June 28th, 2009

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Sunday June 28, Bermuda

Sunday, June 28th, 2009
Limestone walls

Limestone walls

"Fleetwood" anchorage St. Geroge
“Fleetwood” anchorage St. Geroge
Stella Maris R.C. church
Stella Maris R.C. church
Bermuda is made up of volcanic rock and a thin layer of marine deposited lime stone. The rock is used for the walls and rock fences and the limestone is used for the roofs as slate/shingles and thern covered with a thick limestone wash. This also acts as a purifier for the rainwater collection. It makes for a very attractive and simple construction.
The 9 am mass at “Stella Maris” was very nice. The priest is from Southern Ontario. The parishioners were mostly Portuguese and some Filipinos. A small choir sang the communal hym in Portuguese.
This morning we had more rain and there is a strong wind blowing. Very difficult to row up wind back to the boat.
I need some dry wetaher to try patch the water tank. I was given the name of Stavros who repairs rubber ducks (Ozzie for inflatable). I will now try and shore up the goose neck with the hose calmps I purchased yesterday.
My friend Bobbe sent me a n appropriate prayer for the Sunday and I thought you might also like it. As she mentioned, the ending is particularly appropriate in my setting.
May today be all you need it to be.May the peace of God and the freshness of the Holy Spirit rest in your thoughts, rule in your dreams tonight, and conquer all your fears. May God manifest Himself today in ways you have never experienced. May your joys be fulfilled, your dreams be closer, and your prayers be answered. I pray that faith enters a new height for you; I pray that your territory is enlarged. I pray for peace, healing, health, happiness, prosperity, joy, true and undying love for God. God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.

 

Saturday Evening Post, 27 June. Biked to Hamilton

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

First of all I want to tell you about an e-mail I received from Joke (pronounced Yokah, no joke..) Brancart. She found me on the www.zuidelijkewandelweg.nl This is a web site for the old neighborhood I grew up in, on the southern edge of Amsterdam. Joke and her neighbor gave me, and my twin brother Jan, our first sailing lessons. In Loosdrecht,  a series of  lakes about 20 miles from Amsterdam. We were about 14/15 years old.  She is the one who we can blame for my perverse development.  Joke was on my list of old girl friends I wondered what had ever become of them. In 2003 I reconnected, by pure coincidence, with Eefje Mierdink, she was 16 I was 19 in 1957 and then I left for the USA.

There are two more names on my list, Irene Prager, 1956 and Betty Lou Walker, 1958. I have this fantasy that I am going to sail backwards from Gibraltar to the Leeward Islands in 2011 and then Oprah Winfrey will contact my agent and he will negotiate with her that I will  agree to appear on her show as long as I can drop the names Irene Prager and Betty Lou Walker. 

Back to the ordinary daily routine of a retired cruiser. I had my exercise to-day.  Jon, the Harken rep here, with my replacement for the overboard headfoil feeder, figured that the bike ride from St. George to Hamilton would take me 30 minutes. Well, no, not really.  It’s a little over 20 k.m. or nearly 14 miles.  With a strong west wind against me it took me about two and a half hours. Return trip 2 hours. And my butt is sore. There is just about enough room in these roads for horses to pass, a line of tiny compact cars and scooters would back up behind me. I met Jon at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club in Hamilton. An impressive place. Twenty inch wide Heart Pine flooring, at least a 100 years old. Draft Beer $ 6.60 (tips are included here). The weather turned ugly and it limited my opportunity to cruise Hamilton. But again a very attractive place. Hamilton is the main business center and tall buildings down town. Lots of bays and inlets. It reminded me of Auckland, N.Z.  Found the marine hardware, for the broken goose neck, had dinner while the skies poured their loads and then rode back through the puddles. I hope to have my Auto Pilot back and fixed by Monday/Tuesday. There does not appear to be a replacement available in Bermuda for the water tank. No place that can vulcanize. So, I am back to the MMM-5200 adhesive routine, when the rains stop.

Mass is at 9 a.m. Sunday at “Stella Maris”. (Star of the Sea) Last time I attended mass at O.L. Star of the Sea, was in the Solomons on the Chesapeake, last August.