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.

Big week for Windarra

This has been a big week for Windarra.

First is the new paint job on the top sides. Keith, the painter, painted the boot stripe and the cove stripe Royal Blue. Then he masked this off, making sure the lines were straight, a challenge on a curved surface and then painted three coats of Oyster White. I think it looks great. Today I cleaned the stainless grab rails that will be mounted back on the stern.

In between the painting and the sanding, I have been removing our stuff from the boat. It is hard to believe we have accumulated so much over 16 years aboard. I am planning to ship this back on a pallet and a volume of 40 inches by 48 inches by 48 inches. So I marked the length and width on the tile floor of the apartment with tape and started arranging and rearranging the boxes and duffles and tool bags to fit inside the envelop. So far so good. When I am ready the shipper will come and pick up the stuff, it will be loaded on a pallet and weighed. I will have a chance to adjust based on the weight limit. The whole thing will be shrink wrapped and then shipped to Seattle.

Reynold, Selman and Richard are working on the deck. Sanding, filler, sanding, primer, filler, sanding, more primer, sanding and more. This week they took the air conditioner off so working inside the boat is a challenge in this climate. Still more work to be done.

First week in Trinidad

Well, I am learning the ropes here at Power Boats, the marina and boatyard where we have Windarra. Like any new place, you learn where to get the basics plus what makes the place special. Our friends, Ned and Carol of SV Frannie B are here and they have helped me a lot. Besides figuring where the office is, the showers, the laundry, the bank and the grocery store, they have introduced me to the 'roti stand'. It is like the foot trucks in other countries but without the trucks. The Indian food is great and spicy. Below is the meal I got for TT$52 or $7.72 USD.

This past week I have stayed in an apartment for 4 nights and on the boat for the remaining time. Today I moved back into an apartment and managed to beat the rain. This is my view out the apartment window this afternoon during the rain shower. I am starting to move the things I want to ship back to Seattle into the apartment so I can pack it for shipment. On the boat I am separating items into 3 categories: ship to Seattle, leave on the boat, sell or give away. Many of the items I have taken to the laundry room to give away disappear very quickly. In addition to sorting and packing, I am working with suppliers to have work done on the boat. I have not tuned my ear to the Trinidadian patois, but I hope to get there sometime. At least they are patient with me when I ask them to slow down when they speak.

In Trinidad

Wednesday, Jan 11, I boarded a red eye to Miami and then another flight to Port of Spain, Trinidad. After explaining to immigration that I did not have a return ticket but did have a boat just in case, then a quick stop for a Digicell SIM card for my iPhone, I grabbed my luggage and shuffled through customs. The fellow at the X-ray machine questioned what I had in the surf board bag. When I explained they were doors for my boat, he sent me to the customs office for paperwork and told me to stop by the other customs office near the marine before stopping at the boat. My pre-arranged ride was there to meet me holding a sign with 'Windarra written on it. He was a nice fellow, gave me a tour on the way. We even stopped at the only Starbucks in the Caribbean but they were all out of Trinidad cups. The official at the customs office verified that I did indeed have doors and sent me on.

Windarra is in the hard with a tent on top. Now I also have an air conditioner over one of the hatches in the salon to cool the boat down making it so much easier to work inside. She also has new bottom paint.

For the first few days I have an apartment here in the marina. It is basic but it includes a nice shower and a small kitchen and cable TV as a special bonus. Monday I will move onto the boat for a few days until another apartment opens up. Our friends from Frannie B, Ned and Carol, are here as well and they have been showing me around. This evening a watched the Seahawks game and joined in the cruiser BBQ.

I have been going through our food stores and cleaning. Some items went into the trash, others to the laundry room (by the book exchange) and a few items I will use while I am here such as the macaroni and cheese I found today.

A change is in the wind

I have not been writing much on the blog this year. In March Rich had a medical incident and we returned to the United States. In April we welcomed our new grandson, Leo. In June we contracted with our friends, James and Jordan, to sail Windarra from Salvador, Brazil to Trinidad, where she is now on the hard.

It had been our plan after returning to Windarra in January 2017 to sail north in the eastern Caribbean and the east coast of the United States. We wanted to enjoy sailing during the summer months to New York and then return to Annapolis in the fall and put Windarra up for sail and start retirement 2.0.

Well... as all sailing plans are drawn in the sand and always changing, so our plans are changing. We will still return to Windarra in January but instead to put her up for sale instead of for sail.

If you are interested in buying Windarra and taking her on your own adventure, please contact us at svwindarra "at sign" hotmail.com. The asking price is $175,000 USD.

 

For more information on the SV Windarra for sale, please go to our other blog, Stevens 47 for sale
 

Elaine and Rich

Road Trip, June 7 - 11

 

In between house and pet sits, Rich and I decided to take a road trip along the coast. Our first stop was Port Townsend, Washington. We used to visit Port Townsend when we were first cruising on SV Fairwind and SV Windarra. It is nice to see that the town has not changed much and still has the same charm.

 

 

 

We headed out to the Pacific Ocean and drove through Forks, of vampire fame. 

 

 

We passed through Kalaloch, where Rich and I had rented a cabin before we were married. The next stop was Lake Quinault and the Rain Forest Resort on the lake. The Salmon House Restaurant provided an excellent meal and hummingbirds visiting feeders outside the windows provided emtertainment.

 

We continued south with a stop at Westport for lunch and we spent the night in Astoria, Oregon before continuing on the Oregon coast. The trip was not complete without a stop at Tillamook and the cheese factory. You can see the large blocks of cheddar moving on the conveyor belt in the factory.

 

After Tillamook we drove back to Bothell to visit with our daughter Sarah and to go back to the gym and work off the calories we ate during the road trip.

The new family

Grandson Leo!

We are also in the United States to welcome our new grandson, Leo Philip Wannier. He was born at 1:21 am on April 17, 2016, weighing in at 8 lbs 5 oz and a length of 20 inches.

Rich and I drove to the San Francisco area to meet him and celebrate with our son, Jesse and our daughter-in-law, Rae, the proud parents.

Rich and I are enjoying this new experience!

Interruption

You may have noticed on the blog that our entries stopped mid passage. We did not fall off the edge of the earth but we did have a medical emergency. I will not write the details now but suffice to say that we are both okay and back in Seattle. Windarra is at Caravelas and soon to be moved to Aratu, near Salvador.

Not sure if or when we will return to Windarra.

I will write more later,

Elaine

Day 2 to Salvador

19 25.981 S, 039 26.468 W

On Monday we took a tour of the Garoto Chocolate factory in Vitoria. It is the only chocolate factory in Brazil and supplies Brazil as well as 60 other countries. As Rich and I were the only ones that did not speak Portuguese, we got a personal tour. It was very impressive and there was a tasting room at the end. How sweet is that! My favorite is the dark chocolate covered coconut.

Tuesday morning we left Iate Clube Espirito Santos at 9:45 am bound for Salvador, a distance of about 475 nautical miles. Unfortunately we have had a 2 knot counter current and our progress has been slow, with a speed over the ground averaging 3.0 knots. We have only done about 74 nautical miles! I doubt our 24 hour total will be over 100. Ouch.

Hopefully things will improve.....

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Vitoria

20 17.935 S, 040 17.255 W

The second night was much better than the first. We did some sailing and motored the last bit. While it was not the plan we did come into the harbor at night and by 3:00 am we were anchored. After a bite to eat we went to sleep.

Later in the morning we went into the Iate Clube Espírito Santos and are now secured, bow to the dock. We need to use the dingy to get back and forth.

We met a couple on the small sailboat next to us. Modris is from Latvia and Maria is from Sweden. They are heading south so we will exchange some information with them.

Port captain tomorrow. Hopefully better than Rio.

Sent from Elaine's iPhone

It was a dark and stormy night...

21 25.181 S, 040 31.468 W

Yesterday to anchored at Buzios after the overnight passage from Rio. Since we continued to have a weather window, we decided to leave at 5pm and continue north to Vitoria.

All was fine when we left, light winds and motoring.

But... then around 7:30 pm, we could see squalls closing in on us. For the next several hours we had lightening, thunder, rain coming down in buckets, the seas were churning. We had to dodge small fishing boat with no running lights so we could figure out what direction they were going, only a sign white light. Sometimes they would not be on radar but would only just show up out of the darkness. We were soaked as well as everything in the cockpit. We put on our foul weather gear (hard to imagine). I put most of our portable electronics in an anti static bag and then into the microwave, just in case.

Early in the morning it finally cleared up.

Now we are sailing along under the staysail making good progress. Hope to be in Vitoria some time in the morning tomorrow.

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Quick stop at Buzios

Yesterday we left Clube Naval Charitas and stopped across the way at the fuel dock to top off our tanks and by 9:30am we were on our way leaving Rio de Janeiro. We had hoped to sail to Buzios but it was not in the cards. It did seem like a lot of large ship traffic was going the same direction which makes AIS very helpful.

We had a small tern come and hitchhike for a while, sitting on the lifelines on the port side foredeck. He/she was with us for several hours.

Early this morning we had to slow down so that we had more daylight for our entry to Buzios. The town is a popular vacation spot. Unfortunately we did not see any open moorings so we are anchored but don't feel comfortable leaving the boat if the winds change.

But the gribs look promising, so we will relax and then tonight we will continue northward to Vitoria, a 190 nautical miles away.

Sent from Elaine's iPhone

Sailing license, Turistas

On Tuesday we moved to the dock at Clube Naval Charitas. It is a large facility with a haul out area, covered storage for small sailboats, small chandlery, restaurant, bar and most important, a large swimming pool!

A short walk from the club is a catamaran to downtown Rio. As Rich is over 60, he rides for free! The ride is about 20 minutes and from the dock we either caught a taxi around town.

On our first ride we walked over to the Capitan dos Portos to check in. Up until this day it has been a low key event. Unfortunately, someone in the office was upset about something and we were berated for not having a sailing license. No where in any of the cruising guides or online websites such as Noonsite or SSCA is there a mention of needing a sailing license in Brazil if you are a foreign cruiser. We tried very patiently to explain that we did not have one but that we have records showing that we have over 25,000 blue water miles of experience, including Cabo de Hornas. Eventually they asked for our phone number and said they would come to the boat. For an inspection? Or ? We explained that we had plans to do some sightseeing and may not be at the boat. No problem, they would call first. Well, so far, no calls.

As you can see from the photos in our last post we having been doing some sightseeing. We took the gondola up to Pao do Acucar aka Sugarloaf Mountain. The views were great and we dodged the people with selfie sticks. Another day we went to Ipanema. There we found a Starbucks so we could add a Brazil cup to our collection and have a frappacino at the same time. We walked along the beach and saw a bazillion people. We also made a stop at the H Stern museum, a famous worldwide jeweler that started here in Brazil.

At Clube Naval Charitas we met Susy. She was born in England but has spent most of her life in Brazil. She and her husband did a circumnavigation in the late 1970s and she is a godsend to foreign cruisers as she is fluent in English, French and Portuguese. One of the photos in the previous post is of Rich and Susy on one of the hilltops overlooking Niterio and Rio. She gave us the Cook's tour and took us to a great supermercado for provisioning. Thank you Susy.

Now it is Saturday and plenty hot. It is 93 but according to the Weather Channel it feels like 112. Time to go to the pool.

We hope to leave tomorrow for Buzios. It will be an overnight passage around Cabo Frio. I wonder why it has that name?

Sent from Elaine's iPhone