July eBook pages 1-91 (16.1 MB) - Latitude 38

is out gold — cont’d
Hopkins.
Similar numbers were seen in the race
for sheriff, but with different results.
Deputy Francisco Rivero took the top slot
with 38.5% of the vote, but the second
spot was fi lled by incumbent Sheriff Rod
Mitchell — who some think steered the '06
investigation away from Perdock, his thennumber
two — with 34.5%. The remaining
27% went to Jack Baxter. Again, over 65%
of the voters went against Mitchell, so it
will be interesting to see who Baxter's
supporters follow in November. We don't
need to tell you what we hope for.
As for Bismarck Dinius, the man whose
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SIGHTINGS
Same problem — the fl uorescence fades quickly.
Certain that the solution was near, I emailed 3M for product suggestions.
They responded that their 7-mil retrorefl ective fi lm (Scotchlite
Series 680) would meet our needs, but they couldn’t sell it to us. Denco
Sales in Concord (reach them at (925) 822-0000) doesn’t normally sell
to the public but since our application was so unique, they agreed.
At nearly $15.60/yard, we were grateful that we could buy only what
we needed — we fi gured six yards would do the trick.
Heeding Miri’s advice that red, yellow and orange are the most visible
colors against an ocean, we chose gold (680-64), and we couldn’t be
more thrilled. Not as garish as yellow, but with a typical retrorefl ection
coeffi cient of 70 (white rates 100), our mast is pleasing to the eye yet,
when illuminated, lights up like the encore at a Lady GaGa concert.
The magic of Scotchlite vinyl, which is guaranteed for seven years
but should last much longer, comes from jillions of tiny glass beads
covering a refl ective metallic surface. The beads capture light from
many angles and direct it to a focused line of sight, making the refl
ection appear brighter than it should. So if a helicopter is fl ashing
a searchlight from above, and the beam crosses our mast, we’ll be
hard to miss. An added bonus is that we’ll have no trouble fi nding
our boat in a crowded anchorage.
Application of vinyl can be tricky. If you go this route, do yourself
a favor and divide the vinyl into smaller sections. Tussling with a long
strip of adhesive vinyl while trying to smooth out creases is an exercise
in frustration. This vinyl is fairly forgiving during placement, but once
pressure is applied, it’s stuck for good, so go slowly, smoothing with
a scraper as you work.
This is, of course, just our low-tech choice for making Silent Sun
more visible on the water. If you’ve found a similarly low-tech, lowcost
solution, we’d love to hear about it. Email ladonna@latitude38.
com with the details and photos.
— ladonna
pensioners in need
We’ve always been fond of older cruisers who try to live life to the
fullest in their later years, so when David Cherry of the U.K.-based
F/P 39 cat Puddytat in the Sea of Cortez asked us to run the following
plea, how could we refuse? It was written by Sylvia Heasman, the
daughter of the couple in the piece.
“On May 21, not far from Tonga, a pan pan was broadcast. It was
put out by my parents, Bob and Dawn Heasman, a couple of 78-yearold
adventurers whose F/P Tobago 35 catamaran Kudana had been
dismasted. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. But I think theirs is an
interesting story, so I want to share it with Latitude readers.
“Bob and Dawn were both born in Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe.
They grew up in the same area, met in school, and in due course
were married. Every home they have lived in — as well as their boat
— has been named Kudana, which means ‘two together’ in Shona,
an African language.
“With the introduction of a black government in Zimbabwe in ‘80,
Bob and Dawn were determined to give the new order a chance. But
in ‘83, after the government refused Bob’s annual ‘foreign currency
allowance’ needed to spend his own money to import metal tubing
for his manufacturing business, the couple began to worry. Bob tried
to use locally produced tubing, but it split at the seams and rusted
inside, making it useless. One day an African man came off the street
to see him. Although the man didn’t have a job, he’d been allocated a
foreign currency allowance. He had a proposition for Bob — in return
for the use of the man’s foreign currency allocation, Bob should give
him half his business. Bob was both furious and sick at heart.
“In ‘84, Bob and Dawn moved to South Africa. The only things they
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July, 2010 • Latitude 38 • Page 83