Flying to Anjea

For several weeks now I've been working on a replacement for the clunky old PredictWind tracking page that I used before the Iridium Go sat phone went overboard. At first I tried Leaflet, then Google Maps and then I discovered Mapbox, and that changed the game. Mapbox is just fabulous. It will do everything I need. What I've implemented so far is just a basic track display and some fancy 'flying' to animate the globe, but there is much more to come.

The new tracker is here.

It's just me on Anjea in the river now, with Merel having settled in town. I'm enjoying having the boat to myself but I miss her very much. With just me it seems like I am having half as much fun. I spent a bit of time with Austin, another solo sailor, but he's now left to catch up with a girlfriend in Grenada. I cycle most days and then get something to eat at the restaurant where I have met some interesting people. Other than that I work on the boat, write a bit, and read a lot. 

I am currently rereading James Lovelock's Gaia. His recent death (at 104) prompted me to dig it out. I am blown away at how relevent it is today. He wrote it more than 40 years ago and it's received a poor reception from scientists because it isn't 'scientific' and a panning from greens who hate his view that Gaia is robust and his advocation of nuclear energy. Nobody loved it. But I think his views and attitudes and his non-scientific approach are already vindicated. It's a fabulous read.

Another book that impressed me recently is M Scott Peck's The Road Less Travelled, although I can't see why he resorts to religion in the end. It doesn't follow from the first part of the book at all, which is a very careful and intelligent psychological analysis, mainly of himself but applicable to everyone. Written with great love and care.

There was a storm the other day:

The back roof of the supermarket flipped over the front roof and landed in the street. You can see at the top where the roof has torn off.

And the carpark at the marina turned into a lake:

Anjea was just fine.