A Ray of Sunshine on an Otherwise Cloudless Day

Position: 12°01’28″N 61°40’45″W

As I mentioned in our last blog, we’ve been on the hard in Grenada. We’re still on the hard. April is quickly turning into May. The weather is changing. Two weeks ago we could rely on a cooling shower to take the edge off the day’s heat. Now we’re lucky if a breath of wind catches one of the dorade vents and ruffles the stillness below decks. Thank goodness we have a white cabin top!

As the days drag on, the boat yard looks more and more like the set of a Sergio Leone spaghetti western. Pale riders (of bicycles) shimmer in the heat and the dust of the day. The sun is directly overhead now. Sweat beads across men’s brows at any hint of exertion. Tempers fray in these conditions. Harsh words may be exchanged – accidentally. Misunderstandings may become Pyrrhic battles – if you let them. Who will shoot first? The Good? The Bad? The Underemployed? Echoes of Ennio Morricone, tossed in the williwaws, drift away…

I’d like to think that a gunfight at High Noon would be a thing here. But noon is lunch hour and EVERYTHING stops for lunch.

There is a light at the end of this very long tunnel. Today the rudder went back on. All rebuilt in its black smoothness. And we discovered that readers of Cruising World voted on their top 40 sailboats from the last 40 years. See: Cruising World – 40 Best Sailboats

This little ray of happiness came with a pretty bow tied to it. The best boat of the last 40 years? The one that hundreds of Cruising World readers voted for above all others? The one that beat out sailing aristocracy (in the form of a Hinckley Bermuda)? Why, the Valiant 40, of course!

Aleta (technically) is a Valiant 42, a direct descendent of the original Valiant 40 design. The ‘2’ marks the addition of a bowsprit to better balance her sails. Bob Perry will tell you that “it’s not my design”, but those two feet are a tweak on his genius. A tweak borne of thousands of miles of sailing, not some cheesy homage like so many of the 1980s Taiwanese knock-offs.

Read the article. Revel in the happiness that so many beautiful boats bring to the world. Think of Aleta, all shiny from her attentions these last few weeks. Think of us heading back to the ocean, onto the cradling arms of the sea, away from this dusty, hot place where energy goes to ground. Sister, we’re launching tomorrow!

…or maybe the next day. We’ll let you know…