“I’m damned, I’m in love with the windswept, stormy sea. A seductive Siren, her raw, salt-scented spray tugs at my heart and owns my soul.” ~ JB

Tonight’s a stormy night on the boat. The winds are out of the south — directly straight up the aft — which means, when it starts raining, the water will blow into the cabin through the hatch boards. I guess I need to move anything and everything that can get damaged by water. I really need to make the cabin as waterproof as possible. This sailboat is too small to believe that it will stay dry in bad weather. Instead, I need to run the other way and make it able to dry out ASAP instead of being dry and a poster child for Tommy Bahama.

Living on board when I am in town can be raw. No fresh nor refrigerated food. If it’s not freeze-dried, canned or somehow preserved and ready-to-eat it isn’t made onboard. And while I have one of those Forespar Mini 2000 stoves, I don’t cook anything that requires anything more complex than adding hot water… Actually, that’s not true as I just ate a freeze-dried banana cake which only required cold water, but that’s an REI on-special story.

Anyway, tonight is shaping up to be a stormy night. 15 to 20 mph winds out of the southwest, again, directly up the aft and into my cabin.

I love stormy nights. I am so looking forward to waking in the wee hours of the morning due to wind shifts and dock-line creaks.

But, I hate it when the wind blows my Yamaha 1100 V-Star Classic over in the parking lot – damn zephyr! Anyway, I didn’t throw my back out lifting its 750 pounds back upright. Now, it’s sitting on the sidewalk, next to the dumpster, tied to the street light.

Did I mention that its rather windy out there tonight?

Anyway, there’s a lull in the storm coming and I plan on walking out to the jetty and look out over the boiling ocean. To feel the force of the wind, taste the salty spray and recharge my soul. It’s also a great way to test my old Patagonia foul weather jacket, which I bought back in the ’90s. Like my boat, they’re also a classic as Patagonia stopped making them a decade ago. And other than a slightly musty smell, they have held up great. Walking around in the driving rain and 40 mph wind, I re-parked my motorcycle and walked over to grab a beer at The Jolly Roger in Oceanside. I feel as though it’s time for a proper, hot meal on a night like this.