Linda has written a brief account of their _Kattywompus/reef_ experience, which Viking has posted on their web site. Viking was very grateful for her contribution to their PR program. Marine resellers who handle Viking gear are also running the article, which is the point.
• Linda's testimonial @ Viking
• Nautical chart of Doubtless Bay, NZ (the left pane) The particular reef at issue seems not to be named on the chart.
--Mark_
14 February 2011
Showing posts with label Kattywompus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kattywompus. Show all posts
14 February 2011
17 June 2010
_Kattywompus_' Final Resting Place
For a look at the reef that ate Linda & Brad's Kattywompus, have a look at this lat/long by pasting it into the search field of Google Earth:
34° 53' 0.79" S 173° 24' 54.84" E
Brad pointed it out to me this morning as we were looking around at stuff during breakfast.
Oh. That rock.
--Mark_
17 June 2010
09 June 2010
We are relieved!
We have seen Linda & Brad, and they really are okay. They are able to laugh about some of the little things among their recent _travails_, their insurance company (an _excellent_ insurance company!) has come through, and they have closed the deal on another boat: a Malo 38 that looks very nice. (The original advertisement link has gone dead; this generic informational link should help.)
<http://cruisingresources.com/Malo_38>
Friends will mind the boat in New Zealand while Linda & Brad remain here rather longer than they had originally intended, picking up work to refill their cruising treasury.
They are fine--eager for more, in fact--and we are relieved.
--Mark_
09 June 2010
(19 August 2010)
<http://cruisingresources.com/Malo_38>
Friends will mind the boat in New Zealand while Linda & Brad remain here rather longer than they had originally intended, picking up work to refill their cruising treasury.
They are fine--eager for more, in fact--and we are relieved.
--Mark_
09 June 2010
(19 August 2010)
22 May 2010
Linda & Brad are home.
A few days ago I received an e-mail message from Linda: They are staying with her mother, have replaced Brad's PC laptop, and will drive up here Wednesday of next week.
They'll stay with us Wednesday night, and will be back in the area for Mike & Kit's get-together.
They'll tell their story, and perhaps we'll get details about a new boat. And we'll be happy to see them.
They'll stay with us Wednesday night, and will be back in the area for Mike & Kit's get-together.
They'll tell their story, and perhaps we'll get details about a new boat. And we'll be happy to see them.
16 April 2010
Linda has most of her pictures back.
Linda is again in possession of her external hard drive, which contains the bulk of her pictures. It was protected in a rigid, sealed, Pelican case < http://www.pelican.com/ >, and is apparently fine.
They have found Brad's PC laptop, but,
When I looked at the PC last night I had to laugh. Pretty much of the bottom is ripped off. All the little doodads that run the thing look like ---- from the battering on the rocks and salt water.
I have advised her to tear out the hard drive (for recovery later, just in case), and to not bring the battery indoors (because they can do dangerous things when in abnormal states).
Her own computer, a Macintosh PowerBook laptop, was also in a Pelican case, but it has yet to be found. I worry that it may have floated away from the bulk of the debris--probably not on the surface, but maybe not on the bottom either, partially buoyed by the air & foam inside the case. I have sent an inquiry on the point to the manufacturer.
She is quite relieved about having found most of her pictures (a camera and card are still missing); I told her that we are eager to hear about any happy circumstances that come about.
--Mark_
14:56 16 April 2010
They have found Brad's PC laptop, but,
When I looked at the PC last night I had to laugh. Pretty much of the bottom is ripped off. All the little doodads that run the thing look like ---- from the battering on the rocks and salt water.
I have advised her to tear out the hard drive (for recovery later, just in case), and to not bring the battery indoors (because they can do dangerous things when in abnormal states).
Her own computer, a Macintosh PowerBook laptop, was also in a Pelican case, but it has yet to be found. I worry that it may have floated away from the bulk of the debris--probably not on the surface, but maybe not on the bottom either, partially buoyed by the air & foam inside the case. I have sent an inquiry on the point to the manufacturer.
She is quite relieved about having found most of her pictures (a camera and card are still missing); I told her that we are eager to hear about any happy circumstances that come about.
--Mark_
14:56 16 April 2010
From Linda
Late last night I heard from Linda:
This is all overwhelming. After the shock wore off we were running on pure adrenaline. Then the emotional crash for me. Brad wanders around cleaning up the aftermath and sighs a lot!
Jane has made a post on the blog today with a couple of photos. We'll continue with the updates.
I haven't been back out to see Kattywompus. Evidently there's very little left at this point and it breaks my heart. I loved that boat and can't imagine that we'll find another boat like her. The insurance claim is moving forward and all seems OK with that. We have feelers out for a boat here. Will see what we find.
Our network of cruising and land based friends has been amazing. John and Amanda Neal from 'Mahina Tiare' are among many that are constantly in touch. Our good friends Mike and Marnie from 'Shelette' received the news while in Denver. I quickly connected them with my best buddy Mindy there and they have arrived back here in NZ today with a duffel bag of clothes and other things for us. Email and cell phones are amazing.
Our new family here, John, Jacey, Travis and Grayson have let us want for nothing (except a good night's sleep which is not their fault). Their friends and family continue to dive the reef looking for more of our stuff. The locals who walk the beach about a mile away also pick up all the boat debris as well as any of our treasures that wash up. I don't know how we can ever repay them. We would have to stay here a long time. Hmmmm...I think that's a great idea!
I haven't looked yet, but as I recall we didn't back up the photos from the PC onto the external hard drive. I will check that soon but suspect they may be only memories at this point. The ipod, drive and thumb drives survived the reef quite nicely in their pelican cases. The mac is in one too but has yet to be found. No pearls yet either.
Many lessons have been learned.
They had two computers and an external hard drive on board; we have been discussing what to do with whatever might be found of them. I advised that even if a computer had been wet, its hard drive might be recoverable with some initial, stabilizing care, and with attention by an expert in drive recovery.
Her three hard drives contain pictures that we want to see.
Her message addresses an issue that had been troubling many of us--the question of insurance. Apparently many cruisers find the cost to be out of reach, so we were pretty worried. However, it does sound as if they had coverage, and so expect to be able to replace the boat.
We hope so.
("Pearls" refers to a purchase she had made a few months ago. I think it's mentioned in her blog.)
--Mark_
07:35 15 April 2010
This is all overwhelming. After the shock wore off we were running on pure adrenaline. Then the emotional crash for me. Brad wanders around cleaning up the aftermath and sighs a lot!
Jane has made a post on the blog today with a couple of photos. We'll continue with the updates.
I haven't been back out to see Kattywompus. Evidently there's very little left at this point and it breaks my heart. I loved that boat and can't imagine that we'll find another boat like her. The insurance claim is moving forward and all seems OK with that. We have feelers out for a boat here. Will see what we find.
Our network of cruising and land based friends has been amazing. John and Amanda Neal from 'Mahina Tiare' are among many that are constantly in touch. Our good friends Mike and Marnie from 'Shelette' received the news while in Denver. I quickly connected them with my best buddy Mindy there and they have arrived back here in NZ today with a duffel bag of clothes and other things for us. Email and cell phones are amazing.
Our new family here, John, Jacey, Travis and Grayson have let us want for nothing (except a good night's sleep which is not their fault). Their friends and family continue to dive the reef looking for more of our stuff. The locals who walk the beach about a mile away also pick up all the boat debris as well as any of our treasures that wash up. I don't know how we can ever repay them. We would have to stay here a long time. Hmmmm...I think that's a great idea!
I haven't looked yet, but as I recall we didn't back up the photos from the PC onto the external hard drive. I will check that soon but suspect they may be only memories at this point. The ipod, drive and thumb drives survived the reef quite nicely in their pelican cases. The mac is in one too but has yet to be found. No pearls yet either.
Many lessons have been learned.
They had two computers and an external hard drive on board; we have been discussing what to do with whatever might be found of them. I advised that even if a computer had been wet, its hard drive might be recoverable with some initial, stabilizing care, and with attention by an expert in drive recovery.
Her three hard drives contain pictures that we want to see.
Her message addresses an issue that had been troubling many of us--the question of insurance. Apparently many cruisers find the cost to be out of reach, so we were pretty worried. However, it does sound as if they had coverage, and so expect to be able to replace the boat.
We hope so.
("Pearls" refers to a purchase she had made a few months ago. I think it's mentioned in her blog.)
--Mark_
07:35 15 April 2010
15 April 2010
Some _Kattywompus_ news, at last: EPIRBs work!
We have, at last, a bit more news about _Kattywompus_:
• From Linda's blog, via Jane:
< http://www.sailblogs.com/member/kattywompus/ >
• From The Port Townsend Leader:
< http://www.ptleader.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubSectionID=55&ArticleID=26717 >
(Thanks, Phil.)
• From Latitude 38:
< http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2010-04-14&dayid=413#Story4 >
[Copy and paste these links into the address field of your browser.]
Most of us can only try to imagine the difficulty of their situation.
--Mark_
20:14 15 April 2010
• From Linda's blog, via Jane:
< http://www.sailblogs.com/member/kattywompus/ >
• From The Port Townsend Leader:
< http://www.ptleader.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubSectionID=55&ArticleID=26717 >
(Thanks, Phil.)
• From Latitude 38:
< http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2010-04-14&dayid=413#Story4 >
[Copy and paste these links into the address field of your browser.]
Most of us can only try to imagine the difficulty of their situation.
--Mark_
20:14 15 April 2010
13 April 2010
News gets around.
Other cruisers have begun circulating the news:
< http://realityinterrupted.com/wpblog/2010/04/12/new-zealand-update/ >.
(Use _copy&paste_ to get that URL into your browser's address line.)
Thanks to Phil R. (Altrice).
Try searching for
"kattywompus new zealand -string -band"
(because there is another famous Kattywompus).
Let us know if you have success with a different search term.
Still no _capital 'N'_ News, though, which I find somewhat surprising.
--Mark_
15:29 13 April 2010
< http://realityinterrupted.com/wpblog/2010/04/12/new-zealand-update/ >.
(Use _copy&paste_ to get that URL into your browser's address line.)
Thanks to Phil R. (Altrice).
Try searching for
"kattywompus new zealand -string -band"
(because there is another famous Kattywompus).
Let us know if you have success with a different search term.
Still no _capital 'N'_ News, though, which I find somewhat surprising.
--Mark_
15:29 13 April 2010
19 March 2010
Our Upcoming Trip
(Initial post.)
We haven't been off this continent before. As small-boat cruisers and occasional train- and automobile-tourists, we have spent a bit of time in very mildly foreign southwest British Columbia, and Cindy has been just across the Mexican border, but this will be the first time we have had to deal with some of the long-distance travel issues that so many others (including many of our friends) find fairly routine (if that word even applies).
We have packed our passports; measured and weighted our luggage; bought the foreign electrical power converter and adapters; procured optical devices suitable to the tasks of seeing and recording some of the sights--and for the flights have bought sound-isolating earbuds and have filled our mp3 players with books, music, podcasts, and radio plays.
We have also dealt with the realization that although we will travel toward the south, we will actually move toward a place that is somewhat cooler than it is here. We have therefore switched from thinking about how to stay cool to thinking about how to stay warm.
In terms of climate, I had been thinking Australian beaches and such. Our destination in N.Z. is actually farther south (i.e., away from the equator), than the southernmost part of the bulk of Australia, by a non-trivial margin. It's in line with Tasmania, the little island that rather looks as if it may once have been part of Australia proper, but has been apart from it for long enough to have its own ecosystem.
The season is not as we had anticipated, too: like our late September/early October at roughly the same distance from the Equator. As our home enters our spring, they (and we) will enter their autumn.
Stupid mistake, but we caught it in time.
Our expectation regarding the culture we will find there is that the experience of encountering it will be like the experience of visiting in SE Canada: It will seem familiar, if very slightly shifted--and with different brand-names on most of the same kinds of retail stuff as we have here. We aren't going there for the retail experience, of course, but having grown up with such matters all around, I do find it interesting to walk through the grocery stores of other nationalities. (The Korean store a very few miles from our house is a wonderland of the amazingly unfamiliar. All mundane and probably comfortable to the local Asian population, but strange and almost unsettling to a midwesterner whose dining-table tastes are as narrow as I know mine to be.)
We expect to find some landscapes that may resemble some of ours (or more correctly some of what we have seen while cruising our little sailboat in B.C.): bays, fjords, mountains, valleys, trees, and such. Even so, no speculation, memory, gorgeous calendar photograph, or Google Earth view could ever substitute for the experience of standing there, breathing air right off the feature at which one is looking. We are eager for the excitement of that kind of novelty, and we have been advised to expect absolute wonder.
We aren't certain about what to expect of the natives we will encounter in the two somewhat separate places that we will visit, except that we have been advised by those who have gone before us that everybody there will be warmly friendly. We will expect this, and we do hope that we can reflect and project attitudes appropriate to that experience. One does not travel hoping not to be bothered by encounters with other people. I am not very good with "strangers", so I will have to be careful to engage.
Foreign travel is alleged to be good for (more than just) self-improvement. It can (also) permit one to compare his life, his values, his society, and his culture to those of others. I shall be interested in seeing a little of how they and we are similar and how we are different--and how our different ways of organizing ourselves fosters (or perhaps interferes with) the expression of our values. If it occasionally seems that some things are not going so well here, how have others solved or avoided problems with issues similar to ours?
For several reasons, we are eager for this first trip abroad (albeit somewhat horrified at the prospect of more or less an entire day in a voyage that will have consumed multiple days). We will get to spend time with friends | on their boat | in waters we never expected to see | next to lands and peoples we might have missed otherwise. The trips to arrive there and return will be long, and the time there is certain to seem terribly short, although probably quite intense.
We hope we're up to it.
[My intentions for this web-log are somewhat uncertain.
[I will not have a computer with me, and I do not expect to mooch or pay for computer time. I will, however, have my Apple iPod Touch, which can do many of the kinds of things that larger computers can do--including sending updates by e-mail (when within range of an open wi-fi station). It is not an iPhone, so it lacks a camera and the always-on wireless connection that iPhone users like so much.
[So: Use your own judgement about taking the trouble to monitor this space while we are away. It may turn out that I find I can easily keep it up-to-date, or that may prove inconvenient or even impossible. I shall try, but if real-time posting doesn't work out, updates may have to wait until after our return.
[Although this service does support pictures, most of what I have to share will probably be hosted on my Apple hosting service at < http://gallery.me.com/socrates4718 >.
[I believe that this blog isn't in the usual index of web-logs, and I have disabled some of the usual features such as comments. I do invite contacts sent to my usual e-mail address.]
--Mark_
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