Weather Helmed

an adventure in renewing the spirit and living the dream…on a sailboat

Weather Helmed

“If you’re not banging your head against something, you’re not doing it right.”

January 30th, 2010 · About Money, Boat Work, Fellow Cruisers, Funny, Life on the Boat, Preparing for the trip, The beginning, The Crew

Life on the boat has shifted into high gear this week (and we are planning to go SAILING tomorrow and not just work!!).  PETE arrived on Tuesday night, immediately going into work mode as he tackled the windlass and then custom-designed and built a protective unit for our steering quadrant.  JON arrived on Thursday also springing into action drilling into the mast conduit so he could mount the radar, and installing wet locker straps.

HUH?

I know – unfortunately, none of that probably makes any sense to you because you haven’t been sleeping in a half-open coffin that has recently been attacked with contact cement, white vinegar, bleach, and lemon oil, nor have you been sticking your nose in diesel containers to see if the whole bottle of rubbing alcohol you just dumped in there had the desired effect of cleaning out contaminated fuel and absorbing remaining rain water.  So, if you didn’t understand any of the work I mentioned, it’s not that you’re unschooled in boat lingo, it’s just that you simply haven’t killed enough brain cells.  But – don’t worry about me.  I always wear a respirator.

freaky toxic avenger

Seriously, we have been crossing tasks off our list with a vengeance.  Pete has been a huge help to Matt, tying up loose ends on projects and taking on the quadrant protection.  That’s good news for us because now we can actually put the sails and everything else that won’t fit into a bin into the lazarette (the butt of the boat) and clear off the foredeck.  Before Pete built a sweet frame around the steering mechanism, anything and everything we put into the lazarette was in danger of getting stuck around the steering and preventing us from turning the boat.  So, yeah, we kind of needed help with that.

no, Pete is not really an old Polish woman

Jon’s fortuitous arrival for the weekend was a much needed boost to our morale and having the radar up on the mast means it’s not taking up room in the boat.  (Which, with FOUR people on the boat now, we need all the space we can get!)

RAY, Pete’s wife, arrives on Monday just as Jon flies back to Colorado.  Wednesday night I had a minor panic attack as it dawned on me that Monday is FEBRUARY FIRST and we are ****hoping**** to leave around FEBRUARY SEVENTH (if the weather is good).  We are down to DAYS people, D.A.Y.S.  I nearly wet my pants with equal fear and excitement when that reality dawned on me.  Needless to say, I have been spending money up the wazoo as I’m trying to get our ditch bag put together and buying all sorts of last minute items that I’m pretty sure we’re gonna need (like 5 bottles of our favorite bbq sauce.)  I think I’d be lying if I said I have spent less than $800 in two days.

BUT – it hasn’t been all fun and games on the debit card. Matt put in a $300 order at Bowlin that I paid for.  You know what $300 gets you at Bowlin? TWENTY-FIVE POUNDS of nuts, bolts and screws.  I guess that’s ok because $300 at Svendsens only gets you two cans of paint.  When Matt made his final run (we hope) to Svendsens today, he didn’t ask for the total and didn’t look when he signed.  We still don’t know how much he spent, but my guess is that we owe them our first child and probably our second.

isn't it precious??

The knees are now completely finished and the cabinetry is going back in place thanks to poor Pete flying out here with 30 pounds of metal.  He told us that everything was going fine at the airport until the security guard attempted to pick up his backpack to hasten it through the x-ray machine. The guard hefted the bag, then quickly looked at the x-ray guy, eyes wide, and conspicuously mouthed, “It’s REALLY heavy…”  They all crowded around the screen and stared anxiously, confused by the eight foot-long pieces of metal neatly stacked inside.  When Pete explained that they were chainplates for a sailboat, the guards relaxed and guffawed, “Oh yeah, chainplates, cool man…”

On a totally unrelated matter, Abby Sunderland left last week on her i’m-the-youngest-person-to-go-around-the-world-solo adventure.  Yeah, that’s nifty and all and, like, maybe she’ll get millions of dollars in book and movie deals and never have to work for the rest of her life, but – you tell me – who has the better radar arch??!?!?!?!!?  (note that ours also serves to protect us from the elements; Abby’s picture from her website)

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Winner of the Vandella CD!

January 29th, 2010 · Fun Stuff, Giveaways

Congrats to my good friend THADDEUS for being *randomly* chosen as the winner of the Vandella CD!   Thad, I’ll get that in the mail to you before we leave, I promise 🙂

Matt and I appreciate your recommendation to bring along “The Joy of Sex.”  🙂   We plan to check it out next time we go to Barnes & Noble.  Maybe find a quiet secluded corner……………….

Thanks to ALL for your great book suggestions! 🙂

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A Tale of Two Loves

January 26th, 2010 · First Mates, Loss of a Parent, Thoughts on Family

On March 16, 2004, my dad died.  He had a short battle with pancreatic cancer.  Thankfully, we got to spend time with him before he died but, of course, it wasn’t enough.

The hardest part of his death has not been, surprisingly, accepting his death, but rather my failing memory – my inability to remember so much of the life I spent with him.  I can recall outrageous moments or certain attributes, but mostly only those that have been the source of family jokes and stories over the years (like the time he made such awful spaghetti even the dog wouldn’t eat it! and his habit of telling great jokes only to forget their punchlines and start laughing uncontrollably – for those of you who’ve seen me laugh so hard I cry, that’s where I get it from 🙂  )

I cannot remember, though, the IMPORTANT stuff like father-daughter conversations I know we had, funny sayings he used, or the way it felt to hug him.

They say when someone dies, all you have left are memories and yet I feel like I don’t even have those.

Just six months after his death, I went away to law school, 3000 miles from where I grew up.  One of my biggest fears was that I wouldn’t be able to “find” my dad there.  Without the context of my hometown, the mountains we explored, the stores we frequented, where would I go to experience his memory? to grieve my loss?   Law school, fortunately or unfortunately, kept me too busy to really think about all these things.

AND, my dad, too, had a funny trick to play on me, to make sure he stayed in my thoughts whether I sought out his memory or not.

In 2006, I met Matt.

My dad never got to meet Matt, but at the end of our first date, I knew without a doubt that my dad would approve.

To say that I “married my father” would be a horribly crude, inappropriate and inaccurate characterization of my most amazing husband and the most healthy relationship I’ve ever known.  BUT, I cannot deny that my life with Matt has provided many opportunities for me to reconnect with memories of my dad.

Some examples…

1)  Last summer, my brother visited the marina and toured Syzygy.  As we walked down the dock, back to the car, he smiled sympathetically at me with laughter gleaming in his eyes and said, “You know, Sis, Matt’s boat is dad’s airplane.”

Growing up, our family owned a Cessna 182.  Every weekend it wasn’t storming up in the mountains, my dad went out to the airport to tinker with the plane or talk to other pilots about planes.  Often, my brother and I were dragged down to the hangar to help or go on a trip when we would have much rather been watching cartoons.  So, this is not the first time the leading man in my life has been consumed by a money-hungry, time-sucking inanimate object.  (And, is it just coincidence or a particularly cruel joke that Jon gave us a wedding gift that included FLYING LESSONS for Matt after we get back from the sailing trip?!?!?!?!?!?!?)

2) After my dad died, I was sure I’d never have to listen to the constant squawk of ham radios ever again.  Yet, two days ago I am with Matt, wandering around a Ham Radio Outlet.  And, this past summer, Matt bought a book more or less titled, “Your Guide to Earning Your Ham Radio License.”  This proves to me that God has a nasty sense of humor and Him and my dad must really be enjoying themselves.  For yyyeeeaarrrsss my dad tried to convince my brother and me to memorize the Morse Code and get our ham licenses.  “Why?” I would ask. “There’s email and instant messaging and cell phones.  I don’t need a radio to talk to people all over the world!”  Well, guess what just happens to be one of the top hobbies of sail cruisers?????  But, DAD, if you’re listening, memorizing the Morse Code is no longer a requirement, so take that! DIT DAH.

3) My dad HATED school.  He was never “book smart” but had a knack for all things mechanical, electrical, etc.  After he retired from the Sheriff’s Department, he struggled to figure out what to do with himself.  Finally, he decided to enroll in a local trade school and get certified as a heating/cooling technician.  It was the only time I ever saw him study.  He worked *so hard.*  He got good grades, took binders and binders’ worth of notes, and passed his courses with flying colors.  Then he couldn’t get a job.  It still makes me cry.  I don’t know why it hurts my heart so much to remember this time.  I feel like maybe it was the first time I saw my dad really really really want something and work so hard for it, and then not get it.  It still just breaks my heart.

Today, Matt tells me that he really enjoys refrigeration and has considered becoming a refrigeration specialist.  Later, we are in a store and I’m surrounded by heating/cooling ducts and parts and all sorts of refrigeration supplies.  How can I NOT think of my dad?????

So, I can say with confidence that I did NOT “marry my father,” but life has lovingly conspired so that the man I did marry and love so completely unknowingly ensures I will never forget that man who first loved me.

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The wonders of modern technology (a virtual “HI MOM!”)

January 23rd, 2010 · Boat Work, On Safety, Preparing for the trip, The beginning

We are on the map!!  The AIS map, that is.  AIS = Automatic Identification System. It’s this super cool technology that’s required for all shipping vessels around the world and optional for little boats like us.  When you have AIS you can transmit and receive signals from all other AIS users and you can find out all kinds of helpful stuff like:

– name of the boat

– its heading

– how far away it is from you

– its final destination

– its “call sign” so you can hail it if necessary

– sometimes even the name of the captain!

We’re very excited to have this for our own safety and so our friends and family (ok, let’s be real – our PARENTS) can go online and find out where we are!  Caveat: running AIS takes power so there may be times when AAAH! now you see us, now you don’t.  It doesn’t mean that we got ran over by a cargo ship or attacked by whales or anything, perhaps we just decided to turn it off so we could watch a movie instead. So, if you are one of the *radically awesome people* who check in on us every once in a while, you might be lucky to catch a glimpse of us on AIS!!

We’re still figuring out how the various websites work, but so far Marine Traffic is working well and Digital-Seas also has us on the map.  From the 3 minutes of online googling I’ve done, it seems that some AIS maps only cover certain areas (i.e. Denmark) so we won’t show up in their signal.  BUT – whenever we figure out where we are and which map we’re on, we’ll try to let everyone (PARENTS) know so you can see our exact position at (almost) all times. On those websites, you can search for us by vessel number (MMSI):  367430820.

How cool is that?!!??!!?!

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Mess of the Week

January 22nd, 2010 · Boat Work, Life on the Boat, Preparing for the trip

The result of Matt’s great efforts to design and build fridge storage for us.  I’m so glad it was storming outside or else I never would have got to experience such an entertaining event as Matt cursing and fighting his way around plexiglass  🙂

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Define “Crazy”

January 21st, 2010 · Introspection, On Fear, Preparing for the trip, The beginning

For the first time in weeks, I’m up early – well, up at 8:30 which is much earlier than the 10:00+ routine we’ve been in this month.  It’s raining outside and I believe it rained most of the night, and I am cozy in pj pants and Matt’s warm fleece, seated right in front of our tiny space heater 🙂   Perhaps it’s the weather that has made me feel more introspective or maybe it’s the fact that we are approximately 17 days away from departing on our great adventure, but whatever it is, I’m having issues.

What I can’t figure out is why I’m not more scared.**

To say that I “know how to sail” is kind of an exaggeration.  Granted, I know the basics and feel somewhat confident when we’re wandering around the bay, but we haven’t sailed since MAY and I’ve only been out under the Golden Gate on Syzygy once and that was just for a measly single overnight trip.  Beyond some sailing lessons, a few jaunts around the bay and that one overnighter, I have no experience whatsoever on the water.  And yet, I’m not freaking out about this trip.

Part of me says that my apathy calmness is a survival mechanism.  That if I started freaking out NOW, I wouldn’t be able to focus on doing the things that we need to do to get ready for the trip and, be assured, I will certainly freak out the day we leave –  I’m just waiting until it’s *OK* to freak out.  Another part of me (a very small part) suggests that maybe I’m just so awesome and mature and confident, I’ll NEVER freak out because I’m the type of person who just takes everything in stride and accepts it all as the grand plan for my life… yeah, I’m not sure THAT’S the best explanation!!  I also wonder if I’m still somehow in denial?!?!?!  If, on some level, I still can’t believe that this is actually going to happen…  and maybe I won’t freak out until we’re sitting in Mexico somewhere and all of a sudden I start shaking and screaming, “OH MY GOD, WE’RE REALLY HERE! WE’RE REALLY DOING IT!!!  WHAT THE HECK ARE WE DOING?!?!  AAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!”  (or maybe that is just happens when you OD on tequila and tacos??? Hmm…I’ll let you know.)

The thinking that really worries me though, for real, is that, maybe I’m just not as passionate about life as I used to be.  I’ve thought about this a couple of times over the last few years.  Remember in high school and college when emotions were worn on your sleeve? When every event, every day was filled with a myriad of expression?  When good things weren’t just good, they were GREAT AND AMAZING AND AAAAAAHHHHHH!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! and bad things weren’t just bad, they were HORRIBLE AND AWFUL AND OH MY GOD, I THINK I’M GOING TO DIE IF ______ DOES/N’T HAPPEN.  Ok, so perhaps that wasn’t your experience, but it was kind of mine, although, in full disclosure, I may have even been a wee bit more over-the-top dramatic than that…………….

So, is it just maturity or life or depression (or <TMI, I know>birth control?!?) that causes the smoothing out of all those emotions until it takes something of radical significance to make even the slightest dent in one’s armor?  But, even then, I would think that years spent getting rid of most of one’s possessions, quitting one’s job, moving onto a boat, and preparing to head out into the big blue sea would be significant enough to make me feel a bit more SOMETHING.

So, why am I not more worried?  Why am I not more afraid?

And, as for all the various justifications I can come up with, is it just a matter of me choosing which one it is?  “They” say “mind over matter,” so is that what I should do?  Pick the best scenario (me so confident and mature and adventurous!) and then all I have to do is believe that with all my heart and it will be true??  Or is it something deeper and more complicated than that?

If I’m being honest, I know that I am an incredibly fearful person who occasionally has very brave moments.  So, in this situation, am I being brave or just foolishly naive?

** The only reason this bothers me is because I worry about E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. So, the fact that I’m not worrying about THIS is more than a little out-of-character for me.

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Observation

January 18th, 2010 · Introspection, Life Lessons, Life on the Boat

It’s been very windy here today and when I went up on deck this afternoon, I was struck by how loud it was – lines banging against masts, tarps flapping, boats creaking as they strained against their dock lines, wind whistling through the marina…  One of the hardest things to get used to with sailing, I think, IS how loud it can be, even when you are doing the most benign action.  Sails wildly flopping, sheets (ropes) banging on the deck, shackles and blocks clanking, and that’s just when you’re turning the boat left to right.  As I stood in the cockpit noting all of this, I thought, “The wind sounds and feels so much scarier than it really is.”  And it occurred to me that life, too, is like that sometimes.

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Hey Baby, what’s in your ditch bag?

January 18th, 2010 · Boat Work, On Safety, Preparing for the trip, The beginning

Because I’m of relatively little use to Matt for the boat projects he’s currently working on (unless you count lounging around half-naked in an apron as “helping”), I’ve had to look into other ways I can prepare us for our imminent departure.  One of the things every cruising boat needs is a “ditch bag.”  This is extremely important as this is the bag you grab when you literally have to DITCH your boat.  As in – it’s sinking.  In theory, you grab the ditch bag and then deploy your life raft, which hopefully opens as it should and doesn’t get blown away, and you’re good to go ’til the Coast Guard or pirates pick you up or you get eaten by sharks.

Rumor has it that you should never abandon ship until you are stepping UP to your life raft – you should stay with your boat until the very last possible moment. I questioned the wisdom of this initially because I couldn’t imagine that being in the life raft could be worse or more unsafe than being thrashed around on a big boat with metal parts to hit your head on and lines to get caught up in and a frantically swinging heavy boom to knock you out… THEN I read “Fastnet: Force 10” about the 1979 Fastnet Race off the coast of England in which the boats encountered one of the most severe storms of the century.  The lesson I garnered from that book was STAY WITH YOUR BOAT AT (ALMOST) ALL COST.  It was pretty spectacular to see that, despite the ridiculously insane weather they experienced, the majority of the boats did not sink and almost without fail, the people who abandoned their boats were the ones who died.

That said, if our boat ever does start to sink for some reason, Lord knows I want a good ditch bag.  We currently have a massive dry bag set aside just for this use.  So, since I was playing with our flares the other day, I thought it would be a good idea to start doing research on what we should put in the bag.  And wow.  Talk about a reality check.  Figuring out what to do with the ditch bag reminds me of a prenup – you don’t ever want to talk about it, don’t want to deal with it because it feels sad and scary, but then, when you NEED IT, you really really really need it.  So, I found a website that I thought was a good starting point for some of the things we should put in our bag….  You can see I have a lot of work to do.

Ditch Bag Inventory

  • PUR Survivor-06 Water Maker with extra Biocide Inhibitor
  • ACR Rapidfix 406 EPIRB with GPS Interface
  • Garmin Etrex Hand-Held GPS (to use with EPIRB)
  • Garmin 12 XL Hand-Held GPS
  • Icom IC-M3A Hand-Held VHF Radio
  • Flashlight (2)
  • Batteries, AA (20)
  • Watertight Bag for Electronics
  • Sea Dye Packet
  • 3 Handheld Flares
  • Whistle
  • Signal Mirror
  • Passports (and laminated B&W copies to resist water damage)
  • Fishing Supplies
    • Hooks (large and small saltwater variety)
    • Line – 300 lb test
    • Small Hand Reel
    • Sinkers
    • Wire leader
    • Spinners, Spoons, etc.
    • Feather Lures
    • Swivels
    • Rubbing Alcohol in sprayer (to subdue fish)
    • Pocket Pliers (14 tools in 1)
    • Filet Knife
    • Small Gaff (1’ length)
  • Water Container
  • Freeze Dried Food
  • Granola Bars
  • Cutting Board
  • Heavy Plastic Eating Utensils
  • Small Medical Kit (bandages, tape, small splints, antiseptic creams, etc.)
  • Multi-Vitamins with Iron
  • Seasickness Medicine
  • Laxative
  • Aloe
  • Advil
  • Imodium
  • Small Turkey Baster (for enema)
  • Emergency Space Blanket (2)
  • Absorber (to use as sponge)
  • Can Opener
  • Swiss Army Pocket Knife
  • Duct Tape
  • Spool of Nylon Twine
  • Polypropylene Floating Rope – 1/4” x 100 ft
  • Sunscreen
  • Polarized Sunglasses (2)
  • Tights (for plankton net)
  • Waterproof Matches
  • Dry Clothes
  • Knife Sharpener
  • Bail Bucket
  • Blanket
  • Aluminum Foil
  • Gloves
  • Dish Towels
  • Ziploc Bags
  • Funnel
  • Sheet Plastic
  • Light Sticks
  • Hard Rubber plugs
  • Hose clamps (to be used with rubber plugs in fixing life raft leaks)
  • Stainless Steel Wire
  • Finger/Tree Survival Saw

****  Note:  We are probably not going to put all of this stuff in there! We need room in the life raft for US too!  But, I thought it was a pretty all-inclusive list to at least start from and I’m still looking around for other ideas.  I say this because issues like what goes in your ditch bag? do you really need to have a liferaft at all? etc. are highly debated amongst the cruising community and I do not wish to be drawn into that whole discussion!!!!!

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January 17th, 2010 · Life Lessons, On Faith, Words to Cling to

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.

~ C.S. Lewis

Today, a friend recounted the various unexpected wonderful things that happened to her as she and her family struggled through a particularly hard time this summer.  I cried as I read her blog post.  Sometimes, people respond in certain ways and the world just seems to momentarily focus on one’s immediate needs that I cannot help but see God’s grace through it all.  On an international level, a similar thing is happening with Haiti.  Thousands of people who may have never given much thought to Haiti have gone to efforts great and small to bring hope and relief to the tiny nation, and what most don’t realize is that someone will probably consider the gift a miracle, a provision sent when it is needed the most and yet unexpected to arrive…   Situations like these restore my faith and hope in humanity:  That, despite wars of the spirit and wars of the world, when it comes down to it – faith, hope and LOVE are still the greatest gifts and people are still giving.

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Tidbits

January 15th, 2010 · Boat Work, First Mates, Funny, Life on the Boat, Preparing for the trip, The beginning

* It was pretty stormy here the last couple of nights.  Well, as stormy as the bay area can get seeing as how there’s never any lightning or thunder or crazy wicked thunderheads… so by “stormy” I mean windier than normal with a little bit of rain.  Anyway, it was our first time sleeping in the boat during any sort of real weather.  Wednesday morning I told Matt, “I didn’t get much sleep, the boat was rocking a lot last night, it was kind of scary.”  Then I just started to laugh out loud at myself – SCARY.  IN THE MARINA. Wow.  I have a lot to get used to.

* The other day Matt was on the phone with one of his good, long-time friends while I was online looking at granola recipes (see that story below).  Since it’s nearly impossible to do anything on the boat without it being heard for 2 miles around, I couldn’t help but overhear Matt’s side of the conversation.  Clearly, they were talking about women.  Specifically, the friend’s current interest.  I hear Matt say (oh, how I love him), “You know, the things that first attract us to women aren’t the same things as those that keep us attracted to them over the long run.  Other things become important as well – kindness, is she a good person, things like that begin to matter a lot…”  A moment or two passes and then Matt says, “Entertainment value??  So, her entertainment value is low huh? Well, that’s not good.”  I just about fell out of my chair.        (Sorry *friend* but it was too funny…..)


* Seeing as how this boat venture is turning me into a Domestic Goddess, I’ve been trying to find ways to make stuff from scratch, on the cheap, so we can enjoy them on the boat now and as we’re traveling.  On my list of things to learn to make: bread, granola, yogurt.  I attempted wheat sandwich bread earlier this week and it came out pretty darn good, I have to say.  I didn’t take any pictures of the process, but I used this recipe and this was what the end result looked like after we ate half of it  🙂   (Granted, the process took me all.day.long. because I didn’t read the entire recipe before I started (mid-afternoon) and so it was 1:30AM before I even put the bread in the oven!)

On Wednesday, I attempted a very basic granola recipe.  I took a quick look at the ingredients and then purchased the stuff needed, including oats.  Only…. I didn’t get normal oats like those I’ve always used for oatmeal cookies, etc.  I got steel-cut oats. Now, let me preface the following by saying that I had no idea what steel-cut oats LOOKED like.  The reasons I purchased them were 1) I had never tried them before and 2) I had heard people say that even if you don’t like instant/reg oatmeal, a lot of people really like the texture of steel-cut oats.  So, I thought – sweet, make granola with them and then use the leftovers to try as oatmeal.  Whenever I opened up the oats to put them in granola, I felt embarrassed for myself.  They look and feel just like tiny rocks.  I was a bit hesitant about putting them in the granola, but I came across one lone person on the internet who had used them before.  She mentioned that they stayed crunchy when used in yogurt or milk and didn’t get soggy like other types of oats.  No soggy granola for me!! So, I tossed them in.  Matt took a close look at my pan of granola and said it looked like I was baking fancy bird-seed.  Aaaaaaannnnndddd when I put the granola in my yogurt the next morning, I can’t say it tasted much better than that.  Although, my guess is that birds wouldn’t even eat that sh*t.  (Again, I didn’t take pictures of the process, but here’s my burnt pan – yes, people, that is WAX paper that I will probably never get off the baking sheet – and the bag of nastiness that looks like it belongs in a pet store.)

* Matt has finished fiberglassing the knees of the boat!!!!   This was what our boat experienced on Tuesday  (that’s FIBERGLASS DUST everywhere and Matt is the boy in the bubble):

* Balsa core with your eggs anyone??

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