It is now the morning after the big decision (that’s Nelleke in the photo in the distance tied up to a brand new boat) and Barb and I are sitting at the table deciding on a course of action to get the boat back and out of the water. Much will depend on timings and whether Ken and Benny can fit us in to haul out or if we will have to find some alternative. We are deciding what we will take off the boat this winter and what we will leave behind and how we will store the things that fall into both those categories for the winter. We have decided that we will leave sails aboard, in the cockpit, covered by a tarp, to protect them and to keep the snow out of it, except for the main and mizzen that we will leave in the stack-packs and lay on the inside cabin floor as a last thing before closing the door for the last time this year. Also, after seeing what the winter did to all three halyards this past winter, I plan to run a sentinel line up to replace each for the winter so we won't have to go through that foolishness in the spring. I have also made a note to bring home the new monitor so it won't freeze and be damaged like the last one. Funny how being forced to spend money to fix your mistakes makes you remember things doesn't it?

All very depressing when compared to our plans just 24 hours ago. It does look like Donald Street's sage words are coming true yet again. He and a couple of members from the yacht club, Rick in particular, were telling us that we had left it too late, but I, in my arrogance, thought that we could beat the odds. Looks like they were all right and I was wrong. Even last night as we lay in our bunk, secure behind the breakwater at West Head on Cape Sable, I would judge the winds to be approaching 40 knots, again from the south. If we were at sea it would have been very unpleasant. Nelleke would have handled it but Barb and I would have been cold, wet, and probably still seasick. In short, miserable. No, stopping the trip here was the right thing to do even if we didn't have the equipment issue and were planning to continue, and much as I hate to admit it, having done an inventory of the things that we should have done but had not in the interest of a hasty departure, I am comfortable with our decision to do the right thing, the safer thing, the smart thing. In retrospect I am also very glad that the three folks who, at one time, had been considering coming with us, had decided to pursue something else. It would have been beyond embarrassing if one of them had airline tickets or something that had to be cancelled or rescheduled or anything like that.

Our new plans are to wait for a decent weather window to get home, come alongside somewhere to offload what is going home, do that, then have Nelleke hauled and winterized.

Then snivel a little bit.

Ah well. Barb gets to do her Christmas baking, which I know she was going to miss doing, and we get to spend the holidays with family and friends.