Dispatch from the new life

News have been scant from this medium lately. When so much time passes between blog entries it becomes hard to give reports that would not feel overwhelming for both the writer and the reader. I will try my best to fill this gap as my desire to put out thoughts about the life I am living has not yet faded.

I admit it is a little embarrassing. Where do I pick up telling a story that see me changed so much?

During the past six months I moved from America to Asia, from being married to single, from working on sailboats to motor yachts, from a static, sleepy, stupefied social and political atmosphere to the boiling and brutal social unrest of the Hong Kong protests. Last but not least, I moved from the quiet of Panamanian and Southern US coasts to the vertical, noisy and crammed Hong Kong or, as it brands itself, Asia’s World City.

Truth is that all these changes gave me a lot of things to deal with. I have been extremely busy, to an unprecedented level. This might be one of the reasons of this silence.

With very little time off I struggled to find moments for myself, the necessary empty space where thoughts and ideas emerge. Being physically tired imposes also to rest in those hours where it could be possible to write.

I will end the excuses here. I simply did not write, which is also ok.

Barge Life

Let me start with what I am doing here in Hong Kong. I would spare you clumsy attempt to find a job title for my occupation. It is simply impossible.

The work consists in doing whatever is needed to keep a fleet of motor yachts in good working order, taking them out on charters, deliveries or private missions, but also taking care of the infrastructure that make this possible.

The vessels range from a 40m superyacht to small dinghies, including houseboats, jet skis and other floating objects. The center of operations lies on a 40 meter long steel barge docked inside Kwun Tong Typhoon Shelter. A Typhoon Shelter is an expanse of water enclosed by sea walls where many type of vessels are moored. As you already guessed, these waters are subjected to Typhoons during the summer season and there are many artificial shelters to keep vessels and its occupants safe.

The vessels anchored inside the Typhoon Shelters are protected not only from major storms but also from the more frequent and damaging action of swell and wakes coming from the busy Victoria Harbour, the deep and protected waters in the heart of Hong Kong. In the relative calm of the shelter we are able to perform various projects as well as providing docking, water and electricity to many vessels.

The barge is also equipped with a workshop and all the necessary tools and supplies to maintain and upgrade yachts and boats, including a big ass crane and other exciting equipment, plus a less organised collection of junk acquired by cannibalising other vessels, leftovers of a failed restaurant business, and the odd junk collected from the street. Somehow a heavy wooden sculpture of an elephant found its way to the barge, and now embellish the chillout zone.

I live together with three other people in the cramped quarters of a luxurious 131ft Superyacht which is moored alongside the barge, and is very rarely used. Everyday I wake up and as soon as I step out of the yacht I am on the workplace. Between ten to fifteen workers come everyday to the barge. Many countries are represented on this floating office: Hong Kong, Russia, Senegal, New Zealand, Italy, Holland, Philippines, Argentina.

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Unexpected move

As usual the road that took me here was never planned in advance. Back during last Christmas and New Year’s I was living a very confused and uncertain moment of my life. It was then that I received a call from a distant friend.

Roberto, whom you met briefly on this blog, announced that he was working in Hong Kong, where he had set in motion and expanded the operations I just briefly described. The company was growing fast and as the snowball rolled downhill he was in need of fresh blood and sweat to keep it under control.

I was looking for a job, although my research was mostly focused around the Atlantic Ocean basin. Several options popped out, and between all of them the Hong Kong one appeared to be the most uncertain on the table. It sat there as more pressing concerns were unraveling in front of my path.

The job offer left me smitten, a feeling that I observed happen in similar ways during other moments of change in my history. I knew close to nothing about Hong Kong, nor I ever had interest in exploring this country. The only connection I could find with Hong Kong was that Tranquility’s sails were made here, and shipped all the way to Fairhaven, MA.

As soon as my obligations on US soil ended the curiosity about this part of the world grew, and moving to Hong Kong had no reason to be put on hold.

Shock and Awe

Hong Kong proved to be welcoming, unequal, creative, loud, expensive, safe, polluted. I enjoyed many views from the ocean. The cyberpunk skyline, and the hilly green shoulders offer a great contrast. The city is overwhelming, but in a gentle way. Transportation is excellent, eating out and experience in itself.

At first I enjoyed the anonymity of walking by the street without being noticed, meeting new people, exploring different corners by foot. Later I engaged in more social activity. I started to teach Tarot Card reading weekly and participanting to a Writer’s Group. Little by little I met interesting people from all over the world and that for one time had nothing to do with boats.

Almost as soon as I arrived the infamous protests begin. The Hong Kong I am experiencing is unprecedented. There is a sensation of living through events of historical importance, as brave, competent and generous Hong Kongers try to keep the rights and freedom they enjoyed for a long time, and that now is under attack by the influence of China.

I participated to few rallies, out of curiosity. The energy and organisation felt during this events make every other manifestation or protest I have experienced before look like a rookie’s game. The stakes are serious and people stand for their rights no matter how brutal the repression is.

This uncertainty so far has not influenced my work, although recent weeks saw a sharp escalation of the conflict. I play it by ear as the events unfold. What will be of Hong Kong after the war ends? I don’t think anybody really knows.

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Tranquility’s rest

In all this Tranquility keep resting her bones on dry Georgia land. She is currently at St.Mary’s Boat Services, a boatyard that proved to be safe and well organized, and that I used before. So far the boat survived one hurricane season, and it’s good to know that she is in safe hands.

Sailing my own boat is for now just a distant dream. I am more focused in building a substantial cruising kitty, and seeing something different. But the dreaming never stops and at a certain moment they will want to leave the imaginative space and mess with reality.

This is my update so far, there is far more to tell but it is hard to condensate everything in a blog post. After long resistance I opened an Instagram account. It is an excuse to force me to capture images more than anything else. This is also the reason why I have not shared it until now.

If you do Instagram you can now follow here: @eye_of_the_mind

This is the quote from Bruce Lee that is inspiring the Hong Kong resistance. I think it should expire everybody, at peace and at war:

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”