We could use some good cheer

The Mexico administrative saga continues — I won’t bore you with details but suffice to say nothing has been going smoothly and there seem to be roadblocks at every turn. So we continue to be in San Pedro, Los Angeles, and the boat has been tied up here for seven weeks so far. We visited family both in Hawaii and in Reno and that was a heart-giving two weeks of those seven weeks, we’ve seen some friends from Reno to San Diego to Long Beach which has been soul-giving — and we’re now itching to be doing…something. Anything, really, other than being stuck.

Since Mexico is still a wild card at this point, we are now planning and executing boat projects in advance of the Hawaii sailing weather window opening November 15. Twenty-ish days crossing an ocean is an entirely different proposition than coast-hopping down the Baja coast of Mexico where the longest passage is no more than two/three nights at sea. We’re not sure if we’ll have any other options other than stopping our trip or continuing on over an ocean. Is this our beautiful boat Horizon telling us she’s ready for the big time? We do know that she was tied up as a “condo boat” for more years than she deserved — and that she’s been at least as far as Europe since we’ve found European parts on the boat. She is raring to go big and far. And the big question remains — are WE ready for the big time?

We could really use some good cheer and warm thoughts from y’all! Comments on this blog, texts, emails, phone calls, visits from anyone in the LA area would all be super-duper appreciated as our spirits go back and forth between flagging, flatlining, and hopeful. Thank you in advance, friends!! It’s taken me a minute to be able to ask for help (hello recovering from individualism), and your good thoughts and reaching out to us will mean the world.

Here’s a random smattering of what’s been keeping us busy, in terms of books/articles/TV shows/boat projects etc. (I know this is a sailing blog…and since we’re not currently sailing…):

• Watching: Ali Wong’s new stand-up special Single Lady (Netflix) is hilarious, ofc. And thanks to a recommendation from my dear friend Kim, my millennial heart is warmed by the Netflix show Nobody Likes This (Jonah from Veep! Seth from The OC! Willa from Succession!)
• Reading: I tore through All Fours by Miranda July which made this year’s Booker Longlist and is a wildly erotic and bonkers read; I could not BELIEVE the ending to the Irish family saga The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (2023 Booker Prize shortlist); I read Jane Eyre for the very first time (!) while in Reno and just adored ALL THE DRAMA; on the non-fiction side, Helen Czerski’s The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works gives an incredible overview on how the ocean dominates our planet, even if you live nowhere near the ocean — she helps make the unseeable seen in a beautiful way, for example did you know that scientists can tell how stressed out whales are from their earwax.
• Scrolling: Have you read the compelling The Atlantic piece on how America has gone well beyond misinformation? I’m also fascinated by Anne Helen Petersen’s piece on The Opulence and Liberation of Maximalism.
• Climate change: The news of the hurricanes in North Carolina and Florida has been devastating and real. It’s hard to process the news (climate-related or not), and I’m relieved to not be working in the field of corporate sustainability. It hasn’t felt like it’s making any shred of difference for years now (see: runaway climate change). Here in LA, we’ve had the morning gloom normally reserved for May and June continue here well into October, and of course while it’s not as devastating as the many catastrophes globally, it’s still a smack in the face of how our planet is changing irreversibly in human timeframes.
• Boat projects: Our boat is currently un-sailable due to many projects in flight, such as reinstalling very leaky deck windows/prisms. Friends in San Diego were so kind to help us get my new Sailrite sewing machine and many accessories and fabric, and I’ve started sewing many covers for things that need protection from salt if we cross an ocean — more photos to come when finished. We’ve made some huge moves in terms of making our boat more watertight with epoxying and rebedding and rolls and rolls of butyl tape. Our boat project list continues to be long and distinguished, especially if Horizon is going to cross an ocean!

Some photos from the past few weeks: