I have finally received my US Coast Guard Captains License. My list of credentials spills over to the backside, and includes inland 50-ton, near-coastal OUPV (“six-pack”), and a commercial towing endorsement.
Now that I am official (read: insurable), I hope to continue to inspire the passion to sail the wind and live on the water through EXAMPLE. I intend to do more than dip my toe into the pool of sailing charters!
Q
On August 16th, a wave of rain caused an earthen dam on a tributary to the Grand Canyon in Northern Arizona to overtop, and let the contents of the reservoir loose on the Havasupai Indian Reservation town of Supai, near Havasupai Falls (video of the flooding falls here).
Over 150 people were evacuated and no one was hurt.
A group of rafters lost their boats and had to be rescued by helicopter. Here, and here.
This… is where we are going this fall, to raft the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Three weeks on the wildest, most surreal river trip you can experience in the lower 48 states. Our group puts on the river the third week of September and takes out mid-October.
So, the planning is getting to the intense point-of-no-return quickly. What cameras to bring, how to manage batteries and tapes, and water (in addition to all the necessary river gear).
On a more peaceful note, I have finished logging and capturing the regatta footage. I hope to have the video done in time for the November Yacht Club meeting, at which I will be presenting the club with the charter sailing vacation for 2009: Caribbean, Sea of Cortez or the San Juan Islands. Personally, I can’t decide, so I’m letting the club decide. In addition, my Master’s License is mere days from the printing press, after which I will be plotting a course for a berth for two!
On a sadder note, I will be listing our Ericson 26 “Potential” for sale this fall; I have been procrastinating, and the selling-season is drawing to an end. A boat of her caliber will sell quickly, and I have been struggling with the concept of loss lately; I had to put down my faithful dog Vega this month. She was 14 years old. Her dream was for me to sail in her honour, I believe…
I got Vega from the Humane Society of Tucson after my first commercial salmon-fishing season in Kodiak, Alaska, in the fall of 1994. She quickly became the family – my familiar – that I returned to from the sea.
I believe it is time to get back to the water.
Q