Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter Three
Judi, Dylan, and I part company!
Bon voyage and departure.
Man overboard!
Life at sea.
Learning celestial navigation.
Practical jokes.
Our first landfall.
Now, almost ten years had passed since Déjà vu had been completed. Sadly, Judi and I had
parted company very recently. We had a son born to us two years earlier, and, wisely, Judi
felt for his safety at sea. I understood this, and it seemed the best for us both to move on in
life each on our own personal paths. It seemed now that we had come together at a time in
our lives where we needed one another, and we both benefited handsomely from each other.
I took great comfort in the fact that my son Dylan, who would be living with his wonderful
mom and grandparents in California, would be well taken care of and be afforded the best
opportunities in life. I knew that after a while he and I could get together as father and son,
and I would not miss too much of experiencing him growing up. Indeed, it turned out that I
eventually settled in Hawaii, and Dylan would be flown out each summer to spend his vaca-
tion with me.
The southeasterly trade wind, or the “Cape Doctor” as it was locally known, would blow
constantly for weeks at a time. Sailing was hazardous when it blew more than twenty knots,
creating rough seas and icy spray. One could always see the “tablecloth” spreading over
Table Mountain in a strong southeaster.
I had become a sailor, spending the last five years finalizing, perfecting, and in some cases,
redoing parts of the sailing boat I had built. Acquiring a set of plans, I had, from the keel
up, constructed a strong, stout, cruising boat with a leaning towards the old-fashioned, with
lines and rigging in accordance with the boats of my previous life. She was aptly named
Déjà vu, primarily in reference to the old French saying. How appropriate. I knew that in
my ancestral past, I had a life sailing the high seas, and I was about to embark yet again on
a life at sea, on a vessel possibly again of my making. Yes, why not name her “Déjà vu?”
It was also the name of one of Judi's and my favorite albums by Neil Young, and our old
wooden house used to echo with the sound of his music while we built Déjà vu! I would
experience life and see places that I may have seen in my past again. In time, I would be
amused to see that many yachts, usually the French ones, were called Déjà vu, and often I
would be mistaken as a Frenchman.
