After one of the greatest, most epic struggles of man against machine, I have at last tamed the beast. For now.  Glory of all glories, it was indeed a leak in the fuel system that has been plaguing me all this time. Right now the engine starts and runs far better than the VW diesel we borrowed last month. I might even go as far as say it sounds like a new engine and starts as fast as any fuel injected car engine. Not bad at all for a 30-year-old marinised tractor diesel!
I still have to actually find the source of that said leak, and I’m going to install the electric fuel pump I have kicking around as an emergency spare, and see how that goes. Before the pump there are a couple of switchable Racor fuel filters, a priming bulb, and the line from the tank.
I can’t see it as anything other than fittings or the fuel pump itself, since air bubbles appeared in the line between the pump and the primary filter, and there doesn’t seem any way that air bubbles could sink down to the pump, pass through the pump, and rise up to the primary filter while the engine is just sitting.

I also swapped over the genoa for my storm jib, and so I once again have my sailboat back! Having the genoa on the deck allowed me to get a better look at it, and man, that sail is tired! The sad part is that it is not sailing or even UV that has worn it so badly, but the roller furling. You just can’t roll up a sail of that size on the headstay without wrinkles, and with this heavy cloth, it tends to wrinkle on the same spot each time. Consequently, the sail has a multitude of worn creases in the material, any of which could tear out.

The main is the same age and it doesn’t have any of those creases and is good for many more years.
Of course it makes furling easier and it would be a nightmare fighting with a genoa of that weight in a blow, but I’m wondering if it isn’t time to go back to hanks: simple, foolproof, and they don’t destroy your sail. I don’t think I’ve ever been caught out in an totally unanticipated blow where I was very grateful to be able to furl the genoa without going on deck. Our last keelboat had hanks, and although it was obviously more work, we never worried about damage to our headsails.



There are a lot of reasons to be dismayed about the upcoming games, but this one hits closer to home than most. I enquired about transient moorage rates at government marinas in Vancouver (city owned and operated) during the month of February. When I received the email from them my jaw dropped.  The city of Vancouver is charging transient boaters $2.25/ft/day + taxes and power during the games. Apparently they have also shut down anchoring privileges in False Creek, citing “security” concerns. That’s almost $150.00/day for a 36 ft boat, almost triple high season rates during the summer. It's not just homeowners hoping to scam obscene money off visitors this February.

I don’t have much problem with private citizens trying to earn a fast buck at the olympics, but the city? Watch me get threatened with a lawsuit from the goons at vanoc for this post.



Now that things are back to normal, I’m not sure what to do next. I’m getting itchy feet again. It’s not enough to just sit around and enjoy a superb lifestyle, while on the boat or in the fabulous dream house on the ocean. I should be writing but I find all this moving around is very counter-productive. Paradoxically, I need stability to be able to sink into writing; when we are moving all over the place, my focus is external rather than internal, and I simply cannot switch back and forth very easily. That’s why I can never write (aside from blogging) when I’m cruising. I have a novel that I need to get back to, but bouncing back and forth from house and boat just keeps things so stirred up that working on it is impossible. Next year if Tracy wants to spend three months off the boat, it’s gonna be at one place.
I suspect this is the biggest reason why many people occupy themselves in traditional careers: you aren't stuck with the daily responsibility of making your life count, making it worthwhile. When most people wake up in the morning they know what they have to do, good or bad. Throw all that away and the huge responsibility for your life really hits home.

It's funny staying in this house with all this opulence. There are times when it makes me question my own life's choices. I suppose that's not a bad thing -better to constantly question yourself than to make a choice and just plow ahead regardless. Of course it's the latter that allows one to accumulate this kind of privilege but I wonder how that feels in the wee hours of the night? Material wealth means very little in terms of emotional and spiritual fulfillment.
But it is astounding when you see the sheer amount that is possible when someone bulls ahead in ways that society rewards (and while this is tremendously abundant it is nowhere near the upper limit) and it does make me wonder if i have sold myself short.

But here's the catch: I did a personality test a number of years back and the strongest value that I have is the need for freedom. And to me that is absolute; it means that I have to be free to chose A or B every single moment of my day. If I want to go, I go. If I want to go elsewhere, I go elsewhere. Anything that gets in the way of that grates like dragging a screaming baby down a chalkboard. The only exception to that is my marriage, which i consider that something of a miracle. It has taken an enormous effort on my part to stick with it for all these years and not wander off, so forget about a career!

To be faithful to myself has required me to dabble in a great many things but not commit to any of them, and that has had a great economic consequence. The only compensation to that is knowing that I will in the end be much happier economically marginalised and faithful to my nature than be materially rich and living a dishonest life.

There isn't a day that goes by when I don't feel awe at the tremendous privilege that is my life.




I attended the rally against prorogation on Saturday, and it really did my heart good to see all those people out demanding democracy. The greatest part was that it was non-partisan; people were simply demanding democratic accountability and that their House be operating when it is supposed to be. For a nation of supposed passivists, across Canada there were a lot of people concerned about a very abstract ideal. I doubt very much that the Conservatives will try that tactic again in the near future.



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