Port Townsend Sails

My only regret on little Sookie is that I didn’t get a suit of cruising sails from Carol Hasse before she retired. It’s snowing and blowing out. I’ve reluctantly left Ooku and I’m back in the city. My tiny house has lost most of its precious real estate to sails and boat gear. It may seem pointless to inspect new sails, but it’s fun tracing my fingers down each perfect line of stitching. These things are far too pretty to put on the boat.

I look out the window as our first snow drifts by. I want to be in our little cabin packing away a year’s worth of provisions. I want to be in the warm afternoon sun sanding a lazy day away. I want to be back on the water where I belong. Nevertheless, we have no provisions to store aboard her; that will come later. We have no car to deliver them anyways. My winter will be spent daydreaming with my ukulele. Making endless lists of things to check and check off. I’ll have to get rid of everything that won’t fit aboard, although I have an idea that everything will fit aboard. I’ll have to be patient and let all the pieces fall in line. Only 9 months till summer.

When I’m not practicing on my uke I have Hawaii Music Supply playing in the background. I ordered my custom Ko’olau in time so that I could bring Sookie’s mana over to Ooku. I’m still a little bit superstitious and these simple actions add value to the experience. I don’t know where I’ll stow her aboard, but she will always be within arm’s reach. When I ordered my uke I wanted something plain and simple. Something that wouldn’t be noticed til you play her. My uke was built to be played and heard, not looked at. Even so, she is a work of art.

This beautiful set of sails is the same. They are meant to be worked and experienced. They are plain and simple just like everything in my life. I don’t think many people would opt for a battenless main but I do. It has two deep cruising reefs, no headboard, and a hollow roach just like I like. I know all the arguments against this design but for me it works. All her head sails are simple hank-on. The icing on the cake is the big red drifter. She doesn’t have any specialized heavy weather sails and that’s fine because as of today I have no intentions of leaving this wonderful area. Having said that, north is always my preferred destination.

I have so much more to say about all of this but it’s time for my morning uke session. My audience is the snow blowing by my front window. I still get frustrated when I buzz a string or forget a note but my fingers are getting strong and my muscle memory is growing. If you want to learn something from instinct, it’s been said that you have to go through the motions 10,000 times. I feel like that is what brought Ooku into my life. That and a chance meeting on the high seas many years ago.

„Things are not magical because they’ve been conjured for us by some outside force. They are magical because we create them.“ David Levithan