Category: Juniper’s Journal

At 19:30 every weeknight, and 18:30 on weekends, the island ejects me back out to Juniper. That’s when the last ferry leaves and I have to return to my floating home and morph back into a sailor. During the day I am less a sailor and more of a villager. I have been invited into...

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THURSDAY AFTERNOON After our tea party at The Consulate Hotel, Chris goes to work on repairing the Laser, and I wander into a market that is buzzing. I find a lady willing to do my hair. She has all of the necessary tools except for a sink and water. She runs around and finds a...

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Late Wednesday afternoon we head back to Jamestown. The Martian-looking landscape filled with “baby toe” succulents, forest flowers, and birds from the windward side of the island is consuming every edge of my head. I can’t fathom being a fisherman here back in the day, hiking and rappelling down the lava rocks to get to...

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Saint Helena Island is an enchanting time capsule on a 14-million-year-old volcano that rises 5 km from the sea floor. It stopped erupting 7 million years ago, and pieces of it have long been lost to the sea, rain, and wind. What’s left among the jagged cliffs is a utopia full of wild lilies, wild...

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We can see Saint Helena from 25 nautical miles away. It is dressed in mist and is just a blackened silhouette. The view sparks exhilaration and exhaustion inside of me. We have almost arrived. The island is only 5 nautical miles wide and 10 nautical miles long. The height is impressive. The entire island looks...

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I feel like we escaped death twice yesterday. The shock of the rogue wave and our colossal broach, which turned my canned food into weapons, has worn off. Admittedly, the absence of my solar panel on the starboard rail glares at me like a lost limb. All the sailors I know who have sailed this...

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Juniper lurches and rocks, like land would in the aftershock of an earthquake, as the swell from two different angles collides onto her. It's a rather violent feeling. Occasionally one wave will hit the hull and the sound that rings through the cabin is identical to the sound of a bullet. Yes, I know what...

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It’s raining. Not heavy. Drops the size of sunflower seeds, but still discomfiting out here in the cockpit at 03:00. The wind is gusting 33 knots and in between the rain and blows, it’s sitting steady at 27 knots. I have seen double this wind speed aboard Juniper, but you wouldn’t know it to look...

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It’s very sporty out. The overall wind speed is only 20 knots, but the gusts are up to 28, so my sails are adjusted for the gusts. The main is double-reefed, the genoa is a little more than a handkerchief, and the windvane is on its most powerful setting. The swell is 6.8 feet off...

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What if you could fall asleep and dream about whatever you desire and come back with a tangible object from your dream? A dream object! For example, what if right before you went to sleep, you could tell yourself you wanted to dream about a wild flower field, and then you could pick flowers in...

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