I've gotten a little busy with life out here. Its an incredibly easy place to get busy and forget a few things. In the Philippines life was a little less complicated by having extra discretional time to live life. While that sounds all pathetic for them, it wasn't. They have hard lives, just like we do, surrounded by lack of money. Many of them aren't television watchers, so they don't get sold on some life they shouldn't be striving to live in the first place like Americans are. In our view, without much thought or reflection on our American lives, they appear as poor. Same as the Marshallese.
They just love each other. Family or second family, or not, they love and share and take care of each other. TV or not, they get together and share, and laugh. Mostly they are just together, and enjoy each other.
I've got so much to learn from them. We all do.
I can now say I've been in many places. I now feel mostly "well traveled". Of course that's relative.
The point to that last sentence is that....well.....civilization .......has a long way to go
Monday, August 14, 2017
Monday, June 5, 2017
Captain Liz....Master Captain.
6-3-17?
Liz has been out here for awhile. She took a break for a year and has now returned to take care of the islands hair. I always had some idea she was originally Australian, because she has dreadlocks, tattoos, and a look that for some reason gave me that impression. There is no accent though, probably because she's from Iowa. She's somewhere between 30 and 40, quiet enough to make you realize she's smart and capable = able to handle herself in situations that many others wouldn't. The first year here she punched some idiot in the face. (please refer back to earlier journal entries) He completely deserved it, and was kicked off the island shortly after. Maybe that "capable" adjective came partly from that.
We went sailing Sunday. I had asked her a week before and the weather looked like it could be good. The forecasts here, especially for the wind, are worthless more than two days out. Saturday afternoon showed 21mph winds from the north east. Saturday evening showed 16mph from the same direction. The second forecast was much more conducive to sailing, especially sailing to the west reef islands.
We left around ten am. The "float plan" that I turned in Saturday evening changed Sunday morning. The east reef looked less appealing due to the wind direction, so we headed to the west reef as I had originally planned in my head. The problem with the west reef island is that the winds blow directly at them, well at an angle. The catamarans love sailing with the wind at their side nearly perpendicular. They travel the quickest when the wind is "beam reach", the sailing term for the wind hitting the boat perpendicular to the length of the boat.
Sailing up the east reef means sailing up the leeward side of the causeway, all nice and protected by the wind. It's best with direct east winds regardless of wind speed. I say "regardless of wind speed" because the wind out here is normally not very strong at its strongest. 30 mph is heavy winds here with a few exceptions. If the winds are too much northeast it leaves you making a bunch of stretchy "Z" patterns trying to go up the causeway.
So instead of stitching up the east reef in what would have been mostly calmer waters, we headed in a straight line to the third island up on the west reef. It gets choppy over there on those islands in the lagoon side because there is 4 to 10 miles of open water that the wind has the chance to mess up. The island I had been to before and thought I was returning to again was the 4th island up the west reef. It had some coral heads but a big sandy beach. The island we got to didn't have a sandy beach on the lagoon side. It had big ugly coral heads and softball size rocks as a beach.
We got there, in 3 foot chop, maybe four. Liz was driving the whole time, and it was a great trip. She continued to do a great job driving when we approached the island and she headed the boat up wind to stop it about 100 ft off shore in terrible waves. I chucked the anchor anyhow. The anchor caught and that part was good, but we were getting rocked in the boat. There was no grabbing our stuff (her awesome sandwiches) and swimming to shore. It was just way too rough with the boat jumping up and down there was no way I could relax on shore knowing something would break on that boat before sending it into the rocks and coral head directly behind it. It was a mutual decision to pull anchor and leave to a calmer spot. The problem is the anchor didn't want to come free. It was only twelve feet of water so that part wasn't a big deal. The anchor was holding still after several attempts of me pulling the boat forward enough to be on top of it to be in the best place to dislodge it. The little boat was bouncing so hard in the bow I was being so careful not to get my fingers tied into the rope too much because the whole pain thing. After realizing the anchor wasn't going to come lose from me just yanking, I sat back a little to gather my thoughts and Liz says we should use the motor to try and get in front of the anchor and pull it from that spot. At that point starting the motor was a great idea, that I was about to come up with before she stole it. We tried a half a dozen times to run over the anchor and pull it out from that angle, but it was fruitless. I kept having thoughts that ..wow she's doing a great job of steering and working the motor from back there. She just knew what to do, or it seemed so from my vantage point, which was not looking back at her. I'd have to say she never really got the boat, or at least the bow, very far in front of the anchor, but it wasn't her fault for trying. The waves were so big the motor was out of the water half the time so it couldn't push forward.
I made the decision, quickly, before Captain Liz did, that I had to go dislodge the anchor. The idea was to snorkel down pull the boat forward enough and put the anchor in a place where it would still hold, but that it could still be pulled from above at the right angle. I put the snorkel mask on, and had thoughts of just diving in without the fins, but Liz, Captain Liz, suggested using them. I was going to use them, I just had thoughts of not.
It's weird how all that violence and stress can be happening above the water, then you dive in and its this beautiful calm place.
Liz had asked me before I went in if the anchor line would hold, because she thought we had gotten closer to shore. Actually closer to the big coral head directly 50 ft behind us. I told her we have not gotten closer. The weak link in my anchoring deal was this rope tied to either side of the bows of the catamaran so it would end up in a "V" shape to tie the anchor line to. They were ...well lets just say it was a really pretty tie job using smaller kite line to tie it on either side. Then there was this "Danik" hook I bought offline that was hooked to the middle of the "V" line.
So, when I went snorkeling, after looking at the situation from the top of the water for a bit, I decided to dive down and do something. As I made it do the bottom by the anchor, I looked back and saw the "Danik" hook sinking with the line behind it. NOT GOOD
I came to the surface to see what was going on and before I got the visual, I heard the little 2.5hp motor revving up. That was a good sound. The visual comes in and Liz is driving the boat mostly parallel to the island but out a bit and south away from me. I waved to the boat as it headed away from me as a little inside joke. The main sail was not connected and flapped in the wind. The jib was still connected though. The boat did wheelies. I was impressed totally. She was driving the boat away from shore with all kinds of chaos going on. Sails flapping, waves smashing, the shore nearly a stones throw away, a motor that was in and out of the water too much and I think she had just learned to steer the boat that day. I was soo worried the motor might quit.
I had to stop being impressed with her and do the stuff I had to do if she came back for me. I dove down and wrestled the anchor free, then got back to the surface. I was pulling in the rest of the anchor rode quickly to keep it out of the prop that I hoped would be heading back my way when I surfaced. I was rooting for her!! It was like, well if the boat gets all smashed up no biggie, it was all my dumb idea.....but Liz was heading back my way however the wind was blowing her into the island. Her head moved around a lot, but she figured it out, she kept cool except for that little moment when the motor turned, and the wind and the rudders acted against her...wait she kept her cool then too. She steered the boat again back south and this time she headed much further out. I swam directly away from shore knowing she'd be coming back. I had 150ft of 3/8" anchor line and ten feet of chain with a five pound anchor when she got back to me.
I swam at the bow and chucked all the rope and anchor up on the front trampoline.
She did really good.
No pictures though....we were busy!
Liz has been out here for awhile. She took a break for a year and has now returned to take care of the islands hair. I always had some idea she was originally Australian, because she has dreadlocks, tattoos, and a look that for some reason gave me that impression. There is no accent though, probably because she's from Iowa. She's somewhere between 30 and 40, quiet enough to make you realize she's smart and capable = able to handle herself in situations that many others wouldn't. The first year here she punched some idiot in the face. (please refer back to earlier journal entries) He completely deserved it, and was kicked off the island shortly after. Maybe that "capable" adjective came partly from that.
We went sailing Sunday. I had asked her a week before and the weather looked like it could be good. The forecasts here, especially for the wind, are worthless more than two days out. Saturday afternoon showed 21mph winds from the north east. Saturday evening showed 16mph from the same direction. The second forecast was much more conducive to sailing, especially sailing to the west reef islands.
We left around ten am. The "float plan" that I turned in Saturday evening changed Sunday morning. The east reef looked less appealing due to the wind direction, so we headed to the west reef as I had originally planned in my head. The problem with the west reef island is that the winds blow directly at them, well at an angle. The catamarans love sailing with the wind at their side nearly perpendicular. They travel the quickest when the wind is "beam reach", the sailing term for the wind hitting the boat perpendicular to the length of the boat.
Sailing up the east reef means sailing up the leeward side of the causeway, all nice and protected by the wind. It's best with direct east winds regardless of wind speed. I say "regardless of wind speed" because the wind out here is normally not very strong at its strongest. 30 mph is heavy winds here with a few exceptions. If the winds are too much northeast it leaves you making a bunch of stretchy "Z" patterns trying to go up the causeway.
So instead of stitching up the east reef in what would have been mostly calmer waters, we headed in a straight line to the third island up on the west reef. It gets choppy over there on those islands in the lagoon side because there is 4 to 10 miles of open water that the wind has the chance to mess up. The island I had been to before and thought I was returning to again was the 4th island up the west reef. It had some coral heads but a big sandy beach. The island we got to didn't have a sandy beach on the lagoon side. It had big ugly coral heads and softball size rocks as a beach.
We got there, in 3 foot chop, maybe four. Liz was driving the whole time, and it was a great trip. She continued to do a great job driving when we approached the island and she headed the boat up wind to stop it about 100 ft off shore in terrible waves. I chucked the anchor anyhow. The anchor caught and that part was good, but we were getting rocked in the boat. There was no grabbing our stuff (her awesome sandwiches) and swimming to shore. It was just way too rough with the boat jumping up and down there was no way I could relax on shore knowing something would break on that boat before sending it into the rocks and coral head directly behind it. It was a mutual decision to pull anchor and leave to a calmer spot. The problem is the anchor didn't want to come free. It was only twelve feet of water so that part wasn't a big deal. The anchor was holding still after several attempts of me pulling the boat forward enough to be on top of it to be in the best place to dislodge it. The little boat was bouncing so hard in the bow I was being so careful not to get my fingers tied into the rope too much because the whole pain thing. After realizing the anchor wasn't going to come lose from me just yanking, I sat back a little to gather my thoughts and Liz says we should use the motor to try and get in front of the anchor and pull it from that spot. At that point starting the motor was a great idea, that I was about to come up with before she stole it. We tried a half a dozen times to run over the anchor and pull it out from that angle, but it was fruitless. I kept having thoughts that ..wow she's doing a great job of steering and working the motor from back there. She just knew what to do, or it seemed so from my vantage point, which was not looking back at her. I'd have to say she never really got the boat, or at least the bow, very far in front of the anchor, but it wasn't her fault for trying. The waves were so big the motor was out of the water half the time so it couldn't push forward.
I made the decision, quickly, before Captain Liz did, that I had to go dislodge the anchor. The idea was to snorkel down pull the boat forward enough and put the anchor in a place where it would still hold, but that it could still be pulled from above at the right angle. I put the snorkel mask on, and had thoughts of just diving in without the fins, but Liz, Captain Liz, suggested using them. I was going to use them, I just had thoughts of not.
It's weird how all that violence and stress can be happening above the water, then you dive in and its this beautiful calm place.
Liz had asked me before I went in if the anchor line would hold, because she thought we had gotten closer to shore. Actually closer to the big coral head directly 50 ft behind us. I told her we have not gotten closer. The weak link in my anchoring deal was this rope tied to either side of the bows of the catamaran so it would end up in a "V" shape to tie the anchor line to. They were ...well lets just say it was a really pretty tie job using smaller kite line to tie it on either side. Then there was this "Danik" hook I bought offline that was hooked to the middle of the "V" line.
So, when I went snorkeling, after looking at the situation from the top of the water for a bit, I decided to dive down and do something. As I made it do the bottom by the anchor, I looked back and saw the "Danik" hook sinking with the line behind it. NOT GOOD
I came to the surface to see what was going on and before I got the visual, I heard the little 2.5hp motor revving up. That was a good sound. The visual comes in and Liz is driving the boat mostly parallel to the island but out a bit and south away from me. I waved to the boat as it headed away from me as a little inside joke. The main sail was not connected and flapped in the wind. The jib was still connected though. The boat did wheelies. I was impressed totally. She was driving the boat away from shore with all kinds of chaos going on. Sails flapping, waves smashing, the shore nearly a stones throw away, a motor that was in and out of the water too much and I think she had just learned to steer the boat that day. I was soo worried the motor might quit.
I had to stop being impressed with her and do the stuff I had to do if she came back for me. I dove down and wrestled the anchor free, then got back to the surface. I was pulling in the rest of the anchor rode quickly to keep it out of the prop that I hoped would be heading back my way when I surfaced. I was rooting for her!! It was like, well if the boat gets all smashed up no biggie, it was all my dumb idea.....but Liz was heading back my way however the wind was blowing her into the island. Her head moved around a lot, but she figured it out, she kept cool except for that little moment when the motor turned, and the wind and the rudders acted against her...wait she kept her cool then too. She steered the boat again back south and this time she headed much further out. I swam directly away from shore knowing she'd be coming back. I had 150ft of 3/8" anchor line and ten feet of chain with a five pound anchor when she got back to me.
I swam at the bow and chucked all the rope and anchor up on the front trampoline.
She did really good.
No pictures though....we were busy!
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
So its been a while.....5-30-17
I surfed. Friday night for 1.5 hours. Saturday night for 2 hours. Sunday morning starting at 6 am for 2 hours. Sunday evening, after sailing in the Hobie for 6 hours, 2.5 hours. Monday morning at 6 am for 2 more hours.
Learning to surf was so far off my radar for so long. I just never thought of being in a place to learn. Never thought of being so fortunate. Not only now am I in this place where I can learn, I'm in good enough shape to learn, and if you've read any of the rest of this journal/blog you would know its the hardest thing I've ever done.
On a side note....when I came back from surfing Saturday evening in the work truck in my shorts around 6:30pm, I parked the work truck at the man camp. When I got out to walk to my miniature apartment two Marshallese guys were leaving someone else's apartment and saw me. They asked me for a ride to the dock/ checkpoint. It was raining and had been since 3pm. The safety guy came out and said he couldn't take them because he had been drinking. Abi and the other guy whose name I can't remember had been drinking too. Abi kept saying stuff like "Ben ...you are batch plant boss, bring me to batch plant, I want to work for you, I respect you" to which I replied "I'm not the batch plant boss, I'm just putting it together for James" Abi denies me that I am the boss several times and tells me to promise him I will bring him out there.
On Kwaj, especially lately, you are not allowed to use work (government property) vehicles for personal use. So I knew taking them up there would probably earn me a ticket and possibly a driving suspension from San Juan, but it was raining, and I love the Marshallese guys.
Halfway back near dusk the rear view mirror showed headlights. It had to be the cops. I was only a half mile from the man camp where I could hide truck amongst the others and duck into my place before they would know who was driving. A half mile at fifteen miles an hour, the islands top speed limit, is an eternity to get thru. I sped up to 40mph. It was risky. I made it. I saw the little square cop suv drive past.....
Next time copper....next time!!
Ok, so that was a long side note..
The thought that originally started this thought was Guiness, the great dane I had the pleasure of being best friends with for 11 years. When she was 4 she would run like a gazelle for an hour, then rest for half a day. When she was12 she would run like a gazelle for two minutes then rest for several days. I seem to be her at 12. The surfing wiped me out. I spent much of the latter half of Memorial Day weekend chilling like Guiness.
Learning to surf was so far off my radar for so long. I just never thought of being in a place to learn. Never thought of being so fortunate. Not only now am I in this place where I can learn, I'm in good enough shape to learn, and if you've read any of the rest of this journal/blog you would know its the hardest thing I've ever done.
On a side note....when I came back from surfing Saturday evening in the work truck in my shorts around 6:30pm, I parked the work truck at the man camp. When I got out to walk to my miniature apartment two Marshallese guys were leaving someone else's apartment and saw me. They asked me for a ride to the dock/ checkpoint. It was raining and had been since 3pm. The safety guy came out and said he couldn't take them because he had been drinking. Abi and the other guy whose name I can't remember had been drinking too. Abi kept saying stuff like "Ben ...you are batch plant boss, bring me to batch plant, I want to work for you, I respect you" to which I replied "I'm not the batch plant boss, I'm just putting it together for James" Abi denies me that I am the boss several times and tells me to promise him I will bring him out there.
On Kwaj, especially lately, you are not allowed to use work (government property) vehicles for personal use. So I knew taking them up there would probably earn me a ticket and possibly a driving suspension from San Juan, but it was raining, and I love the Marshallese guys.
Halfway back near dusk the rear view mirror showed headlights. It had to be the cops. I was only a half mile from the man camp where I could hide truck amongst the others and duck into my place before they would know who was driving. A half mile at fifteen miles an hour, the islands top speed limit, is an eternity to get thru. I sped up to 40mph. It was risky. I made it. I saw the little square cop suv drive past.....
Next time copper....next time!!
Ok, so that was a long side note..
The thought that originally started this thought was Guiness, the great dane I had the pleasure of being best friends with for 11 years. When she was 4 she would run like a gazelle for an hour, then rest for half a day. When she was12 she would run like a gazelle for two minutes then rest for several days. I seem to be her at 12. The surfing wiped me out. I spent much of the latter half of Memorial Day weekend chilling like Guiness.
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| I started wearing the high visibility orange shirts after the 4 or 5 guys got lost Oceanside for 5 hours. |
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Apparently, I'm not worried about the advertising space of my forehead getting sunburnt. This picture was taken by Chris Rice...thank you
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| This is a church on Ebeye. Bilwa told me it took 3 guys seven years to build it. |
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so we can get pretty close to things with my Hobie....I do love sailing by Ebeye with it
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| Patrick and Tom's boat ...the Geneva. |
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| This picture taken by Steve Davis....shows the size of waves I love out here. Too much bigger and its scary. I didn't really catch this one right and ended up riding the white water as opposed to turning right.and heading down the face of the wave |
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Kiteboarding at Bigej......beautiful place...
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| Bigej....around 40 folks live here. great people. |
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Bilwa has the best laugh
Bilba......and that's not his name.....
Today, he starts telling me about how one of our new safety guys approached one of the guys (not sure if he was "rebelle" (white guy) or Marshallese. It's probably not important to the story any how. The important part is that he was a KRS employee. KRS is the "king" on Kwaj as Bilba put it. They are the military contractor that runs the island, and has run the island for quite a while. KRS = Kwajalein Range Services. They may be based out of Georgia.
So to set this up better, there are 10 or so San Juan guys working downwind of some old Kwaj housing units. At the industrial boat dock on the industrial side of the island. They are basically mobile homes, made in the fifties or sixties. They called them at the time "Silver City" because there were a slew of them together located lagoon side on Kwaj, and they are covered in galvanized/silver tin. They are now kind of dispersed on Kwaj, and a few are halfway up the "causeway" . The "Causeway" is the 5 or so islands north of Ebeye. Shell, North Shell, Loi, and a few other islands I can't remember make up the "Causeway" that extends ten miles north of Ebeye.
The San Juan guys, working "hard" to get things together for the next barge at the more industrial boat ramp that has some acronym name that I can't recall, are doing their thing when the KRS guys start doing something to the "silver city" trailers.
I wasn't personally there for this, and it may be totally a moment where you "had to be there", but Bilba's laugh, as he finished the story has led me to this post. So Bilba (still not his real name, and not sure why I feel I need to protect his real name, except that his laugh was soo loud and so extended it deserves to get him fired...not really...but it was great). A friend told me "that's all the Marshallese have left is to laugh". That part is kind of sad, but its true, and they certainly do laugh.
So Bilso explains to me how the safety guy approaches the KRS workers, chest puffed, and declares "hey you guys can't do that while we are here working, those things are full of asbestos and we are downwind working"...."I'm the safety guy for San Juan, you have to stop doing that". So the guy says "ok, I'll be back". He comes back a bit later with the bigger KRS guy who says "you're absolutely right, these trailers do have asbestos in them and you are down wind, YOU guys have to move................
Today, he starts telling me about how one of our new safety guys approached one of the guys (not sure if he was "rebelle" (white guy) or Marshallese. It's probably not important to the story any how. The important part is that he was a KRS employee. KRS is the "king" on Kwaj as Bilba put it. They are the military contractor that runs the island, and has run the island for quite a while. KRS = Kwajalein Range Services. They may be based out of Georgia.
So to set this up better, there are 10 or so San Juan guys working downwind of some old Kwaj housing units. At the industrial boat dock on the industrial side of the island. They are basically mobile homes, made in the fifties or sixties. They called them at the time "Silver City" because there were a slew of them together located lagoon side on Kwaj, and they are covered in galvanized/silver tin. They are now kind of dispersed on Kwaj, and a few are halfway up the "causeway" . The "Causeway" is the 5 or so islands north of Ebeye. Shell, North Shell, Loi, and a few other islands I can't remember make up the "Causeway" that extends ten miles north of Ebeye.
The San Juan guys, working "hard" to get things together for the next barge at the more industrial boat ramp that has some acronym name that I can't recall, are doing their thing when the KRS guys start doing something to the "silver city" trailers.
I wasn't personally there for this, and it may be totally a moment where you "had to be there", but Bilba's laugh, as he finished the story has led me to this post. So Bilba (still not his real name, and not sure why I feel I need to protect his real name, except that his laugh was soo loud and so extended it deserves to get him fired...not really...but it was great). A friend told me "that's all the Marshallese have left is to laugh". That part is kind of sad, but its true, and they certainly do laugh.
So Bilso explains to me how the safety guy approaches the KRS workers, chest puffed, and declares "hey you guys can't do that while we are here working, those things are full of asbestos and we are downwind working"...."I'm the safety guy for San Juan, you have to stop doing that". So the guy says "ok, I'll be back". He comes back a bit later with the bigger KRS guy who says "you're absolutely right, these trailers do have asbestos in them and you are down wind, YOU guys have to move................
Saturday, May 6, 2017
I've got the most beautiful life!
May 6th, 2017.
Its been too windy to think about going camping. The wind forecasts every weekend for a month or two show the wind slowing down the following weekend. Every week for four weeks its been wrong, but this weekend we are going to ignore it. It nearly takes a week to pull off a camping trip to another island on this Atoll (as opposed to all the other atolls' I've been on :)). First, willing people have to be found, then paperwork has to be taken care of. You go to the RMI office on Kwaj, and the very friendly Marshallese people stamp your trip request as "approved". Its a big round official deal, and they just don't really care much where you are going. Next is passing their approved trip request out to the required powers that be out here. The RMI office is only open during the hours that we work....well ok not quite as extended as our ten hour days. So I have to sneak off a little during lunch, even though I scarf down two plates really quickly. 5 copies are made and you have to distribute them yourself, so that has to happen during my working hours. Its a 3 day deal. The people you invite have no clue, so they randomly renege.
I have the best life!! Pictures to follow
Its been too windy to think about going camping. The wind forecasts every weekend for a month or two show the wind slowing down the following weekend. Every week for four weeks its been wrong, but this weekend we are going to ignore it. It nearly takes a week to pull off a camping trip to another island on this Atoll (as opposed to all the other atolls' I've been on :)). First, willing people have to be found, then paperwork has to be taken care of. You go to the RMI office on Kwaj, and the very friendly Marshallese people stamp your trip request as "approved". Its a big round official deal, and they just don't really care much where you are going. Next is passing their approved trip request out to the required powers that be out here. The RMI office is only open during the hours that we work....well ok not quite as extended as our ten hour days. So I have to sneak off a little during lunch, even though I scarf down two plates really quickly. 5 copies are made and you have to distribute them yourself, so that has to happen during my working hours. Its a 3 day deal. The people you invite have no clue, so they randomly renege.
I have the best life!! Pictures to follow
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Monday, March 13, 2017
a great memorable weekend...Larry's goodbye and sailing with Ted
3-?-17
There is a saying out here that goes kind of like this - Our evenings are like your weekends, Our weekends are like your vacations, Our vacations are.....I don't remember what I've heard..but Out of this world would be a good ending.
My previous boss, Larry Cotton, is retiring. I'm not certain if he was ready to or not, regardless, he's going to be leaving us, leaving Kwaj and SJC. He never really gave me much respect for what I did, but to be honest, only civil engineers respect a Materials Testing Lab Manager. Larry came out here as an electrician, I heard. He ended up being the commander in chief for San Juan Construction on Kwajalein. At around 5'6" and 170 I'd guess, with balding head and a mischievous face, he quietly got things done out here for the people headquartered in Montrose Colorado. He was good to the people out here from Kwaj. He helped a lot of them get things done, when they had no one to turn to get their boat fixed, or a part borrowed here or there. He understood the give and take of this island. More than anything though, he loved and respected the Marshallese guys that worked for San Juan on the island.
This is beginning to sound like an obituary, maybe I've used too much past tense.
Saturday they had the Marshallese going away party for him. It was at 3pm which is cutting two hours out of the workday, and there was 25 cases of beer, along with a few cases of pop and water available. 25 or so "rebelle" (Marshallese for white guy) were present, probably only 5 knew him for more than 5 months, most only for a month or so. 75 or so Marshallese were there. I'd say a good half of them knew Larry for more than 5 years. He was good to them, I heard rumors that the leadership for SJC thought he was too easy on them.
I can safely say, while in general it is human nature to be lazy, the expats out here that I've seen hired by SJC are far lazier, and much better at avoiding work than 80% of the Marshallese.
The farewell that the Marshallese workers gave that evening for Larry, is unequivocally, the most emotional retirement party I am certain I will ever go to. I've seen it before, just not to this extent. They all sang in harmony and in Marshallese, their goodbye song. While they sang, 75 bellowing voices, they stood in line in front of Larry single file, and gave him gifts, handshakes, and hugs. All the gifts were handmade items, hats, necklaces mainly, and a few other items. I felt weird standing in line at the end and shaking his hand and giving him a custom made "Kwajalein Atoll Frisbee", but I'm glad I did. I was one of two rebelle that did.
David Candle, one of the workers that had been with him for 20 years out here, tried to give a speech. He couldn't really get thru it because he kept tearing up. After he gave up, they made Larry talk, and he couldn't get thru it either, because he was tearing up. What he did say, I hope the new project manager out here heard. He said to the Marshallese mainly "you guys have it a lot harder than the expats do out here, you have to get up earlier to get over here, you work harder......." and I think he kind of lost it after that...
I walked out of UPS after 18 years and giving a two week notice, pretty much like any other day. I just left. No fanfare, no thank you, no nothing. It was about what I expected.
I would much rather leave a place like Larry is leaving, where the people that matter, send you off like you mattered.
I took pictures, and videos, but the sound did not come thru on the videos, I'm going to try and find a video of it that has sound, and post it, because the sound really really matters.
That was Saturday. I spent part of the day trying to put together some sort of sailing on the Hobie trip for early Sunday morning because the winds were looking a bit lighter, and near straight east. I didn't think it would be something any of the girls I have been sailing with could handle, except for one, but she was on call. I really wanted to try and go with Bilwa. Bilwa (spelling may or may not be right, but its phonetically correct) is a 55 year old Marshallese guy, who has been with SJC for a while out here. He has no front teeth on top, and smokes, and loves to drink when there is a party. He knows a lot of the island ways of doing things, and they all tell me he is "number one fisherman". He also has the same great attitude of most the Marshallese, and has the best laugh when he's having fun, its addictive.
I really wanted to sail to an island on the west reef. Crossing the lagoon in winds much higher than 15 can get really sketchy. Ted and I have been out in the lagoon at 24 mph winds, only a mile off the east reef, which is where the wind comes from. So the east reef provides a little protection, but not when the wind is 24 mph and from the north east. Ted and I had both hulls and the trampolines and contents completely under more than a foot of water five times that day. We were both scared the first two times it happened, but the thing resurfaced and on we went. So it can kind of handle it, but well it wasn't really safe. At 24 mph winds from the northeast, we had to head out into the lagoon to get upwind on the east reef, then tack and head towards the reef. Picture a straight line (the reef and Ebeye and all the islands connected by the causeway) that runs slightly northeast to southwest. To make it upwind the pattern looks like a bunch of stretched out "Z's" heading somewhat north. If the wind is straight east at around 80 degrees, its a perfect line to head up the causeway, no tacks or jibes or turning needed. It should also be said that sustained winds above 20 mph usually has the harbor control shutting down the use of the rental boats. They call it "small craft advisory". I usually forget to look. It's not too smart, I'll admit, to go out in small craft advisory, because, as one might imagine ...if they recommend not going out in a rental boat, they dont' wanna come rescue your dumbass on a private boat because they judge the conditions to be to strong. So that's the kind of confidence (read stupidity) I had a few times.
So for the non sailors, picture the wind blowing from your starboard side, your right side. You are cruising along, wind hitting your right side. If you try and turn into the wind to get the boat to change directions its called a tack. So you would turn right, if the wind is coming from your right. A "jibe" is turning away from the wind to switch directions. A tack, is much more preferred than a jibe because the sail comes around slower. If you turn downwind or jibe when the sail switches over it does so fairly violently. The violence can be controlled by making a very slow turn and keeping the sail tight to the center of the boat with both the traveler and the main sheet, but it still slams over much more dramatically than when tacking. ESPECIALLY in high winds.
There is a saying out here that goes kind of like this - Our evenings are like your weekends, Our weekends are like your vacations, Our vacations are.....I don't remember what I've heard..but Out of this world would be a good ending.
My previous boss, Larry Cotton, is retiring. I'm not certain if he was ready to or not, regardless, he's going to be leaving us, leaving Kwaj and SJC. He never really gave me much respect for what I did, but to be honest, only civil engineers respect a Materials Testing Lab Manager. Larry came out here as an electrician, I heard. He ended up being the commander in chief for San Juan Construction on Kwajalein. At around 5'6" and 170 I'd guess, with balding head and a mischievous face, he quietly got things done out here for the people headquartered in Montrose Colorado. He was good to the people out here from Kwaj. He helped a lot of them get things done, when they had no one to turn to get their boat fixed, or a part borrowed here or there. He understood the give and take of this island. More than anything though, he loved and respected the Marshallese guys that worked for San Juan on the island.
This is beginning to sound like an obituary, maybe I've used too much past tense.
Saturday they had the Marshallese going away party for him. It was at 3pm which is cutting two hours out of the workday, and there was 25 cases of beer, along with a few cases of pop and water available. 25 or so "rebelle" (Marshallese for white guy) were present, probably only 5 knew him for more than 5 months, most only for a month or so. 75 or so Marshallese were there. I'd say a good half of them knew Larry for more than 5 years. He was good to them, I heard rumors that the leadership for SJC thought he was too easy on them.
I can safely say, while in general it is human nature to be lazy, the expats out here that I've seen hired by SJC are far lazier, and much better at avoiding work than 80% of the Marshallese.
The farewell that the Marshallese workers gave that evening for Larry, is unequivocally, the most emotional retirement party I am certain I will ever go to. I've seen it before, just not to this extent. They all sang in harmony and in Marshallese, their goodbye song. While they sang, 75 bellowing voices, they stood in line in front of Larry single file, and gave him gifts, handshakes, and hugs. All the gifts were handmade items, hats, necklaces mainly, and a few other items. I felt weird standing in line at the end and shaking his hand and giving him a custom made "Kwajalein Atoll Frisbee", but I'm glad I did. I was one of two rebelle that did.
David Candle, one of the workers that had been with him for 20 years out here, tried to give a speech. He couldn't really get thru it because he kept tearing up. After he gave up, they made Larry talk, and he couldn't get thru it either, because he was tearing up. What he did say, I hope the new project manager out here heard. He said to the Marshallese mainly "you guys have it a lot harder than the expats do out here, you have to get up earlier to get over here, you work harder......." and I think he kind of lost it after that...
I walked out of UPS after 18 years and giving a two week notice, pretty much like any other day. I just left. No fanfare, no thank you, no nothing. It was about what I expected.
I would much rather leave a place like Larry is leaving, where the people that matter, send you off like you mattered.
I took pictures, and videos, but the sound did not come thru on the videos, I'm going to try and find a video of it that has sound, and post it, because the sound really really matters.
That was Saturday. I spent part of the day trying to put together some sort of sailing on the Hobie trip for early Sunday morning because the winds were looking a bit lighter, and near straight east. I didn't think it would be something any of the girls I have been sailing with could handle, except for one, but she was on call. I really wanted to try and go with Bilwa. Bilwa (spelling may or may not be right, but its phonetically correct) is a 55 year old Marshallese guy, who has been with SJC for a while out here. He has no front teeth on top, and smokes, and loves to drink when there is a party. He knows a lot of the island ways of doing things, and they all tell me he is "number one fisherman". He also has the same great attitude of most the Marshallese, and has the best laugh when he's having fun, its addictive.
I really wanted to sail to an island on the west reef. Crossing the lagoon in winds much higher than 15 can get really sketchy. Ted and I have been out in the lagoon at 24 mph winds, only a mile off the east reef, which is where the wind comes from. So the east reef provides a little protection, but not when the wind is 24 mph and from the north east. Ted and I had both hulls and the trampolines and contents completely under more than a foot of water five times that day. We were both scared the first two times it happened, but the thing resurfaced and on we went. So it can kind of handle it, but well it wasn't really safe. At 24 mph winds from the northeast, we had to head out into the lagoon to get upwind on the east reef, then tack and head towards the reef. Picture a straight line (the reef and Ebeye and all the islands connected by the causeway) that runs slightly northeast to southwest. To make it upwind the pattern looks like a bunch of stretched out "Z's" heading somewhat north. If the wind is straight east at around 80 degrees, its a perfect line to head up the causeway, no tacks or jibes or turning needed. It should also be said that sustained winds above 20 mph usually has the harbor control shutting down the use of the rental boats. They call it "small craft advisory". I usually forget to look. It's not too smart, I'll admit, to go out in small craft advisory, because, as one might imagine ...if they recommend not going out in a rental boat, they dont' wanna come rescue your dumbass on a private boat because they judge the conditions to be to strong. So that's the kind of confidence (read stupidity) I had a few times.
So for the non sailors, picture the wind blowing from your starboard side, your right side. You are cruising along, wind hitting your right side. If you try and turn into the wind to get the boat to change directions its called a tack. So you would turn right, if the wind is coming from your right. A "jibe" is turning away from the wind to switch directions. A tack, is much more preferred than a jibe because the sail comes around slower. If you turn downwind or jibe when the sail switches over it does so fairly violently. The violence can be controlled by making a very slow turn and keeping the sail tight to the center of the boat with both the traveler and the main sheet, but it still slams over much more dramatically than when tacking. ESPECIALLY in high winds.
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