Crap! I hate winter! This from a guy who in his misspent youth used to dream about international level Nordic ski competitions. I was never good enough to make the grade but I dreamt about it anyway and now here I am dreaming about warmer climes, sunny days, white beaches and bare skin. My, oh my, how times have changed. This really is a kick in the pants to get things going again to be back on the water. At least we have the boat and we have already done it for three years so the initial newness and nerves are over. Oh well, at least we have received notice that our friend Jim from Connecticut may be able to sail up for a visit with his girlfriend sometime in the late summer. That’d be great and we may even be able to explore some of the region with a buddy boat.

Winter has set back in here in Shelburne with 24 hour snowing, not as bad as the ones that Newfoundland or Quebec got last week but enough to keep the road crews out pretty much constantly and as I read this the forecast is for more again starting tonight. At least our wee housie is warm and toasty with the new heat pump in churning away. It is working so well that we are looking at having one put in for the ground floor area and use the oil furnace as a simple backup for really cold nights and the propane fireplace for power outages as well as for the aesthetics of happy fireside evenings. These heat pumps may even be something that we will be able to use in the town to reduce our oil bill.

As the Vice Commodore of the Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club (SHYC) I have been tasked to explore different venues to advertise the town and the club as an interim destination if not the destination of choice for the cruising tourist. We figure that advertising in cruising magazines would be a bit too expensive, but that we might be able to swing advertising on cruising websites. Does anyone out there have any recommendations? Obviously a website dedicated to Pacific cruisers wouldn’t be a good choice but I am sure that there are numerous ones aimed at Atlantic cruisers and some even targeting New England and the north east. We see Shelburne as great place to stop over to clear customs entering Canada or to prepare for the trip south across the Gulf of Maine; it’s a great place to stop for repairs with a fair amount (for a town our size) of repair and haul out facilities, storage yards, etc.; we have our yacht club with very reasonable rates, power, fuel, etc.; there are a fishing supply store, auto parts, a bank, liquor and grocery store all within walking distance; and the yacht club shares facilities with an arts centre which has a full program of a variety of performances year round. Oh, and did I mention that we are very welcoming to visitors? So much so that a number of visitors become residents; us for one example. I would welcome any suggestions for websites or regional periodicals that we could approach to buy advertising space. In the case of periodicals I would like to write an article describing the town and the club that would accompany the first ad although that is not a deal breaker.

Any suggestions?