SeaSparrow

Hello Folks,

It's been awhile, or so I've heard. The ole blog engine has suffered a serious problem on SeaSparrow for some time now but let's see if we can get her fired up again. Not to make excuses but last year the blog sort of fell off the radar due to lots of visits from great friends as well as a rather robust unplanned maintenance program during Season Four. It seemed I just couldn't get on top of things and when time gets tight the blog is a bit lower on the priority list compared to enjoying time onboard with guests and keeping things in working order. I've also learned when it comes to getting the boat out of the water at the end of the season, or putting her back in the water at the start of a new season, we are completely consumed by boat stuff to even think about blogging. Now there are others that are much more proficient than I at managing all these things but that's not me and f*&% those people that can do everything, they're full of s*%!, as no one is perfect. So let's start off Season Five with nothing but good will to all men and women (it is 2017 after all - thanks Justin, when's the next vacation to the Bahamas?) and a Merry Christmas to all from SeaSparrow.

Before we get to the Christmas discussion I should first update you on what has happened to date this season. As some may be aware we hauled and stored SeaSparrow in North Sound Marina, Antigua at the end of last season. Excellent yard with great people running the place but there was a smallish issue related to hurricanes that came a little too close for comfort to North Sound. The night before Irma made landfall the projections had her going straight into the north end of Antigua which is exactly where SeaSparrow was stored. For those that may not remember Irma was a Category 5 + hurricane and was only limited in number because the scale doesn't go above five. Irma packed winds approaching 300 mph near the eye, I'll say that again 300 f&*!ing miles per hour, which is unlike anything seen before in this part of the world. Now SeaSparrow was ashore strapped down in a concrete yard, which is as good a precaution that can be taken, but if Irma continued on her projected path there would be no SeaSparrow, at least the current incarnation. Fortunately for SeaSparrow and Antigua, Irma moved about forty miles north in the last couple of hours before impact and passed directly over Barbuda, devastating that island. People have lived on Barbuda for over 300 years; nobody lives there now. Total destruction, nothing left, unimaginable. Antigua was doubly lucky in that as the hurricane passed by, the lower part of the eye wall that passed Antigua collapsed as it went over the island further limiting the potential damage. That said, the marina where SeaSparrow was stored still experienced winds in excess of 100 mph but it is built to withstand this type of wind. Weather can suck in Nova Scotia but as bad as it may get sometimes, fog doesn't destroy your home or kill your family. Count your blessings and, if your so inclined, say a pray or two for the fine folks of Barbuda (don't forget the people of Puerto Rico, Dominica, the BVI's, the USVI's, and Anguilla who are also still struggling).

After being just happy our boat was still intact Debbie and I returned on the 3rd of December to start the process of getting everything ready for another season. We were very pleased at the condition of the boat upon our return as she suffered no damage and due to the fact North Sound Marina has a concrete yard, SeaSparrow was cleaner than any other time we have returned after storage. North Sound is a boatyard and not a marina and those who sail will understand the difference. This is a place to work on boats and not pamper those that own them. While prepping the boat we rented a car and stayed at an Air BnB about 10 minutes away which allowed us a method of keeping our sanity and not kill each other by days' end. The Air BnB was nothing fancy but had a shower and bed which is all that was required after working in the boatyard all day. It is a guest house next to an older lady's main home that is perfect for what we were doing. Picture below of our Air BnB in Antigua.

The lead picture shows SeaSparrow after we did a lot of work to spruce her for the season. We polished the hulls, added a new boot topping grey stripe just above the water line, another grey stripe above the yellow one near window level, and painted the hulls at the waterline, sail drives and touch ups as required. We also did some gelcoat repairs due to normal stress cracking in some areas of the boat. Gelcoat work is a bit of mechanical execution as well as art to get it to look right and Leon did the gelcoat work for us as I would make a mess of this and end up paying Leon double to fix what I screwed up. Leon is awesome at what he does and is an even better guy.

Due to repair work on a bunch of hurricane damaged boats Leon has more work then he can handle for the next couple of years but always managed to fit us in and get everything done on time - even though he finished his work on SeaSparrow as she was being lifted to be put back in the water. Crazy busy week but SeaSparrow has never looked better since we owned her. Just like all the ballplayers that come to Spring training in February "Best shape of my life" (way inside sports reference, sorry to those that don't get it).

Speaking of hurricane damaged boats North Sound Marina has received quite a few boats for repair as all yards are full. The boats in the pics below are from the Moorings Charter fleet and were shipped to North Sound from St Martin and the BVI's. Believe it or not many of these boats will be repaired and returned to service. I think I have mentioned before the hazards of buying boats out of the charter fleets, i.e. don't do it, but in my humble opinion you would have to be crazy to buy a charter boat now as there is a real risk of buying something that was underwater for god knows how long. They'll clean them up and get them working but can you imagine the electrical issues awaiting these boats down the road.

Below is the inside, upside down view of the salon of a boat that pre Irma was worth about $700K. Not so much now.

We left North Sound Marina on the 12th of December to immediately sail around the island of Antigua to get to Jolly Harbour in time to clear customs before they closed. This served two purposes, the first to clear customs and secondly to check the boat out with a three-hour sail/ motor. SeaSparrow worked great so we decided to leave at the crack of dawn on 13th and sail directly to Martinique. This was no small undertaking as for the first time we were starting the season with a 32-hour sail in order to get to Martinique in one jump. This schedule was driven by the fact the weather looked good and we wanted to meet up with friends from other boats that were spending Christmas and New Years in St Anne, Martinique. We made it to St Anne and are now anchored in a large bay here with about a hundred other boats. This is a beautiful place with great French food and even better wine. I must mention on the way down we caught a black fin tuna and this was the best fight I have ever had from a fish and also the best tasting.

Now we are here in Martinique getting ready for Christmas but to be honest it really doesn't feel like Christmas at all. This is our third Christmas onboard SeaSparrow but it is tough as this is our first without are boys - ever. Jordan is deployed with the HMCS CHARLOTTETOWN attached to the NATO fleet doing his part to allow us to enjoy the lives we live and Dustin is now in his third year of otolaryngology (look it up, I did) residency and will be working over the holidays. Here's an earlier Christmas pic with the boys on SeaSparrow.

Due to the fact we weren't going to be able to share Christmas with the boys and that this may be our last year onboard (what?), we decided to come to the boat early this year compared to recent seasons. We are thrilled to be here and enjoying ourselves but Christmas just isn't the same without all the stuff from home and having the family nearby. We will be fine as we have lots planned with our friends which is why we hustled ourselves down to Martinique from Antigua. Don't feel too bad for us as while I am writing this blog at 9pm it is 81F, the pic below was tonight's' sunset, and we have a mostly full box of French Bordeaux to keep working on.