Rich Jablonski 1946 - 2018

It is with a heavy heart I tell you that Rich passed away on Monday, Feb 5.

On January 28, Rich as so tired from not being able to sleep or catch his breath that we went to the hospital knowing that it might be a one way trip. 

Rich was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in January 2017. In September 2017, Pulmonary Hypertension was included. His breathlessness had been increasing despite the fact that his IPF was stable. January 23, he was diagnosed with Eisenmenger’s Syndrome, a congenital condition. The doctors looked at repairing the shunt but the risk that his heart would not survive due to the pulmonary hypertension did not justify the procedure.

Over the weekend Jesse, Rae and grandson Leo arrived to join Sarah and myself at his bedside. Leo was certainly the light in Rich’s life. On Monday, 2/5, he decided to start hospice. They started the morphine injections at 6pm and he was gone at 9:34pm. All too swiftly for me, but I suppose it was best.

I still can’t believe he is gone.

I am so glad we went cruising when we did and were able to go the many places including around the Horn of which Rich was so proud.

A copy of his obituary is posted online at https://www.elementalnw.com/obituaries/richard-joseph-jablonski/13/

Elaine, Jesse and Sarah will be hosting a celebration of Richard Jablonski’s life on Sunday, May 6, 2018 from 2pm to 5pm at the Corinthian Yacht Club, 7755 Seaview Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98117.

Please pass on to someone I may have missed.

Your RSVP would be appreciated.

Windarra has been sold

Rich and I are pleased to announce that Windarra has been sold. We enjoyed our 16 plus years aboard, from Seattle to Brisbane, Ketchikan to Cape Horn to Brazil. We wish the new owners the best of luck and hope they have wonderful adventures and that the boat will become their home.

My article is published

When Rich has his medical incident in March of last year I was vague in my posts for many reasons, least of all was that the blog was very low on the priority list.

Since then I have had a chance to organize my thoughts on the incident and write an article. It was submitted to the cruising magazine, Ocean Navigator and published in the Ocean Voyager 2017 edition.

It is our hope that others will read this article, learn from our experience and that another life will be saved.

More photos

I have been going through my photos of Windarra while at the yard in Trinidad. Here are a few that you might be interested in.

Along with Windarra is a 9 foot Caribe hard bottom dingy. We bought the dingy in 2008 and it will plane quite nicely with the Mercury 15 HP outboard. The crane on Windarra's aft quarter makes it easy to move the outboard from the stern pulpit to the stern of the dingy and vice versa. The compartment in the front of the dingy provides a place for foot pump, bailer, and a small anchor.

In addition to the new bow stem is a new anchor roller that you can see mount in this photo. The anchor roller pivots as well.

The Edson teak cockpit table opens to provide comfortable dining for 4.

The cockpit is large enough for an adult to stretch out while at anchor or on passage off watch. All sheets as well as the main halyard and reefing and furling lines are led back to the cockpit so there is no need to go on deck to change sail configurations or reef. The powered Lewmar primaries assist for raising the main as well as the Yankee sheets. The boom vang supports the boom eliminating the need for a topping lift. It permits sailing Windarra short handed if the need arises. The bimini is new 2017 and it mates perfectly with the canvas surrounds with windows or the sunshade surrounds. Windarra also has Bottomsider cushions for the cockpit.

Windarra on Yachtworld

windarra is now listed on Yachtworld. You may use this link, to take a look at more photos and specifications.

I just returned from over a month in Trinidad getting the boat ready for sale.

The new paint job on the sides and deck was well done. The traveler base, grab rails and entry have been sanded and Cetol applied. The stem and anchor roller are new as well as the backstay chainplate, very shiny. The Bimini canvas is new and the interface to the windows and sunshade surrounds was verified and modified as needed. Inside the teak around the hatches was sanded and varnished as well as the frames for the hatch screens. New headliner was installed in the fwd shower.

While I removed our personal items that we accumulated over 16 years of living aboard, a great deal of spares, tools and useful items were left on board. The galley is stocked with dish ware and cookware. Rich's hardware stores are on board including machine and self tapping screws of all sizes and electrical connectors. Spares of standing rigging and running rigging are also included. An array of engine spares including small items such as gaskets and hoses to start motor, fresh water pump, and alternators are also on board.

I plan to include more photos in the near future.

Repainted Windarra

This has been another big week on Windarra. On Monday, our stuff was packed onto a pallet for shipment to Seattle. I am not sure if I will beat it or not. The name is back on the transom and the decks have been painted. Looks pretty good if you ask me.

Preview to Carnival in Trinidad

I did take some time off while I was in Trinidad believe it or not. As I would not be there for Carnival itself, I took a tour with some other cruisers of places that made the costumes and watched a steel or pan drum group practice. The costumes are very elaborate with lots of jewels and feathers and very little costume. Some birds must be practically naked and the folks who wear the costumes are just about. Costume making is a full time effort and very commercial in Trinidad.

The steel drums or pans were very interesting. The drums are grouped like choirs, sopranos, altos, tenors, bass. The lower the octave the larger the drum and fewer notes on a drum. To play a 'bass' you may be playing on five or six drums while a soprano only play on one or two. There is no sheet music. Musicians learn the melody by repetition. Some musicians move like dancers. It was fun to watch.