet” as soon as we had cleared the easy exit out of the pass at Huahine.  The “fragrance” comment comes from a pretty funny story.  Near the marina Tahina where we were last week in Papeete there is a fabulous French grocery store I recall from France called Carrefour where the food selection is unbelievable and the prices are about as low as they get for French Polynesia, meaning not quite as expensive.  We stocked up on food supplies for the next two weeks and Julia purchased a package of what appeared to be the better part of a whole chicken and put it in our freezer onboard.  Last night, just as I was about to bring in the anchor, she called me down to the galley where the delectable smells of roasted chicken had been wafting out and across the harbor, and asked me what was wrong with the chicken as she couldn’t seem to get any of the meat off?  This was a bit puzzling and upon closer inspection it turned out that this was a stewing chicken!  Would have been great for soup but not much meat on those bones for the ginger stir fry Julia had planned!  However, we scraped off what meat we could and the stir fry was delicious, plus we had yet another story to tell!

Back to sailing, the wind continued to build as we sailed northwest toward NE corner of the island of Tahaa and by the time rounded that corner we were doing over 6 knots in the 20+ knots of wind coming out of the SE.  We turned westward headed for the SE corner of Bora Bora and the wind died down considerably as we got into the lee of Tahaa.  With less wind and sail adjustment to worry about, I got Julia up for a few hours watch from about 1 to 3am during this lull and she completed her 2nd night watch with no problems while I got a bit of sleep as we sailed through a rainy night.   As we left the protection of Tahaa and worked our way west to Bora Bora the wind picked returned and was back into the mid 20’s for the rest of the trip. 

The wind continued to build and by the time I rounded the SW corner of Bora Bora and headed north towards the only pass in, Passe Teavanui, I had the jib furled all the way in and we were still doing 4 knots with just the bare poles (no sail up).  All these islands are surrounded by coral reefs and there are also many coral heads scattered within their inner lagoons, so goo visibility is critical, especially when navigating into a new location.  Not wanting to head into this unfamiliar pass in the dark I kept our speed down as low as possible up the west side and waited just off shore of the pass until the sun was up enough to light the way in.  The wind was on our nose and up into the 20’s all the way in but the pass was very well marked and presented no problems.  I found a nice protected spot in Baie de Povai down on the SW corner of the mainland of Bora Bora and easily anchored in about 70’ of water with a sandy bottom.  This put the stern right up against where the bottom rises up very quickly to a coral reef along the shore but we held well and this location makes for a very beautiful anchorage.  

We are sitting right at the base of the famously changing Mt. Otemanu with its set of very different shaped peaks you can see in some of these photos here.  Mount Otemanu is what you see in all the postcards and movies which has made Bora Bora such a well known location for so many years.  In addition to be quite spectacular, these varying peaks give Mt. Otemanu the fascinating characteristic of appearing to be a completely different mountain as you make your way around the island and your vantage point changes.  And I know this from my first visit here almost 15 years ago when Diana, Lia and Skyler and I were here on one of our many sabbatical holiday adventures (thanks Autodesk!).  Diana had done here typically spectacular job of planning yet another fun 2 month travel vacation and had chartered a sailboat (with captain) for a week, followed by a week here on Bora Bora where we stayed in one of those pretty Polynesian round palm roof huts.  Which brings me to the magical memorable moment I mentioned at the outset.

Not that I realized it at the time, but as best I can trace it, this is where the sailing bug first bit me and hence the title of today’s posting.  The infection remained latent for a long time, but as I’ve looked back and tried to answer the question for others as well as myself as to why I’m out sailing the world, I can see the symptoms gradually emerged after this family vacation and our time aboard that chartered sailboat inside the lagoon of Bora Bora, gazing up through the cabin hatch at the peaks of Mount Otemanu and watching Lia and Skyler jumping off the boat into the almost bath temperature azure lagoon waters. 

Try to imagine how very special this morning was for me as I sat off shore of Passe Teavanui and watched as the rising sun lit up this special set of peaks as if I was watching the beginning of a classic movie where the opening scene slowly fades into view.  For this is a grand adventure movie and it is just beginning and it is now so very real!  It therefore struck me that in a figurative sense this morning marked my completion of what could be called a “cognitive circumnavigation”.  Here I was about to enter the same Bora Bora lagoon where we had anchored as a family lo so many years ago.  But this time I was not sailing as a passenger on a chartered boat from nearby (40nm) Raiatea but as captain of my very own sailboat, having sailed over ten thousand nautical miles from Victoria where Learnativity was built!  How special is that??

Now you can see just how true it is when I say that I jumped into the deep end of the pool of ignorance!  I did not grow up around boats, sailing or the sea.  I can find no trace of mariners in any of my ancestry.  In one sense I’m completely unprepared and in another I’ve been preparing for this all my life.  As with all my previous milestones in life, I truly don’t know what led me here and this has taught me to trust in and use serendipity and synchronicity as my strategic guides.  What I do know is that this grand new aquatic adventure just seems to fit me better every day.  The complete independence and freedom coupled with equally complete self dependence and reliance upon equal parts head, hand and heart.  The human kindness and generosity.  The bonding with other cruisers you’ve only just met.  The teachings of local people who speak, think and live so differently and yet with whom you discover so much in common if you open up, listen and learn.  The learning that seems to increase exponentially as I’m humbled every day by the teachings of my new mothers; Nature and Ocean.  How truly paradoxical it is that the more you learn the better you understand how much you don’t know what you don’t know! 

All of this merely reinforces what I’ve long believed; that life is for living, loving and learning and I’m trying to do each of these a little bit better every day. I remain as excited, as humbled and as awestruck by this grand adventure movie I’m in, whether its the one which began here in Bora Bora over 15 years ago or the one which began just this morning.  It is GREAT to have you for an audience.  Stay tuned for the next act!

Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog,
Wandering and pondering the planet, one nautical mile at a time.

Magical Moments: aka Lia’s Wedding

August 1, 2009

I’ve led a pretty blessed life thus far but I think it reached a new all time high on the scale of profound joy when I had the incredible privilege to be the Father of the Bride for my incredible daughter Lia and her now husband Brian.  Now that I’ve had a few weeks to reflect and regain my speech from such an awesome experience, the title above is the best summative description I can come up with:  it was several days of “magical moments” and here’s the brief recap for those who are interested.

As per the previous posting it all started with another set of magical moments when Skyler and I rode our motorcycles down the Pacific Coast Highway to Lia & Brian’s place in Pomona.  Lia and Brian had done an amazing job of organizing everything for the months leading up to this and so we didn’t have to rush around much at all.  We picked up our tuxedos and made sure everything fit properly, looked after a few other remaining items on Lia’s list, dropped Lia’s dog Piglet off at the “doggy hotel” and generally got in a very good visit with just the four of us enjoying time together in the calm before the storm of the big wedding day on Saturday.  Diana, her Mom, Dad and sister Doreen arrived on Thursday afternoon and after the girls all went out to pick up their dresses, get nails and hair done, etc. we had a great family evening together.

Friday morning we drove out to beautiful Calamigos Ranch in the Malibu hills where the wedding and reception were held and met up with the rest of the wedding party which consisted of Brian’s family and then the other four couples who are also Lia & Brian’s closest friends.  I’d been fortunate enough to have Lia and Brian show me this place when I first landed in LA on July 1st and as you’ll see in the pictures and on their site if you follow the previous link, it is a gorgeous natural outdoor setting that covers almost 130 acres and is extremely nicely landscaped, lit and designed for weddings.  Again, everything was extremely well organized when we arrived and we quickly ran through the rehearsal and then went to a local restaurant for lunch with both families and all the wedding party.

Then it was back to the hotel where we were all staying that was just a few miles from the wedding site and out to dinner with everyone who had arrived for the wedding.  This was another one of the more memorable moments as there were friends who had literally come from all over the globe to share in this experience and gone to great lengths to get here, including friends who drove an RV with their four great kids all the way from Florida!  And then, before I knew it, a day I had been anticipating in some ways before Lia was even born, my little girl’s wedding day, had arrived!

 OK, for those of you who just can’t wait to see some of the pictures, here are a few collages of the wedding to tide you over and all these thanks to my friend Robin Wilson.  Robin BTW, not only came with his wife Jayne all the way from England to be with us, but this was also THEIR wedding date and anniversary!  You photo junkies can also head straight for the bottom of this posting for a series of links to many more photos and several slide shows if you want even more photos.

** NOTE:  click on any photo to see a larger version

.But for those of you with a bit more patience, here are some details and some closer shots of this truly magical set of moments in my life.

The wedding ceremony was held on a raised area under the shade of a large tree with all the guests seated on a grassy area in front.  You can get an idea from this photo on the left and others below, just how beautiful this setting was.  The time before the start of the ceremony was very special to me as well as the anticipation of the arrival of the bride mounted and the rest of us all had time to talk in this beautiful location.  And then it was time.

The wedding party all gathered down at the arbor at the beginning of the winding path leading up to the tree.  Here’s a great shot of Skyler as he escorts Diana, the beautiful beaming Mother of the Bride, to her seat.  The other immediate family and wedding party similarly made their way up the path to their places and I waited just out of sight of everyone off to the left of the arbor.

 

 

One of the most emotional moments for me, and for Lia, was when I walked her up this winding path and delivered her to into the hands of a very patiently waiting groom, Brian.  As I stood down behind the arbor and just out of sight of all the guests, a vaguely familiar brilliant vision in white appeared on my right hand side.  Neither words nor pictures can possibly describe this radiant beauty and I barely recognized this woman now holding my right arm to be my very own daughter Lia!  Clearly she takes after her mother, and as you can perhaps tell from the expression on my face, this could not have been a more proud or happy moment for me.

 

 

 

And then, there she was, my little girl, surrounded by friends and family, holding hands with Brian, and exchanging vows.  Lia and Brian had put a great deal of thought into the whole ceremony and all of its components and it we all enjoyed being witness to the words, poems and songs they exchanged.

 

 

Photos of all the various combinations of this new extended family followed as the twilight of a California summer evening provided great lighting and all the guests walked over to the nearby wooded area and deck where the reception was held.

 

 

 

As you can see in some of these following photos, the reception area was a beautiful combination of being open to these beautiful grounds and covered by the canopy provided by all the trees and yet also under a twinkling white canopy of canvas, lights and lace.  

The food was excellent and we interrupted the bride and groom with plenty of clinking glasses and required kissing.

 

Then it was time for a moment I really had been waiting for all my life; the Father of the Bride speech.  Not that all this time made me any better prepared I might add, but here is what I came up with.  I first commented on how I’ve come to believe that “shared happiness” is an oxymoron.  I quickly went on to explain that I’ve come to realize that happiness is almost unattainable other than by having others to share it with, and therefore it was only through such friends and family being there that we were able to experience the happiness of this special occasion.

However the majority of my comments consisted of my telling a series of stories which I called “The Lost and Found of Life with Lia”.  This came from something I realized as so many people asked about how difficult it must be for me to “give away” or loose my daughter.  My response was that while I agreed with the the oft noted truth that I was really gaining a new son and family, I had become very accustomed to loosing Lia every since she was born.  Please let me explain.

As I reflected on the gift in my life called Lia, what struck me the most was how I have and continue to be undeservedly blessed to share my life with not one, but a series of very different Lia’s as she grew from on stage to the next.  I described how just as I was falling in love with one of these stages of Lia, I’d loose her as she transformed into her next stage, and then I’d start falling even more in love with this next new Lia I’d find.  And so for me, life with Lia has been a wonderful series of “lost and found”.  I went on to tell a series of stories of the Lia’s I’d lost and found so far, and connected each one with a short poem I came up with to help me make each transition.

I recalled for example a Lia I knew when she was less than a year old who would balance on the upturned palm of my outstretched arm and then as I firmly grasped her tiny feet, she would flip over to hang upside down and then I’d flip her back upright where she’d regain her balance and say “again Daddy, again!”

Then I barely turned around,
and that little Lia was gone.
Instead, to my delight I found,
A new Lia in my life shone.

I recalled a Lia of about two or three, who I’d find peering at me through the video camera viewfinder.  We’d pretend we didn’t know each other and I was a TV news reporter and would interview her by asking her lots of questions.  No matter what the question, Lia ALWAYS had an immediate, well thought out and quite amazing answer.

Then I barely turned around,
and that little Lia was gone.
Instead, to my delight I found,
A new Lia in my life shone.

After telling many more such stories about some of the Lia’s I’ve lost and found over the years, each joined by this short poem, I last told of how most recently I’d found a new Lia in the form of an amazing young woman and a beautiful bride on my arm, and yet here I was loosing that Lia again too.  Only to be finding and already falling in love with yet another bright light in my life, a Lia who is now ever so happily married and setting off on a whole new shared adventure in life with Brian. 

With that, I was finally able to ask everyone to join me in toasting both my lovely Lia and her new husband Brian, with the wish that they too would experience the profound joys of an unending series of such lost and found experiences in their new life.

And as if I hadn’t already had more great moments than any one person should expect in a lifetime, I had the honor of one more in the form of the Father/Daughter dance!

 

 

The rest of the evening was filled with dining and dancing as we all shared in the happiness of Lia and Brian and wished them a long and happy life together.  The limousine arrived about 11pm and whisked them away as they headed off for their honeymoon for a well deserved week alone, being pampered and waited on in a top notch all inclusive resort in Cancun Mexico.

The rest of us literally closed the ranch down, even paid the DJ to stay on longer and so finished up one of the most memorable days I ever expect to have.

Hope you enjoyed this overview and the photos (see below for links to more) and Lia will soon have many more to share with you soon when all the wedding photos are available and they too will be available for you online.

Again, I want to thank all of our friends and family who were able to join us at the wedding and by doing so, enabled us to truly experience shared happiness. For those of you who are reading this, my thanks for your interest and this virtual and vicarious form of sharing which is no less gratifying and appreciated.

Lia and Brian, may this incredible start of your new life together be but the beginning of an exponential curve of profound joy for you both.

Love, Dad

 

LINKS to MORE PHOTOS:

The official photos aren’t finished yet, but here are several links to more photos if you’re interested, from the cameras I and others had to capture this great event:

• Sneak peak slide show from the wedding photographer
• Shots from the camera of Maid of Honor Chelsea
• Gallery of photos from Robin Wilson
• Slideshow from Robin Wilson

Father & Son Curvy Coastal Cruising

July 29, 2009

One of the best things that happened when I was back in the USA and California for Lia’s wedding was the time I got to spend with my super son Skyler.  In addition to getting some time to just “hang out” and catch up while I was in the SF Bay area, Sky and I took the opportunity to travel to Lia’s wedding by riding our motorcycles from Petaluma (north of San Francisco) to Lia’s place in Pomona (north of LA) 

We rode down the famous curvy Pacific Coast Highway #1(PCH) which is amongst THE best motorcycle routes anywhere.  We took our time and just enjoyed some all too rare one on one, father/son time, our first motorcycle tour together, a fine ride and lots of stops for food, photos and talk as we stopped often to take in the ever changing scenery.  We got an early start out of Petaluma and managed to get south of all the traffic and congestion of San Francisco and San Jose quite quickly and then cut West over to PCH or Highway 1.  The weather was surprisingly chilly, though as Mark Twain once put it, the coldest winter he ever knew was the summer he spent in San Francisco!  But it was good riding weather and continued to warm up as we progressed southward.

It was particularly fun for Sky and I to recall how we had previously seen all of this same coast from the very different vantage point of the sea when he and I had sailed down this same coast in March last year when he joined me for the first four months of the trip aboard the good ship Learnativity.  We particularly enjoyed our stop in Santa Barbara as Sky had spent almost two weeks there in the SB marina when I flew out for a short business trip and he and Ruby stayed aboard Learnativity and had a great time on their own.  Santa Barbara is very notable to sailors because it is the first port south of the infamous Point Conception that juts out where the coastline of California makes its change from running pretty much north/south and turns heads in a more ESE direction towards San Diego and Mexico.  Point Conception also marks the spot on the coast of the “border” between north and south California and the climate changes dramatically as soon as you cross this line and get to Santa Barbara.  Mariners remark that when you cross Point Conception you take off your sweaters and put on your swimming suits.  But more than just the weather, I can recall being infatuated with Santa Barbara on my very first visit there back in the early 70’s and every time I’ve returned I’ve been more enamored with this idyllic town.  I’ve spoken with many others who have the same feeling and also struggle to describe it with words.  It has a very small town feel, but as I discovered even more as Skyler and I rode the entire length of it from north to south, it is a surprisingly large city.   The university lends a very collegiate and young feel to it, yet the architecture and layout has a wonderfully worn and old look to it.  Sky and I stopped at the marina to reminisce and share our mutual amazement at how it felt as if it had been so long ago and yet just yesterday since we were docked there on Learnativity. 

We had planned to take two days to meander our way down to Pomona so we debated whether to have dinner at the marina and stay overnight in Santa Barbara, but it was only just after 6pm, less than two hours from Lia’s house and we were anxious to get to Lia and Brian’s house to help out with the preparations for the wedding so we called them and asked if it would be OK if we arrived that night and so we did.  Our idyllic ride came to an abrupt halt not far South of Santa Barbara as we turned off of the sleepy two lane PCH and headed East on at times 10 lanes of LA freeways!  But we arrived in Pomona not too long after dark, had a great time catching up with Lia and Brian, going over what all needed to be done for the wedding and hen headed off to bed.

Thanks for the ride and yet another great set of memories Skyler!

Love, Dad