I jumped over to Jim's "Hair Straight Back" blog to get the details but nothing is there yet. I know he and Janet are motorbiking around India so I have a hunch, but I guess we'll have to get it "from the horse's mouth." Whaaa happened, Haulback?
I jumped over to Jim's "Hair Straight Back" blog to get the details but nothing is there yet. I know he and Janet are motorbiking around India so I have a hunch, but I guess we'll have to get it "from the horse's mouth." Whaaa happened, Haulback?
OMG I can't believe I am reading this forum and even smiling! Heard a rumor there might be a cruising cat division.
Jeff / Hekla
We call it the "CCCT" division - "Cruising Cats Carry Trophies."
How's the new boat Jeff?
CCCT: could probably find a secure cabin.
The boat should be ready in September, most of the structural work is complete and about to start engine install, etc. The builder is in Chile, so after we cruise Patagonia for a while there are still 80 some degrees of latitude to cross to get back to SF. It is somewhat illogical to leave the tropics early just to do this race, but I guess that is consistent with Buglighter behavior!
Good grief, Jim. What's with the knee injury. Are you like the guy in the TV commercial where the doctor says "I'm dropping you from my fantasy team, that's for sure"? I am very sorry to hear this and, of course, would like to avoid it myself! I don't consider running to be a fun sport or good therapy...it's only a last resort form of escape. Like solo sailing?
Jim,
Sorry to hear about the knee. Did it myself a while back, but a year later almost good as new. Roller furling is beginning to look a little better.
Altho I'm going over to the dark side, the new kitty won't be a contender in the CCCT division. We'll have to leave that to Jeff.
Best to All,
~sleddog
"Without going into too much detail, we got clipped by a truck while in India..... sharp, blind curve... truck on our side of the road... ditch too steep to ride into safely... tried to squeeze by on edge of road surface... almost made it - just struck back portion of the truck... knee and lower leg impacted truck. So there I am, writhing around on the side of the road - fortunately Janet was relatively unscathed and was able to take control of the situation, both on-site and as events unfolded later on.
Ended up getting a ride in the back of a truck (no springs, apparently) to the next small town that had a government clinic. Not a pretty sight... so after a while there, someone arranged for a private vehicle to drive us to a real hospital in Bangalore, a city of 7 million people about 200 kilometres away.
Ended up that the top of the tibia where it forms the bottom part of the knee joint was pretty banged-up, with a part of it sort of floating around. Also a broken heel and big toe. We spent 6 days in the hospital there - it was a specialty orthopedic hospital, but let me just say that standards there are quite a bit different than here. They operated on the knee and drilled in a few screws, then put on a full leg cast and we were out of there.
Once I got back to Canada I immediately went to the hospital here for x-rays and CT scans - they had to operate again to re-do the 'fix' done in India. So I now have a plate and a bunch of screws/pins in the leg and am a few weeks into recovery from the second operation. I can't put weight on the leg yet, but should be able to in a few more weeks... I hope!!
I am hoping to be able to start sailing again, and go back to work, by June sometime... but who knows how well everything is going to heal up and start moving again... we will see!! So, all this pretty much throws plans of the 2012 SHTP out the window. But that's the way she goes, I guess. One door closes and another opens...
To add insult to injury, I still have a buddy checking up on the boat for me, because with only one leg working I can't even step up to the deck from the dock.
Hope all goes well with you and everyone in the SSS. Give my regards to all, and if you want to copy this to the forum, feel free."
Last edited by BobJ; 03-09-2011 at 10:35 PM.
so sorry to hear this. i know how bad the traffic can be in India. especially when on two-wheels. kind regards and best of luck on your recovery, Jim.
Thanks Ronnie, Ken and Skip.......I'm sure everything is going to work out just fine one way or another.
Still planning on taking off and doing some long-distance cruising again - just that it looks like I won't be using the '12 race as the first leg........ No big deal. Anyway, I already did that in '04, so I guess it's time for something different this time around, it would appear.
Besides, I'm going to put refrigeration and a watermaker on the boat for the next cruise, and the extra weight might just give Ken a leg up on me..
Bye for now....Jim/Haulback
Man, that's a real bummer. I was looking forward to doing this race with you. I wish you the quickest possible recovery.
Got a bike myself a couple months ago and promptly crashed it... But I got off lucky with a couple bruises and a crack in my elbow. Sounds like you had a really close call there.
Adrian