Off We Go Into a New Year...

Hi Mates, hope this long overdue report finds you all well and enjoying this grand New Year… 2010..let it be the best you’ve ever had until the next one.

Here is the latest on the subject of Nica Nativo Corporativa sewing center for single moms:

 NICA NATIVO CORPORATIVA

Last November we had a project slow down due to a land issue in the Escameca Valley. A farmer named Somora who apparently is backed by family in Los Angles USA has been trying for years to grab up as much land in the valley as possible. This is the same region where the small community of Cangrejo has nestled for generations. World Kids Foundation built a school in Cangrejo, followed by friends Ron and Bev who put up a small church. And now today, we have a sewing center with a small addition added for the teacher of the school “ Escuela Mundo De Los Ninos”. The school has been in session for 10 years. The way the sewing center has been built with stone, brute force and vigor…it should stand for many years to come.

The good news is the courts ruled in favor of the community of Cangrejo forcing Somora and his gang to back off their land grabbing. Property lines have been drawn settling any further disagreements. So to that end, World Kids Foundation has returned to the valley to complete the sewing center for its appointed opening date of February 2nd 2010. Funding for the sewing center has been provided by Dawson Creek Sunrise Rotary Club in northern BC, Canada. Blood and sweat, but mostly sweat…has been provided by the men and woman of the village.

There is still much work to do before the women of Cangrejo can begin to utilize the sewing center to the best of its advantage but at least the hardest part is complete. The next phase of the project will be furnishings and solar energy for both the school and the center.

Friends from Dawson Creek Sunrise arrive in Managua tomorrow night on Continental Airlines Flight # 1774. I will be in Managua to greet them at the airport. It is with my understanding that this will be their first time in a third world country. Nicaragua is a nation known to have more smiles per mile than most even though 80 % of the population live on less than $4.00 per day. Sadly, it is the women that suffer the brink of the poverty. They are the ones left struggling in shanties to feed and care for their children in a country where the unemployment rate for both men and women folk is staggering. Fingers point to the present Sandinista government. I believe there is more to this complicate subject beyond the hands of a dictator or president. All politics aside…

NICA NATIVO CORPORATIVA is designed to empower and employ as many hearts as we can reach out to. The idea is to build small manageable sewing centers for remote communities throughout Nicaragua starting with this first one in Cangrejo.

 RE: WIND STORM

Water under the bridge is not worth writing about. However, just over a week and a half ago when it snowed in Jacksonville Florida, that same cold front high pressure system made its way south to our latitude here in Nicaragua at 11 degrees. The strongest winds ever recorded in recent memory shut down seaports and airports throughout the country. San Juan Del Sur is in a wind corridor known as the Papagayos.

On land, roofs blew off, street signs and trees knocked to the ground. Power and water was out for days.

On the bay and at sea, hurricane force winds churched the water white with vicious fury. Several unattended fishing boats broke free of the anchorage and were carried out to sea and lost. I received a distress phone call from my friend Juan Chavez in the early morning hours on day one of the gale.

Last April/May Juan and I sailed a 44 ft cutter to Panama on a yacht delivery mission. Juan later ended up crewing on other boats to Ecuador and finally made his way back to his home port of San Juan Del Sur aboard Evan and Donna’s 50ft catamaran named SV Java.

Owners Evan and Donna left Juan in charge to look after Java now here at anchor in Bahia San Juan, while they flew home to visit friends and family in the USA over the Christmas and New Year holiday season.

All sailors who venture to this part of the world are aware of the violent wind that can ( and will) blew during the dry season. But nobody, not even the locals were prepared for the furious tempest we experienced last week. So anyway, Juan called me on his cell phone to say Java was dragging anchor and heading out into open water. One engine was down and Juan had fear in his voice. I dropped everything and got on the phone with mechanic Rigoberto to accompany me out to the stricken catamaran to assist Juan and his deck hands with the fouled anchors.

By the time Rigo and I managed to get out to SV Java, the wind speed had reached 80 knots gusting to over 100 miles per hour. The navy closed off all harbor traffic just as we managed to crawl aboard the boat in what had know built to 9 ft seas in the bay. Rigo was able to get the second motor operating to help us keep pressure off the poorly seated anchor. At about the same time in the early hours of Monday, a Canadian flagged 65’ ketch with a family of four aboard, broke its mooring. SV Aquarian managed to get their engines running but could not make way back into the safe part of the anchorage. They ended up being carried out to sea until their engine overheated and shut down. Sails had blown out at this time and all we could hear on the radio was MAY DAY MAY DAY, until the boat was out of sight 7 miles over the stormy horizon. Us fellows on board Java had our own hands full trying to save our own skins along with SV Java.

One of our biggest concerns was that the 90 ton steel hulled fishing trawler anchored in front of us, would break free and bare down and crush us at best. At worse, drag us out to sea with it in a knotted tangle of chaos into dangerous 30 ft seas. It is said that there isn’t much pride when your trapped inside a slowly sinking ship. Our fear became real when the trawler started to drag and head straight for SV Java.

Juan was at the helm and managed to steer off a collision course as the blue cold steel behemoth ghosted by and out to sea alone to a certain death. Our steering out of the way of the trawler, whilst we were snagged at anchor, caused Java’s fouled chain to trip and we too started to get carried seaward. One does not what to be go to sea aboard an unfamiliar multihull in 80 knots of wind, under powered with little water and no food. To make a long story short SV Aquarian was rescued and towed back into port by the brave crew of a local fishing boat named MV Michel. There is more drama to the saga of SV Java and SV Aquarian that will be amplified in an article for Latitude38 boating magazine.

I think of the classic song written by Bobby Darin: “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” with lyrics that end with “ No more sailing..so long sailing…bye bye sailing”. But I know it cannot be for me. After all, why die and go to heaven when you can live and go sailing? We live to battle another day. And hopefully another day where we can reach out to the poor souls in Haiti.

Too be continued…

Eric Blackburn
WKF-Project Director
San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua
www.worldkidsfoundation.org
www.cruisingcentralamerica.com
www.ericblackburn.org
011-505-8979-7589 (movistar)
011-505-8640-1939 (claro)