Ari Huusela, the “super happy sailor” … 58 years old, Finnair Airbus 350 captain … finished the 2020 Vendee Globe in 25th place: 118 days and change.

He is the first Finnish skipper and first Nordic skipper to finish the race.

Ari worked for over 20 years to be able to take the start in an IMOCA 60 that he and his wife took out a personal loan to buy … and he sailed the boat un-insured. His primary sponsor, Stark, a Finnish construction company, signed on only 6 months before the start.

From the start, Ari’s objective was to finish the race with his boat (and himself) in good condition.

Objective OBTAINED!!

He routed conservatively and yet … he stayed with the back of the fleet until the doldrums on the home run up the Atlantic, when he got stuck and lost 900 plus nautical miles to Alexia Barrier, who he’d been close to for most of the race.

Still.

It is an amazing story of perseverance, dedication and daring to live one’s dream.

Ari’s story is only 1 of the 33 skippers who took the start and 25 who finished plus 2 who completed their circumnavigation after stopping for repairs, thus “hors course” (out of the race/ranking).

I followed the race, all of the skipper’s videos and blogs, the official broadcasts and videos … from the November 8 start until Ari’s finish on March 4.

For me, it was an incredible journey! I learned so much: geography, the technical elements (some!) of sailing a 60 foot racing machine around the world single handed, around the world wild life and ocean health, how the Vendee Globe Race Direction supports the skippers and monitors the race … it is truly mind boggling how much capability each skipper must have to maintain their boat and themselves.

During the race, I felt like I came to know each skipper via their video posts. I laughed and cried and cheered and prayed for all of them.

It was heartbreaking when each of 8 were forced to abandon for issues that were not able to be fixed at sea … and 5 of them were due to hitting UFO’s (Unidentified Floating Objects). I had no idea that there was so much destructive CRAP floating in the ocean.

But, back to Ari and Friday’s finish. Ari posted videos at least daily and sometimes 2 or 3 times. He was not always “super happy”, but he focused on getting there. His technical/shore team sent him off with an Advent package that had various items to be opened … a sea-faring Advent Calendar. He share them all and they brought joy to him as well as to me and all of his followers.

The race, covered by a VendeeGlobe team of French and English commentators, technical experts, Race Direction … I have no idea how many folks … but what a stellar job of making a remote sailing race, an event described as “Everest of the Seas” … available to all of us who are “at home” all over the World.

I am so very glad that all sailors are safe and home. But, I also feel a bit bereft that my new “friends” are not currently on the water. BUT… they are resting and recuperating and sharing some of that, so all is not lost :)

Meanwhile, I am re-watching the videos in my quest to learn French before 2024 … the next edition of the Vendee Globe … so… au revoir (“goodbye, until we meet again”).

Thank you Ari Huusela for sharing your grand adventure. May your post race go well!

A great article on the IMOCA site about Ari: Huusela: An Exemplary Voyage by a patient mariner

March 1 (yesterday) and keeping with the calendar, it was warm, sunny and spring like.

Everything started melting fast, but the air felt wonderful!

For a short reprise of winter … another video short … this is from February 13, 2021.

It was a Winter week end after a warm and sloppy week. We enjoyed fresh snow and mild temperatures.

It was mostly gray skies with off and on snow squalls, but still great to get outside!

I thought I was smiling a little when I took this … guess I hit the shutter when I was concentrating too hard on getting us all in the shot … rats!

A new service, that I am VERY excited about …

A local family started a milk and dairy delivery service … not daily like the milkman of yesteryear, but a weekly service. There was an article in the paper a bit ago and at the time, they were not delivering to my area, but I signed up to be notified if/when they were … and YEA … my service starts this Friday.

The box above was dropped off on Saturday. It is a “front porch” box, but with the state of my driveway, I contacted them and mine will be an “end of the driveway” box until the snow melts! (***they text on delivery so Emmett and I can trot out and collect our stuff when it arrives!)

AND!!! … in addition to dairy products from Kalispell Kreamery, there are other items available: eggs, bacon, ham, beef, honey, coffee, hot sauces … these are all local made/grown products. The beef and pork are from local farms that are hard for me, as a single person, to buy based on typical quantities required for purchase … not to mention having to drive a distance to those farms. I am thrilled that this is available and FWIW, the prices and delivery fee are VERY reasonable.

Although, they started the business shortly before COVID-19, their timing was great. I hope, hope, hope that the business does well!

Naps after snow play … and lest you think that Emmett is sad that Auggie is in the dog bed…

There are plenty of comfy spaces for a dog to have a nap!

And … I found the gray dog blankets … in the back of the Jeep!! I forgot that I had them. They were the bottom layers of cushioning in the back of the Jeep covering the lumpy stuff that allows a back seat to be installed. So, I swapped what was on the little sofa with the gray and while not “House Beautiful”, we are slightly more color coordinated.

And Emmett is happy, which is the important thing :)

Ok … a movie. Not THE movie. THE movie was longer and I worked on this short bit of clips to troubleshoot my upload issue. Upload issue resolved, but out of time to do the longer movie… so, a few snippets from a walk we took two weeks ago:

Video … I am struggling … I think I know the issue and hopefully will resolve this weekend :)

Meanwhile …

My current phone is an iPhone 12 Pro Max which has super-duper camera functionality. I am just starting to explore the capabilities and settings, but …

low light functions are pretty phenomenal!

That is Emmett, in moonlight!

The moon, through the trees, at about the same time. NOW, with my DSLR, I could focus on the moon, but given the dark of night, I would get only the moon and not the cloud, shadows, trees. I like the vibe of the phone photo!

Again from my phone … using digital zoom. Holy Cow! I think that is pretty nice! I would get crisper detail from my DSLR, but … yikes, not bad!

Meanwhile …

My desk with new Dell (under monitor), iPad and iPhone to left of Dell … super clean desk top … just like I like it!

When I ordered the new Dell, I did not pay a lot of attention to the “ports” … just assuming that they would accommodate all of the necessary.

They do, but what I hadn’t quite realized was that USB-C is the new USB and so: new USB-C mouse and a handy USB-C elbow to allow for the monitor USB-C to USB-C connection which not only drives the monitor from the laptop, but supplies the laptop with power via the monitor power … result = a LOT less cables and wires … HOO RAH!

In the red square is the sum total of connections for mouse and monitor and power.

Color me enlightened :)

My final shot of exquisite light:

Cheers!

Sheesh … first the long snowshoe (Wednesday) and on Thursday I did a bit more snow clearing than was wise.

That’s what I felt like. My only consolation is that when I joined our Thursday, early afternoon work session and admitted that I was feeling my age, a co-worker had a similar feeling from a bike ride.

We had a short work session!

Then I took a short nap.

Friday, I was “feelin’ my oats” again, but exercised a bit of caution and went on a medium length snowshoe outing. When I returned, I had a bloody nose which took a bit of effort to get stopped. I am not prone to this and the day was warmer and more humid than the previous cold and dry days, so ???

Anyway, between that and wanting to stay quiet-ish and not restart things … we’ll call Friday something between a sick day and a mental health day, i.e. it was a no work day :(

We started Saturday watching the 23rd finish by Manuel Cousin of his Vendee Globe race. There are 2 more racers on the course and 2 sailors who are finishing their circumnavigation out of the race due to issues that forced them to port to fix. The people of Les Sables d’Olonne turn out as much as they are able (a LOT) due to COVID-19 restrictions … every sailor gets a hero’s welcome and from comments and view numbers, other internet followers like me are watching each sailor home as well!

The reason for the extra snow clearing on Thursday, was to allow delivery by FedEx of my new computer – YEA!!

I started the set up about Saturday noon…

It actually went very well – much better and faster than setting up my back up machine … partly because I just went through the process and made some notes :) … and partly because there were some things already set up that I did not have to download (Office 365 being the major and largest download).

At any rate, all was ready to go and approved by Emmett, by midday Sunday. I will likely find little things that I forgot to transfer or setup, but my work tools and most of my fun stuff is up and running. I’m happy with the new machine so far!

During the waiting for download prompts, I worked on my loop yarn throw …

Finished!!

I need to find a nicer dog blankie for the little sofa seat … but I am very happy with the throw. It did get a bit tedious toward the end. Overall, I enjoy the crochet squares for the large afghan I’m working on, but this was mostly fun.

Sunday treat in honor of getting things done and really, I don’t need a reason … I was hungry for eclairs and they are easy so I made a small batch. YUM!

And, we were outside for walks and play and learning new things! It is getting ugly as it warmed up, snow dropped off the trees, the wind blew and brought down branches … but there were some pretty moments and best is getting out in the air and tromping around with Emmett. Auggie stayed near the house out out of the mess!

The above mess was a squirrel’s …

So, despite the challenging end to last week, it was a good weekend. Lots of things got done and here we go Monday!

Oh, the movie. I have all of the bits of video organized. Now … maybe midweek after some work deadlines, I can take some time to put it together!!

We had early Winter late October, early November and since then, it has been Winter-lite.

Until last week when it got VERY cold …

But now, it has warmed and at my house, on the very edge of the storm(s) causing havoc in the mid and south … a very nice 8 ish inches of powdery snow – YEA!

…the end of the dark o’clock walk this morning.

Some small critter … you can kind of see the arc of prints to the right of the porch upright … the prints had fun around the house, but the snow was so light, that the impressions were not distinct: too small for raccoon, too small for fox … I don’t think skunk would be out … I don’t know!

After walk treat time! Auggie does not go on the dark o’clock walk, BUT he does participate in the treat ritual :)

Holy Cow!

Emmett and I did the “state land short loop” which is a just over .5 mile jaunt. I was on my short snowshoes. My thought was to get a track down while the snow was light. It is supposed to warm into the upper 30’s/low 40’s and I thought it would be easier to “lay a track” while the snow was light and dry.

BUT.

It was deeper than I expected and I was EXTREMELY challenged on my ‘shoes. Walking, on dry ground, I do this bit in 18-20 minutes. In the deeper snow, on my short ‘shoes, it was 33 minutes … a LOT of breaks to catch my breath and by the time we finished, I had perspired through my first layer and my legs were wobbly and I was VERY happy to get home.

I should have taken a photo … shortly after I arrived home, my watch gave me notice that my “recovery was delayed” and I was “likely to feel more tired”. Ha! I already knew that!!

Naturally, Emmett recovered fine! But, in my defense, this was after a 2 hour nap. If I had taken a 2 hour nap, I think I would have recovered fine also.

Above photo, late afternoon as he “porpoised” through the snow after an industrious squirrel: plop – plop – plop. Good for Emmett!!

Thankfully, the warmer temps enticed Auggie out for a longer time. Auggie has been pestering Emmett and me … cabin fever!!! … some outside time hopefully takes the edge off.

Otherwise, work is busy, 2 more Vendee Globe skippers finished (YEA! They make my days and bring JOY to my heart!), some cooking/baking things to share are in the works … AND, I have spent some time with video and hope to have something video-wise to share after the weekend!!

I am sorry if you are somewhere where the winter storm thing is dangerous… My thoughts and prayers with those that are without power, etc…