Warm And Fuzzy
22 December 2024 | Grand Bahama Yacht Club
Saturday 21 December 2024
Winter solstice occurred at 0421 EST and couldn't happen too soon. Normally we'd be nearer the equator thus avoiding worst aspects of this time of year, including frigid temperatures and appallingly attenuated daylight, but for some lamentable and abstruse reason this year we found ourselves at dreadfully high latitudes. We are, however, rapidly correcting the situation. Halifax is latitude forty four, Portsmouth thirty six, Murrell's Inlet thirty three and beautiful downtown Freeport basks at twenty six. Although days remain short, warmth returned almost immediately once offshore South Carolina. Even Grand Bahama will get chilly in January, so plan to keep going south in a couple of weeks. Colon, Panama, by the by is at a very sultry and daylighted nine.
Ran into a wee kerfuffle when starting engine after wind temporarily died. Experienced banging and vibration on a port roll with mainsail out to that side. Dripless packing was spraying inside of engine room as shaft jumped about. Furling main helped slightly by decreasing roll. Lowering RPM had stopped the worst of it, but something was badly out of balance. Remembering that prop had not feathered properly when previously shut down, reversed to perhaps shake loose anything jammed in blades and due some quirk of physics and counter normal expectation it did. By the time engine was again running smoothly wind had returned, so sails carried us at a nice clip into Freeport free from growling diesel, juddering shaft or salt corroding all things metal in engine room.
Sunday
As is customary, today is a day of shiftlessness, indolence and malingering... something like that. Not wanting to buck the societal tide, one of crew is adhering to this excellent notion while others are washing accumulated salt off deck, cleaning windows and filling water tank. She's the Energizer Bunny. This is in counterpoint to her own rabbit who is relentlessly lazy, staying in bed for literally weeks at a time displaying a perpetually phlegmatic expression. Less conscientious crew at least rouses himself occasionally to perform work once that becomes impossible to ignore. Fortunately for the less peppy individuals they are both irresistibly adorable.
Jack & Jan