I’m not sure what the collective noun for a group of squid is, but today “squadron” seemed appropriate.
There were several major outbreaks of wildlife during the day. A couple of times this morning I could hardly get my oars in the water because there were so many yellowfins in the way. I didn’t mean to hit them, but couldn’t see them under the ruffled surface of the water, and only found out that they were there when my oars struck something solid instead of liquid.
Then, this afternoon, attack of the low-flying squid. At first there was the lone harbinger. Just before I came into the cabin to record my podcast with Vic, a large-ish squid landed right in front of me, on the canvas cover of my liferaft. Well, okay, he wasn’t large as in Kraken-large, but a good 8 inches long. He sat there, waving his tentacles at me as if begging for help, and pumping out a spreading ink stain onto the pale beige canvas. This was rather annoying. I have very few soft furnishings on the deck of my boat, so it was irksome to have him land inkily right on top of one of them.
I quickly lobbed him back in the water, hoping he might survive the experience, and tried to mop the ink off the liferaft cover, but it has left a large, dark brown stain. If anybody has any top tips for removing squid ink from fabric, do please let me know. Surely it’s in every good “household tips” manual!
A couple of hours later, I had no sooner ducked into the cabin to grab a Larabar than a squadron of low-flying objects zoomed overhead, about ten feet above the water. There were about a dozen of them. As they neared the end of their trajectory fish leaped from the waves to catch them. For a few moments all was chaotic activity, with bodies and water flying everywhere.
At first I thought the UFOs were flying fish, but when I re-emerged from the cabin, I saw ink spattered liberally across all the upper surfaces of my boat – deck, rowing seat, solar panels. More squid. It was really lucky I hadn’t been on deck at the time, or I would have been inked as well. Yuckety-yuck!
Other Stuff:
Laurey – great to hear from you. I’ve been thinking about you, and wondering how your cancer treatment is going. I’m really, really pleased to hear it’s going well. I hope to see you – and Asheville – again soon. Oh, in answer to your question, I have quotes all over the place. I’ve got some on laminated sheets that have been on board since the Atlantic, more on my laptop, a great quotes app on my iPhone (called Notable Quotes), and Jay has sent me about another zillion. So I now have enough quotes to see me through several laps of the planet!
Stan – thank you for your very informative and thoughtful comment about conquering – or not conquering – the Earth.
Daniel – it is now unlikely that I will be attempting the North Atlantic next year. It looks like my boat has reached the end of her useful life, and I won’t have time to raise the money and get a new boat in time.
Brian Hill – great quote. Thank you.
Terry – I heard about the east coast earthquake. Quite a surprise! But yes, I’m sure the San Franciscans were a bit short on sympathy!
Mark and Julian – I quite like rugby, actually. Or maybe I mean I like rugby players…. but as they say, rugby is a game played by men with funny shaped balls. ;o)
Quote for the day: “The trouble with life in the fast lane is that you get to the other end in an awful hurry.” (Danish soccer star John Jensen)
Sponsored Miles: Slow progress for Roz. No sponsors for today’s miles.
Referring to yesterday”s post, there is indeed an omnipotent micro-manager that raises your hand, according to professor Swaab, the recently retired director of the Dutch brain institute. According to him, all brain research points to our brain as a self-managing tool. Virtually all actions, thoughts and deliberations are executed by our brain without involvement of “free will”. The settings of that grey computer aren’t done by Seattle but by the genes we inherited.
Personally I do not like that suggestion at all, wich is probably why in a recent inverview, Dr. Swaab remarked that today’s society is not ready for what recent research tells us.
Hmmmmm I think that may be a mis-stating of what he means. Otherwise it sounds rather much like the long discarded mechanistic theory of life.
Just about everything we do is processed through the brain. There are specific areas that handle portions of the entire process. An area to actually move or control some other action, an area to “think of” or initiate that action, and so on. Learning is little more than the brain responding to stimulus by building new connections.Free will is the conscious act of choosing between alternatives. We (in our lifetimes) are presented with so many possible alternatives or actions that there is little chance all those are encoded in our genes. What probably does exist in the brain is the process for doing the choosing but not the actual choices or outcomes. There is an interesting article about a little of this on the New Scientist website: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17092-possible-site-of-free-will-found-in-brain.htmlA Buddhist point of view for this is that everything that happens to us, the choices we make, and so on, are the result of Karma (causes and conditions). The cumulative total of the choices we have made and the acts we have taken add up to that which we experience at a later point, or several later points. We choose between alternatives and then later choose between more alternatives . . . and sooner or later experience the result. A decision I made twenty-years ago (or in an earlier lifetime if you believe in reincarnation) might suddenly express its result today (or in a future life).
“It looks like my boat has reached the end of her useful life, and I won’t have time to raise the money and get a new boat in time.”
When I read this my heart sank. Not that I want you to spend the rest of your days on the seas, but Roz without her boat…? That’s more than hard to bear. I’m so sorry to hear that, Roz.
-Bruce
Re; “I quite like rugby, actually. Or maybe I mean I like rugby players…. ”
Good to hear you’re a rugby (player?) fan Roz; and that the sea-life is managing to keep you busy. Row well;-)
What an amazing thing! I did not know until recently that squid can fly. If your laptops fail you can pluck a feather from one of your feathered friends ( I am sure they would not mind parting with one of the old ones) and use the squid ink for writing your illuminated manuscript. Do you carry parchment? It must be really beautiful to be out on the ocean and see the birds and fish and water and sky. Can Sedna be repaired? How long does it take to build a new boat? Have you ever tried “sea oars”? Narrow flat blades, no spoons. They feather better than spoons in rough water and present less surface area when going to windward. They do not provide as much forward progress though.
Row Roz Row! Cheers, Stephen
Roz, about the yellowfins you might not be able to avoid hitting with your oars. Think of them this way: fresh sushi!
Flying fish, flying squid, duck when the whale flies over!
I believe it is a “Squish” of Squid
Funny, “duck when the whale flies over”; the sailors in Australia did not think it so funny when a whale broached and smashed their sailboat!
Joke for the day:
Two elderly women were fussing about their husbands over tea one day.
“I do wish my Leroy would stop biting his nails. That makes me terribly nervous!” the first one said.
“Oh, my Elmer used to do the same thing,” the other woman commented. “But I broke him of that habit real quick.”
“What did you do?”
“I hid his teeth!”
Good luck getting the ink out of your cloth, did you try everything you had? Glad the weather is better.
Bruce~ Passion does not have an end. I am sure that Roz will find life paths for even Sedna (or Sedna’s spirit)… If you were like me, you would be at the edge of your seat sitting up and getting ready to applause at whatever she will discover for Sedna and for herself… verbs do that kind of thing…
I cannot seem to “reply” to comments using disqus, despite my using the reply button.
Keith Barry magic and vibes 🙂
http://youtu.be/GigYWy2UmOY
I know you’re right, Jay. Thanks.
Hope this helps!
I tried peanut butter and hydrogen peroxide combo by itself but it didn’t work….until…. I added Dawn dishwashing liquid on top of the beanut butter & hydrogen peroxide mix, rubbed it in for about 1 min, and then rinsed with cold water. Worked like a charm…the pesky old squid stains on my Michael Kors shirt came off like magic ! Thanks Mr. “Captain of a whaling ship” for starting me down that path. Appreciate it.
Hope this helps!
I tried peanut butter and hydrogen peroxide combo by itself but it didn’t work….until…. I added Dawn dishwashing liquid on top of the beanut butter & hydrogen peroxide mix, rubbed it in for about 1 min, and then rinsed with cold water. Worked like a charm…the pesky old squid stains on my Michael Kors shirt came off like magic ! Thanks Mr. “Captain of a whaling ship” for starting me down that path. Appreciate it.
At last – a good use for peanut butter (it has no other earthly use that I know of – especially not for eating!)
Hi there,
I’m new to your blog and just reading back a few entries. What a great adventure! I lived on a 25-foot sailboat for a year and went across the Indian Ocean, it’s been fun to see how different a row experience is.
In any case, I wanted to suggest that one day you might love the ink stain from that squid. Think of it as the ocean reaching out to make that boat it’s own. A kind of baptism. I remember how frustrating it could be to see the ocean wear away at our little boat, until I came to appreciate that the more salt and ink stains, the more the ocean because a part of our water bound home. I came to think that since the ocean belongs to animals like that squid, while I was only the visitor, it was fun to see the water and animals experience the boat as part of the habitat.
In any case, it’s my guess that one day you will cherish that ink stain!
Happy travels,
Jenny Hile