Friday and some progress and a departure!
06 November 2009
• Newport, RI
by Mike
To echo, and add to Barb's comments from yesterday we have made some decisions about future cruising as a couple. I had always hoped that by gradually acclimatizing her to life aboard that I would be able to get Barb used to offshore passage making and we could make trips like the one that we have just attempted. The corollary to that and advice that I have always given to people just starting out and trying to convince their spouse of the joys of cruising, is to make sure that every time you do something for the first time, that the experience is as idyllic and as much fun as possible and clearly this was not. I'm afraid that I have lost ground in convincing her to be a blue water sailor. At the same time, I have had a serious reality check. Barb has problems with her knees and to ask her to try to move around on a boat that is pitching and tossing in unfavourable seas is simply not the act of someone who professes to love her. Truth be told, I have to realize that I'm not 24 anymore either. Therefore to regain lost ground and remind her of how much fun this is, we will be limiting our offshore passages to 2 days maximum and then only when the weather is about 100% in our favour. If not we will either stay where we are or take the ICW (shudder) to make southing.
Our friends Mary Lou and Jay are now saying that they may be here towards the end of next week, so we will meet them here and then head out for NYC. If possible I'd like to do it down the south shore of Long Island Sound on an overnight trip to get to Sandy Hook, NJ where we would wait for a suitable window to head for Cape May. That's where we would likely part company with them for a while as they will head up the Delaware to the C&D Canal and thence down the Chesapeake to the Potomac and Washington DC. We, on the other hand, will be waiting to jump down to Norfolk and mile 1 of the ICW to clear Cape Hatteras. Hopefully by that point we will be in warmer weather. I remember waiting out the insurance deadline in Oriental until the 13th and the weather wasn't too bad. A couple of coastal hops or ICW trudges will get us to Fernandina Beach, again hopefully by the end of the month. Last year this was one of our favourite spots to stop over, so if that is as far as we get before Christmas, we will be comfortable with that. On the other hand, if we can, we could get down to Vero Beach and join the Velcro crowd there waiting for a passage across to the Bahamas. The dream date would be to celebrate Christmas in the islands, but we won't be pushing it.
We have been able to source replacement blocks for the mainsheet and they are a lot more robust than the old ones, new too, so I am quite satisfied about that. The kind folk in the neighbouring boat has the use of a car and they were kind enough to drive me over to save me a cab fare or a long walk or bus ride. They will be leaving for Bermuda this afternoon and from the looks of it they will be the ones with the best trip except they will be doing a lot of motoring as there will be almost no wind. I have also got the Amstel for the heavy weather jib and I'll be splicing that in tomorrow.
The sails are back with all the repairs done - less than 24 hours from when we turned them over to the sailmaker. The price for the repairs was not too exorbitant so we are not unpleased with that. Now we are just waiting for the wind to die down so that we can bend them back on.
On the down side we have just finished putting Ron on the bus for the airport. He is a great friend and has been an invaluable source of company, friendship and crewing for the trip. I only really regret that we weren't able to get him to Bermuda as was the plan. It was even more frustrating in that his wife was also scheduled to fly over to join us and I know that she was looking forward to the trip too. I can't shake the feeling that we have let them down. I realize that it would have been much worse if someone had been hurt or worse, but still...... We will definitely link up with them when we get to the Bahamas. Hopefully by then we will have had the opportunity to build up a tan.
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