Who would have ever thought it would come to this:
Expat Californians in Texas feel right at home during Texan blackouts during one to the coldest snaps in their history. Texas is big on everything including their power grid failures
But, but big Al said snow and ice would be a thing of the past:
“Snow Takes Down Green Energy Wind Turbines and Solar Panels In US and the World.”
The deception of false prophets such as Al Gore, John Kerry, Bill Gates, Klaus Schwab is beyond belief.
Al Gore
oops sorry, that’s his brother Frank Gore
Al Gore and his end of times.
Bill Gates
Billy boy. DOS…Duh!
or Klaus baby..
Hitler couldn’t do it so I……………………….
or John…”I never looks you in the eye”…Kerry
John Kerry is asked what his message would be to oil and gas workers who "see an end to their livelihoods":
"What President Biden wants to do is make sure that those folks have better choices… That they can be the people to go to work to make the solar panels." pic.twitter.com/i9TYXlD9Jg
From my new book, currently being written. Hope to have it completed by next summer. It is in rough draft. It has not been edited as yet.
Writing like this gives me a nice and welcome respite from the Covid 19 madness. I can escape to my own world of past adventures and excitement without a care in the world.
I went below, found my toilet kit, a towel, then left, after securing “Akaru-Hime.” Wearing just a white tee and khaki shorts, sandals, I almost felt like a local. My pasty white skin gave it away though. I was a newbie. No doubt about that. It will take a while to become acclimatized.
I could see the clubhouse with its dark brown shake roof away far to the northwest of my position. It had to be because of its array of flags at the hoist and ceremonial mast and yardarm that one could see from every vantage point of the yacht basin. The US stars and stripes was prominent as was the State of Hawaii flag with its combination of a union jack in its upper left hand corner or canton, with alternating white, red and blue stripes and a third rectangular flag. The Hawaiian flag reflects a very unique history. The canton of the Union Jack in the upper left hand corner of the state flag harkens back to the British economic and imperialist influence in the islands between Captains Cook and Vancouver with the emperor and king, King Kamehameha I. Hawaii was at once a kingdom, a protectorate, a republic, a territory and then a state.[1] And who among us doesn’t know of the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbour, just down the way some to the north and west of us. The third rectangular flag was very interesting as I would later find out to be the club’s Burgee. All sailing clubs the world over had their unique Burgees: kind of like a nautical calling card that reflects the yacht club.
I left “Akaru-Hime,” walked down “G” dock to the dock access gate, then up to the parking lot, over toward “F” dock then up a two lane, paved access road that led straight up to and ended with the clubhouse. There was a grass medium separating the lanes that was about 6 feet wide. It was adorned with royal palms and clusters of flowers no doubt indigenous to Hawaii. I just didn’t have a clue as to their names. Vibrant colours they were: reds, yellows, white, purple and scarlet blooms emitting a sweet Hibiscus and Bougainvillea no doubt, perhaps, but I had no idea. Lets just say it was a beautiful site: tropical, welcoming and rich. This yacht club had money. You could tell by the ambiance of the place and the style and quality of the sailboats, and sailors and sailorettes. Well dressed in very expensive nautical wear.
That access road was a good quarter mile long that ran from the Ilikai parking lot terminating at the Clubhouse. On the way I passed what would be known to me as the communal showers, toilets and washing area, complete with a pay yer own way laundromat. These communal facilities used by those sailors who were not part of the Ala Moana Yacht Club, for this was also a marina where sailors could find moorage at a monthly cost, as long as berths were available. There were hundreds of sailboats here, aligned to port and starboard of the roadway. Besides that, if one looked out across the way to the east and the towering hotels and apartment buildings of the Ala Moana district, with the Ko’o-lau mountain range beyond, one could see and feel the existence here of a small floating village with narrow streets and laneways called docks and finger jetties. Sailboats upon sailboats upon sailboats. I had never seen so many although I must admit I was new to this game. how many times do I have to say that? One could spend hours just exploring the docks and marvelling at the various yachts. Yachts of all sizes and shapes, functionality, luxury and expense. I made a mental note to myself to do just that at some point in time. And time was clearly on my side here.
To the west of where I was walking there was a long and very large reef of large stone and rock fill. No doubt an artificial reef: a man made protective barrier against the blue Pacific. Today as calm and as inviting as bathwater but they do experience gales and storms here. Interestingly, there were a number of sailboats at anchor on the inshore side of the rock barrier but they were also secured from their stern cleats to hard-points on the rock barrier itself.[2] Kind of reminded me of man made nautical Moai that guarded the place against evil spirits for like those Easter Island monoliths of volcanic rock and basalt for these boats all faced inward toward the clubhouse and the yacht basin and the docks, apartment blocks and hotels and away from the blue Pacific Ocean that lay just beyond the reefs. I am getting beside myself here. Moai for heaven’s sake. Give your head a shake Jim yet this array of boats at anchor in a straight line, as if on some nautical parade and inspection, was an amazing sight to behold, especially for someone like me who had never been exposed to this world. I mean I hail from the Great White Northern city of Tarawna, after all.
From my new book, currently being written. Hope to have it completed by next summer. It is in rough draft. It has not been edited as yet.
Writing like this gives me a nice and welcome respite from the Covid 19 madness. I can escape to my own world of past adventures and excitement without a care in the world.
Looking back to the west and north from my position all one could see was an array of masts. It resembled a steel or aluminum forest and like the trees of a forest these masts swayed from side to side as the soft trades blew in from the Northeast. The yacht basin was well protected from the elements but the boats still moved up and down or from side to side in their berths with the fluid motion of a water’s wake, as the various boats moved in and out of their berths, or navigated the access channels that separated each of the docks. There was a way out of the various slips and moorage to the open sea but this transit was not obvious to me at the time from my vantage point. The other interesting thing was the clanging sound. Loose halyards or those lines that raised and lowered the sails would slap against the metal masts whenever the wind piped up. Pity the poor man who failed to secure their running, er loose, rigging in a wind, or worse still, in a gale. The wrath of old Neptune himself or in this case the Harbour Master, or nautical neighbour would come down on you like some ancient mariner before the mast. A mariner’s no no. Especially during the night while trying to sleep. Worse if one had a headache to boot.
“Good mornin.”
A sound, a voice, my neighbour as it turned out.
“Hello, ah good mornin.” I said as I turned toward the sound.
“Haven’t seen you before. Saw the boat come in with a crew a few weeks back. They’re gone now except for Nigel. The British guy. Do ya know Nigel?” He asked.
“Yes, yes I do. And you are?” I queried. Just then the forward hatch opened and out came a head. Youngish, bleached blond…long hair, tanned and smiling face he saluted me, a two fingered salute.
“Sorry, I didn’t see ya…” I paused. “My name is Jim. I am Mary’s brother, Sid’s brother-in-law.”
“Right. Ah yeah, from Vancouver. Sid’s Japanese. Married to Mary. They have a little one too.”
That was true. My sister gave birth about a year ago. That is why she did not sail with Sid to Hawaii. At the best of times Mary was very uncomfortable sailing. Being with an infant on the open ocean would have made it that much more dangerous and foolhardy.
“They’re in Japan now I think. Sid gave it up. Chronic sea sickness. So I was asked to help Nigel sail the boat to Japan. I couldn’t say no to that.”
He just looked at me but said nothing. Smiled then continued. “Welcome to Hawaii Jim. My name is Brett. Brett Johnson. I live here in Honolulu. Am a member of the yacht club. This here is “Julia” is my home away from home.
“I do believe you have visitor privileges at the club for a few months.”
What does that mean?” I asked.
“This berth here. G35 is yours for the time being. You have clubhouse access too. Showers, heads and wash-places. Bar and restaurant. Guest membership privileges. I do believe you can join if there is room and if you are sponsored. I am sure Nigel is aware of all of this.”
“Not sure about that Brett. I haven’t seen Nigel since I got here yesterday afternoon. We chatted for a brief spell then he disappeared. I was very tired so I crashed and slept through the night.”
“I believe he has a Brit friend over somewhere on “B” dock.” Brett said. A couple I believe, from London, that he has been spending some time with shortly after he arrived and after Mary and Sid left. There are also a number of Aussies and Kiwis here as well as you should soon find out. Kind of a Commonwealth cruising and social club. But I am sure that you will get to meet many of them in due course.
A pause. Then,
“Well Jim. Nice to have met you. I must get back to what I was doing here.” he glanced at his watch. “It is still way too early.” He chuckled. “Working on a boat is all too difficult because to the many distractions, such as chiun music with strangers such as yourself. But all very welcoming I must say.|” He added:
“Go on up to the clubhouse. They have a good breakfast special there.”
“I will, thanks.” and with that Brett disappeared below “Julie’s” deck. Julie, I thought, hmm, nice name for a sailboat. Short and memorable. Wonder what the history is behind that one?
Check out my two books. Click on the links above. Great reads.
From my new book, currently being written. Hope to have it completed by next summer. It is in rough draft. It has not been edited as yet.
Writing like this gives me a nice and welcome respite from the Covid 19 madness. I can escape to my own world of past adventures and excitement without a care in the world.
The dinette or table that would normally be used for dining had been removed and a navigation table constructed in lieu. It was quite large, and made out of two by fours for legs and a plywood top. It took up the entire space forward of the galley on the starboard side of the boat. It was rigidly placed having no gimble effect whatsoever. We had to ensure sharp objects that were used for navigation such as a protractor, slide rule, parallel ruler, pencils and such were well secured. Fortunately, our gas alcohol stove just aft of the chart table on the starboard side was gimballed and thus very secure in rough seas. At the very least, the chart table was functional and well placed just below the starboard side elongated port or window in layman’s terms. Indeed our boat had four sealed ports, two port and two starboard that let in sufficient light for illumination of the cabin’s interior. The table could easily display a standard size Mercator projection – or chart. We would use this table a plenty in the months ahead. Personally I would become very familiar with it.
And there you have it.
My home for the near term, foreseeable future.
I’ll explain topsides at another opportune time.
Where was Nigel? Not that I minded in the least of his whereabouts or that he was awol through the late afternoon yesterday, evening and all night long. I hardly knew that man and I was not his keeper.
I went topside to have a new look at my new surroundings. A fresh perspective from my late afternoon arrival from the day before. It was early morning, around 8am. Our berth was G35, the 35th finger jetty on the large G dock. Beside us and further along were other boats of various sizes and shapes. Some large, some massive, some smaller. Various coloured hulls. A thirty five footer like ours is considered a small boat around here. Our boat was a sloop rig which meant one large mainsail tied to a mast and boom with a good size changeable foresail or jib / genoa / spinnaker forward of the mast and hanked on to a wire stay or forestay that ran from the bow all the to the top of the mast. On the dock as with others there was a wide array of vessels: Ketches, Sloops, Schooners, traditional Gaff Rigged boats, Catamarans, Trimarans, and one of my favourites of all being the Tahiti Ketches or what is referred to as a double ender. In essence a sailboat that has two bows. Not really two bows, but two pointy ends. All of these vessels were primarily fibreglass although the more classic styles and sight lines were the wood, mahogany stripped clinker planked hulls. The one style that really has no business floating at all is the ferro-cement sailboat. How on earth can a cement boat float? Well, as I soon found out, it all has to do with displacement. As I said I was still a newbie landlubber. I did not have my sea legs as yet nor belong to the club of old salts with the secret handshake, scruffy beard and the salty blue language…aarg, so how could I ever know about these things. To cap all of this off were the various sizes. Forty to fifty footers were the most common. Our boat was a Spencer 35 foot clinker strip planked mahogany formed hull. Indeed it was the original mold that cast a line or class of Spencer 35 fiberglass off shore cruising sailboats.
Across from my berth was “F” dock, with its long line of finger berths. A mirror image of “G” dock. On the other side of “G” dock, my dock, facing east was “H” dock, which harboured the main access roadway that skirted the hotel and apartment blocks. At the south end of “H” block the channel; opened up to form what is termed a turning basin. This was a relatively wide expanse of water that would allow the larger sailboats safe room to turn about under power or to secure alongside to load up or offload supplies or gear. There was also a small crane here to work the mast and rigging if need be for small repairs.
Looking south past the “H” dock turning basin I could just make out the jagged diamond like leading edges of Diamond Head and snippets and glimpses of Waikiki Beach. This landscape was just beyond the Ala Moana Yacht Club and Ala Wei Marina parking lot, the iconic Ilikai Hotel with its central exterior glassed in elevator and its man made lagoon. It was not really a lagoon. It was more of a landlocked pond but the touristos here, the pasty white mainlanders, of which I was one unfortunately, like to imagine it as being a tropical lagoon. That was more romantic. Who could argue with that? It was part and parcel of the image, of the Waikiki dream. Bordering the lagoon were deck chairs, chaise lounges, tables and umbrellas. The Ilikai’s dark and cool Waikikian indoor / outdoor bar and restaurant capped the scene.
Check out my two books. Click on the links at the top of the page.
Tom Brady represents everything the system despises.
He also serves as a mirror to Colin Kaepernick, a total failure propped up by millions in corporate Nike sponsorship money – a company that literally lobbies against legislation to ban slave labor. pic.twitter.com/7guMMoNPVd
What the world is coming too – at least in Canada and the US.
Are we in trouble as a democratic society. You be the judge:
“And now, the weird alliance of leftist rabble and plutocrats—foreign and domestic—runs everything. They don’t just control the entire United States military, the White House, the Senate, and the House: They control the universities. They control the non-profits. They control big business. They control the public schools. They control Wall Street. They control the movie studios, most of mainstream media, the book publishing houses, and the cable companies. They control Big Tech and social media. They control the newspapers, the magazines, and the musicians. They control every, or nearly every, single institution of influence in the entire country.”
In Canada this would be known as the Family Compact, wherein the Family is the Liberal Left.
“Genius does not mean you are immune to stupidity.”
Microsoft’s MSFT +0.5% billionaire founder Bill Gates is financially backing the development of sun-dimming technology that would potentially reflect sunlight out of Earth’s atmosphere, triggering a global cooling effect. The Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx), launched by Harvard University scientists, aims to examine this solution by spraying non-toxic calcium carbonate (CaCO3) dust into the atmosphere — a sun-reflecting aerosol that may offset the effects of global warming.
It is time to start him up, reboot and launch Gates out of the earth’s atmosphere.
Don’t mess with God and his creation. You will lose big time.
oops sorry, that’s his brother Frank Gore
Could it be?
