Wednesday, Remembrance Day.
11 November 2009
• Newport, RI
by Mike and Barb
As Barb said in her post yesterday, Mary Lou and Jay from Screech arrived shortly after noon and we had a great evening catching up on news and plans. Barb outdid herself with dinner and particularly with desert (oven roasted pork chops with mixed rice and veggies followed by apple n walnut n rum crepes with whipped cream - yummmmmm!)
For those of you who might be wondering, we were finally able to get through to my Mum to wish her a Happy Birthday. Big doin's, her 90th! I hope that I'm still smokin' along like she is when I'm 90. I hope I get to 90! I have survived personal dumb moves and the occasional person shooting at me so I figure that the Big Guy still has something left for me to do so maybe I will.
With the most recent forecast it looks like we'll be here until Sunday. I had thought that we might be able to sneak down through the Sound to make some progress but it is now calling for 25 kts plus through Friday to the weekend and with the shallow water and tidal currents there will likely be quite a chop, so we'll wait it out here. Sigh! At least it's not just me. The commercial skippers on the three much larger boats that are still hanging out here at the dock are also waiting it out, so maybe I am just being prudent. The list of boat jobs hasn't changed so we have plenty to do, plus I have offered to help Jay with some splicing jobs aboard Screech. At least we're warm and even if we have to wait longer on a mooring we have the propane heaters.
I have been doing my calcs and unless we catch some real weather breaks, soon, we will probably not make it to the Bahamas for Christmas. Instead we'll be spending it either in Fernandina Beach or at "Velcro" Beach. In either case I am sure that we'll be in the company of other cruisers so we won't be lonely and we'll probably be warm. At this time last year we were sitting in Oriental at Whittaker Creek Marina waiting for the insurance date to continue. If we can leave here on Sunday and get as far as Cape May and then the next day to Norfolk and then four days after that to Beauford, we will have almost caught up with our schedule of last year. Then, another week should get us to Fernandina Beach and a couple of days after that and we would be in Vero Beach/ Fort Pierce and waiting for a window to cross the stream again.
We have begun research that we hadn't anticipated requiring, namely, what is involved in getting Peri and Al into the Bahamas. Fortunately it doesn't appear nearly so challenging as it was to get them to Bermuda - merely various proofs of health plus an examination by a local vet and some money exchanging hands. Oh, and we will also have to get a permit which we can download from the internet and send in.
I have got the barrel bolts into the doors on the shelves in the companionway steps so they won't be popping open at an inopportune moment such as when we are in a heavy sea again, and so with the door to Barb's "pantry". Shifting cans won't pop open the back of the settee seat again. I have also done some work on our fender boards to make them easier to use and much easier to stow. Most of the work entailed a simple back splice on the line to make it tidier and less awkward to use.
I have also begun my share of the Christmas shopping. Barb had seen a sweater that she really liked at one of the stores on the strip here in town, and asked if she could pull-eeeese have it as her present this year. Of course, as an experienced husband I realize that if I hold her to that and have nothing else for her stocking and under the tree, life won't be worth living. It is a very nice sweater, though, it looks good on her and she needs it now in the chilly weather that we have been having, and not at Christmas when we should be in warmer climates. So, the credit card is lighter by a few bucks and my brownie point storage is a little heavier, or it should be at least. (From Barb - OK - the real story is not like Mike related it here making me sound like a whiney-baby and I never recall maing his life miserable about anything Christmas-related - he really likes to get carried away when he is writing this blog - hrumph!)
I looked into getting my Yachtmaster's Certification here at the school and it looks fairly do-able, and not too expensive. It will qualify me to Captain up to 200T sailing vessels and could provide me with a means of augmenting the cruising kitty when we next come down this way. The cert is recognized in all the red flag countries plus a bunch more, just not Canada, so I wouldn't be able to be a paid skipper for a Canadian yacht, but damn few of the ones that are big enough to afford professional crews are registered in Canada anyway.
We are getting hunkered down for the nor'easter that is coming through starting tomorrow. We are much happier to be alongside for this one rather than at sea as we were for the last.
From Barb:
I found an interesting book at The Armchair Sailor here in Newport that may interest some of you. It is called "Yoga Onboard a guide for cruisers and live-aboards" written by Kim Hess, published by Blue Duck Enterprises. Her website is www.yogaonboard.com. She makes a very good case for continuing to practice yoga in the confined spaces on board and says that there will be the benefits of "increased strength and flexibility, restored energy, and harmony". The increased agility and concentration learned through study and practice will be valuable on board skills. So, I will have a go at the postures and see what happens.
We ate out twice today - naughty, naughty! Mary Lou and Jay treated us to breakfast at the Seaman's Chirch Institute - lovely. We recommended the seasonal menu at The Mooring to the Screech-ites and decided to go there for supper - yummy again!
With the list of boat jobs coming to an end I should be able to start to pursue some creative projects - it has been a while. I have the second of a pair of socks still on the kneedles since last spring. I need to finish that one before I can do what I really want. As a parting gift our friend Lisa of Noonan Knight gave us a pillow top that is a lovely and well executed hooked sailboat dubbed Nelleke along with a beautiful piece of silk, matching thread and the pillow form. We called it a cooperative present as she did all of the needlework and I will do the finishing to transform it to a pillow. So - I'll dig out the danged sock and finish it over the next few days so I can move on to a fresh project. I'll post pics to the blog like I did during last year's trip of the completed articles.
A bit more about the Christmas sweater that I am now wearing - it is made by Holebrook - a Swedish company. Island Outfitters (2 branches in RI, 3 in Mass and 1 in Connecticut) is the only company in North America that carries this line of outdoor clothing - well made sweaters and outerwear that will stand up to the rigors of sailing life.
Dratted weather forecast, eh? I really want to get moving southwards. Perhaps this would be a good few days to practice those yoga poses and stop being so restless.
We had an odd experience today. When walking about we said hi to a gent walking past us and he wished us Happy Memorial Day - I was a bit taken aback as "happy" is one emotion that I don't link to Remembrance/Memorial day. For me it is a day of remembering the sacrifices made by our service men and women lost in the line of duty.
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