Monday, relief and more stuff on the boat.
09 November 2009
• Newport, RI
by Mike
We have heard from our friends aboard Moonlight Maid. I have been making a point to not mention them on the blog to not worry their friends back home who might be reading this, but it didn't stop us from fretting ourselves. They had left before us and if all had gone well would have been in to St Georges by Friday, and by Sunday midday we had not heard a peep. Then, last night, after we got back from dinner we got this e-mail from them:
"We just got in today about noon. An unbelievable trip...2 gales and a storm of 55 knots, hove to for almost 24 hours in total, lost our para-anchor within 2 minutes after I managed to wrap the rode around the prop (don't ask!) Made St. Georges under sail only.
Everyone safe here and relieved to hear everyone is safe on Nelleke. We'll miss you."
From this it would appear that they had even more of an adventure than we did. Here's to Moonlight Maid and her very capable crew. Congrats on a successful and safe arrive at their destination. I can't wait to hear their story in detail in person. From their brief description of what happened they will likely be in Bermuda for a little longer than planned to make repairs.
Today was a day of almost no wind so we took steps to get the sails bent back on. I had to climb up the mizzen to get the old sail lugs out of the track before we could run up the sail and by the time we had finished that including the sail cover, the wind had picked up again. Then I had the treat of another hike up to West Marine for a shackle and some more tie downs. I guess I needed the exercise, but I sure hope that we don't have any more problems with the sails. I have acquired slab reefing hooks and I have done with single line reefing with the main, even if it means that I'll have to go forward to the mast when we will be reefing. I guess the smart thing will be to follow the old adage, "reef deep, reef early" and that's what we will try to be more disciplined about doing. After the surprise squall on Tuesday night we will most likely take a tuck in the main at least before sunset regardless of what the weather calls for. Can you spell timid?
When I started to splice the becket into the new fiddle block that I bought for the main the cover just disintegrated in my hands, a clear sign from above that it was time to replace the sheet. I went up to Quantum Sails, the folks that had fixed our sails after the attempted Bermuda leg and they were kind enough to give, yes I said give, me about 200' of ¾ inch used but usable double braid. This was too big for the fiddle block, but I took it anyway as I need sheets for the storm jib and with the left over we can make some new secondary dock lines and can get rid of all the old stuff that is hanging on the grab rails. For the new mainsheet I bought 80' of new double braid from Quantum and they gave me a pretty good deal on it. No doubt about it, Newport is a great place for boaters especially if you come here in the off season and we are in about as off season as you can get without there actually being snow on the ground.
We spotted a really gorgeous gaff rigged schooner called Tree of Life and went over to have a look and introduce ourselves to the fellow on board. That is the photo on today's post. It turns out he is the caretaker and the boat is being wintered here at the dock. More interestingly, it was built at the Covey Island Boatworks back in Nova Scotia. I guess it just goes to show you that it really is a very small world in the boating fraternity.
The marina here has agreed to let us hang out here until as they put it, "On Monday when they get into work, they would like to see us off the dock." Our friends Mary Lou and Jay will be arriving tomorrow and will stay for a couple of days and then they will set off down the sound assuming that the weather doesn't put them off. Maybe that would be the answer for us too. At least we would be making some progress and not letting the barnacles grow on the keel. Although, even the professional crews aren't sure what they are going to be doing with the whole thing dependant on what the nor-easter will do over the next couple of days.
Barb, has been busy all day redoing the hemp boarders on the cabin flooring, including doing a masterful job of whipping the ends before gluing the stuff back down. We also found another casualty of the weather. The nav station seat support had separated from the floorboards and will need to be refastened so that was yet another thing to buy at West Marine.
Comments