Roger here.
Lene is typing next to me at the internet cafe about the other days to date.
Yesterday we swam, with flippers to the beach, about 200 yards off our starboard side, past the day-tour boats bringing snorkelers from St. Thomas for $90 per capita / day (including a lunch). I lost my snorkel tube the day before and so I can just duck my head in the water with the mask if I want to see the coral and the fish.
Returning to the boat we showered in the cockpit and had lunch and decided to take the dink to the resort and go to town (Cruz Bay) known as Love City by the locals, as evidenced by the names of many businesses here. But we were intercepted by the Caneel Bay personnel who saw our walking shoes and told that we could walk on the grounds but not off of them. So we dinked back to the boat and motored it into Cruz Bay, to essentially the same spot where we anchored to check in with US Customs.
Then a very busy and profitable time: The US Post Office where we mailed the SSB part to Bellevue WA for repair and a postcard to our granddaughter, Alexandra; a barbershop which caters mostly to black people, who gave me what Ilene calls a great haircut (I don't care how it looks as long as she likes it); a gas station which was quite a walk to get 1.5 gals of unleaded for the dinghy; spent an hour talking with a group of mostly Americans, living here; Barbeque at "Uncle Joe's", a semi-street vendor, and then returned to the dinghy, thence to the boat, where we had planned to spend the night, but found a bright red warning sticker from the National Parks Service, warning us that we had overparked in a three hour anchoring and "no overnight" zone and threatening us with a fine.
Now it was pitch dark though still lighed in the harbor, we pulled up the anchor and headed back to the mooring field at Caneel Bay. There was a more-than-half full moon but clouds and rain came up obscuring that light source. The chart plotter got us out of the channel and the harbor and close to our destination, whereupon we used our so called million candlepower flashlight to spot the mooring bouy, then its pick up eye, and on the fourth or fifth pass we speared it with the boat hook and got on the mooring. It was hard for me on the foredeck to handle both the big flashlight in one hand and the boat hook in the other. Ilene patiently circled back time and again until we got on, but then I noticed that our dock line, which holds us to the mooring penant's eye, was fouled on the port fluke of our port anchor, which means that it could saw through and leave us to drift onto the rocks. I started to tug on it to free it and it was Ilene who said why don't I put the engine in forward to ease the tension. Isn't she smart! It worked in ten seconds, no strain, and then to bed.
This morning we made french toast with our coffee, took the dink to the beach, cleaned the sand from our feet with a dish towel, put on our hiking shoes, hiked to Cruz Bay (definitely not a trail to take at night!) and plan to take a bus the length of the island and back for $2 per person.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Catch Up
Hi Guys...all of you faithful readers, and the not so faithful. Today is Tuesday, November 30th and Roger and I are sitting at computers in Mongoose Deli in Cruz Bay, the capital of St. John, USVI.
So far accessing the Internet on our own computer on the boat has been more difficult than I'd imagined but, you know what, I'm not freaking out! How's that for progress! I'm really happy we have Blackberries so at least we're receiving our emails. It's not easy for Roger or I to type long emails or blogs on the blackberry but we can get and send emails so that's all good. I'm even at the point of saying F--- I- and will make phone calls on the blackberry even though it may be $2 to $3 a minute. We'll see. On my first day in Tortola we bought a local phone (but it cannot be used in the USVI) and was told it would cost us about .30$ a minute to call the states and free for us to receive calls on every island that uses LIME (a carrier which is used on many of the islands we will be visiting) but I'm not so sure that is the truth. We'll learn more about the use of that phone when we head back to the BVI's on Saturday or Sunday and meet up with the boys from the HYC who charter boats down here during the first week of December every year. The plan is to sail around the BVI's with them for the week starting on December 4th or 5th before starting our south bound journey.
Well, we left Roadtown, Tortola, on the Friday after Thanksgiving and went to Sopers Hole, Tortola to check out of the BVI's and did so on Saturday AM. We then sailed all of the 7 miles to Cruz Bay (where we are now sitting) to check in the USVI. That is the routine down here. You need to check in with immigration on every island nation when you come in and check out when you leave. The people I've met here who work in various capacities have all been delightful. They make visiting very pleasant.
Since getting to St. Johns on Saturday we've spent the last three nights on a mooring in Caneel Bay which is just around the corner from Cruz Bay...a 20 minute motor trip on the boat. Caneel Bay is where the Rockefeller's owned a home which is now a luxury resort called Caneel Bay Resort. We've snorkeled and hiked and swam and ate. I feel myself growing more accustomed to the pace here and so am feeling optimistic today. I can only live today so I'm going to try and not think about tomorrow or next week or next month. Todays plan is to catch a cross island bus at 11 AM and view the interior of the island. We hiked into Cruz Bay (St. John is mostly a national park with loads of trails) which took us about 25 minutes and will take the bus back later and then hike back to the beach at Caneel Bay where we parked our dinghy. Our plan is to be back at the boat by 4 PM and cast off for Maho Bay tonight...or maybe Coral Bay. Life is filled with these difficult decisions.
Roger is sitting next to me right now writing about last nights adventure. He will probably downplay the terror I felt but trust me...all of my non-sailor friends would have experienced the adventure as harrowing as I did. On the good side, Roger was so calm and confident and efficient and safe that he is my hero! I fell in love with him on the boat in May of 1997, and he continues to fill me with love and appreciation, particularly on our boat.
So far accessing the Internet on our own computer on the boat has been more difficult than I'd imagined but, you know what, I'm not freaking out! How's that for progress! I'm really happy we have Blackberries so at least we're receiving our emails. It's not easy for Roger or I to type long emails or blogs on the blackberry but we can get and send emails so that's all good. I'm even at the point of saying F--- I- and will make phone calls on the blackberry even though it may be $2 to $3 a minute. We'll see. On my first day in Tortola we bought a local phone (but it cannot be used in the USVI) and was told it would cost us about .30$ a minute to call the states and free for us to receive calls on every island that uses LIME (a carrier which is used on many of the islands we will be visiting) but I'm not so sure that is the truth. We'll learn more about the use of that phone when we head back to the BVI's on Saturday or Sunday and meet up with the boys from the HYC who charter boats down here during the first week of December every year. The plan is to sail around the BVI's with them for the week starting on December 4th or 5th before starting our south bound journey.
Well, we left Roadtown, Tortola, on the Friday after Thanksgiving and went to Sopers Hole, Tortola to check out of the BVI's and did so on Saturday AM. We then sailed all of the 7 miles to Cruz Bay (where we are now sitting) to check in the USVI. That is the routine down here. You need to check in with immigration on every island nation when you come in and check out when you leave. The people I've met here who work in various capacities have all been delightful. They make visiting very pleasant.
Since getting to St. Johns on Saturday we've spent the last three nights on a mooring in Caneel Bay which is just around the corner from Cruz Bay...a 20 minute motor trip on the boat. Caneel Bay is where the Rockefeller's owned a home which is now a luxury resort called Caneel Bay Resort. We've snorkeled and hiked and swam and ate. I feel myself growing more accustomed to the pace here and so am feeling optimistic today. I can only live today so I'm going to try and not think about tomorrow or next week or next month. Todays plan is to catch a cross island bus at 11 AM and view the interior of the island. We hiked into Cruz Bay (St. John is mostly a national park with loads of trails) which took us about 25 minutes and will take the bus back later and then hike back to the beach at Caneel Bay where we parked our dinghy. Our plan is to be back at the boat by 4 PM and cast off for Maho Bay tonight...or maybe Coral Bay. Life is filled with these difficult decisions.
Roger is sitting next to me right now writing about last nights adventure. He will probably downplay the terror I felt but trust me...all of my non-sailor friends would have experienced the adventure as harrowing as I did. On the good side, Roger was so calm and confident and efficient and safe that he is my hero! I fell in love with him on the boat in May of 1997, and he continues to fill me with love and appreciation, particularly on our boat.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Thanksgiving
Roger here.
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday with its ecumenical religious feeling of gratitude and gathering of family and friends and without the extent of commercialism and gift giving that mars other holidays. This year (but in all years) I have so much to be thankful for: good health, living on my boat in paradise on an adventure, wonderful friends and family, a sense that someone out there is looking after me -- protecting me from my own stupidity and this year, the safe arrival, on Turkey day eve, of Ilene and the two cats -- making my nuclear family complete.
On Tuesday evening I had "cast my bread upon the waters", as it were, by inviting Dave and Rorie Craig of Aurora to dinner aboard - to help eat me the food we brought down. Their boat is a Stevens 47 of Sparkman and Stevens fame, but the molds are now in use by Hylas to build luxury boats in the far east under that luxury brand name. The Craigs live in New Hope PA but sail in the Chesapeake. David and one friend sailed down in the rally and Rorie, like Ilene, had flown down to meet him. The two men had a rough passage because the autopilot gave out, requiring constant demanding hand steering by the two of them in tough conditions for eight days. Rorie, after whom Aurora is named, had met Lene in Hampton and asked about her.
Wednesday was a busy day and one that touches on Island time. I dropped off two weeks of laundry and the lady said, contrary to what she had said the day before, that she did not know whether she could get to it today. I know how much my beloved one likes clean sheets so I asked her to try and at 3 pm the loads were washed, dried, neatly folded and stacked in the basket I had brought them in. On the other hand, Lincoln, of Aqua Doc, to whom I had been referred by Spectra, the manufacturer of our watermaker, was much harder to get and it took contacts over three days to get the work done, though I think it has been done well. Lincoln's training in electronics was in Guyana. The same intruding salt water that damaged the SSB also affected the watermaker's electrical contacts behind the panel of circuit breakers. Lincoln cleaned that up and also prevailed upon me to permit him to install a separate breaker near the bow of the boat, replacing a relay located there. This is safer, uses less electricity and permits the current to be always on. At least that is what he told me. Those who know more about the mysteries of electronics than I will say either that this was a great improvement or that I wasted a few hundred dollars. When this was done, I was able to reinstall and screw down the plywood panel that covers the watermaker and serves as the platform for our mattress, make the bed and scrub the interior of our boat intensely. It's cleanliness, I'm pleased to report, met the satisfaction of my beautiful wife.
Then I walked to Roadtown, the capital of Tortola, where Lene's ferry was to arrive, a four mile walk, marred by a blister on the back of my ankle raised by the sandal I was wearing. Walking permits one to see views missed when driving: the three beautiful untethered horses grazing on jungle growth at the side of the road, Sea Cow Bay with its marina, several schools with all the girls or boys looking pretty in their uniforms, several local very rustic watering holes, etc. I stopped in at Conch Charters where the guys from the Harlem Yacht Club will be in ten days, had a Carib in The Pub, its adjacent restaurant, and thanked the waitress who brought me my wallet which I had left at the bar (another protective act against my own stupidity -- sending me an honest waitress for which I am thankful), read a bit of my book, bought a few small items and eventually waited at the ferry dock for the ferry, that arrived an hour late.
Lene looked great, as always, and the two cats had been in their small padded carrying case for 14 hours without eliminating any waste in it. I met and chatted with the local government vet while Lene waited to clear customs and immigration. He approved the immigration of the cats. Lene had been ripped of by the taxi drivers in St Thomas who have a posted sign that the fare from the airport to the ferry dock (about ten minutes) is $55 if you have even a small animal carry bag. Lene also had a huge box of cat food, estimated its value at $100 and paid the $16 import duty to the BVIs. Our cab ride to Nanny Cay was easy, we found a cart to wheel Lene's stuff to the boat and then my little organizer insisted on putting all of her stuff away (and feeding the cats of course) before we could go to dinner.
Thanksgiving day was marketing day, but not before we met the Craigs who were talking with Jim and Jean Jacobs. The Jacobs' had sailed a magnificent Taswell 49 centercockpit sloop, Windsong, with one other couple in the rally. It is so big, heavy, slow and comfortable, that it smoothed the big waves for them. They were discussing Thanksgiving; the Craigs were baking a turkey breast, stuffing and a pumpkin pie. Jim Jacobs, a retired patent attorney from New York, said he had a great cranberry sauce recipe if cranberries could be found, and we were invited to join them for dinner at four. Our contribution was bread, salad and a veggie (and wine, but they had enough wine for everyone). Bobbies Supermarket in Roadtown sends a van to pick you up and to bring you back if you shop there. But such van arrangements take time. Also, we stopped at a local pharmacy and at a cell phone store (where we purchased an unlocked phone and card and minutes so calls to the US will be 30 cents rather than two dollars per minute), and a small bedside rug for Lene's feet. We called for the ride at 10 am and got back before 2 pm, dropped off the cranberries, bought blocks of ice, prepared the baked asparagus and salad, showered and went to the Jacobs' boat. It was built in 1989, they have had it two year, and it looks like brand new. Jim has 1100 cd's of music, mostly from the 60's and entertained us with trying to guess the artist, while we methodically ate everything in sight. Jean, a gourmet cook, made a sweet potato and clam soup (somehow delicious) and parboiled grilled brussel sprouts.
Our plan is to leave Nanny Cay today, clear out of the BVIs tomorrow, spend the next nine days in various bays on St. John (USVI) after clearing in at customs in St. Cruz, before returning to join the Harlem group. During this period, access to the internet will be much more problematic, which may impede our ability to blog.
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday with its ecumenical religious feeling of gratitude and gathering of family and friends and without the extent of commercialism and gift giving that mars other holidays. This year (but in all years) I have so much to be thankful for: good health, living on my boat in paradise on an adventure, wonderful friends and family, a sense that someone out there is looking after me -- protecting me from my own stupidity and this year, the safe arrival, on Turkey day eve, of Ilene and the two cats -- making my nuclear family complete.
On Tuesday evening I had "cast my bread upon the waters", as it were, by inviting Dave and Rorie Craig of Aurora to dinner aboard - to help eat me the food we brought down. Their boat is a Stevens 47 of Sparkman and Stevens fame, but the molds are now in use by Hylas to build luxury boats in the far east under that luxury brand name. The Craigs live in New Hope PA but sail in the Chesapeake. David and one friend sailed down in the rally and Rorie, like Ilene, had flown down to meet him. The two men had a rough passage because the autopilot gave out, requiring constant demanding hand steering by the two of them in tough conditions for eight days. Rorie, after whom Aurora is named, had met Lene in Hampton and asked about her.
Wednesday was a busy day and one that touches on Island time. I dropped off two weeks of laundry and the lady said, contrary to what she had said the day before, that she did not know whether she could get to it today. I know how much my beloved one likes clean sheets so I asked her to try and at 3 pm the loads were washed, dried, neatly folded and stacked in the basket I had brought them in. On the other hand, Lincoln, of Aqua Doc, to whom I had been referred by Spectra, the manufacturer of our watermaker, was much harder to get and it took contacts over three days to get the work done, though I think it has been done well. Lincoln's training in electronics was in Guyana. The same intruding salt water that damaged the SSB also affected the watermaker's electrical contacts behind the panel of circuit breakers. Lincoln cleaned that up and also prevailed upon me to permit him to install a separate breaker near the bow of the boat, replacing a relay located there. This is safer, uses less electricity and permits the current to be always on. At least that is what he told me. Those who know more about the mysteries of electronics than I will say either that this was a great improvement or that I wasted a few hundred dollars. When this was done, I was able to reinstall and screw down the plywood panel that covers the watermaker and serves as the platform for our mattress, make the bed and scrub the interior of our boat intensely. It's cleanliness, I'm pleased to report, met the satisfaction of my beautiful wife.
Then I walked to Roadtown, the capital of Tortola, where Lene's ferry was to arrive, a four mile walk, marred by a blister on the back of my ankle raised by the sandal I was wearing. Walking permits one to see views missed when driving: the three beautiful untethered horses grazing on jungle growth at the side of the road, Sea Cow Bay with its marina, several schools with all the girls or boys looking pretty in their uniforms, several local very rustic watering holes, etc. I stopped in at Conch Charters where the guys from the Harlem Yacht Club will be in ten days, had a Carib in The Pub, its adjacent restaurant, and thanked the waitress who brought me my wallet which I had left at the bar (another protective act against my own stupidity -- sending me an honest waitress for which I am thankful), read a bit of my book, bought a few small items and eventually waited at the ferry dock for the ferry, that arrived an hour late.
Lene looked great, as always, and the two cats had been in their small padded carrying case for 14 hours without eliminating any waste in it. I met and chatted with the local government vet while Lene waited to clear customs and immigration. He approved the immigration of the cats. Lene had been ripped of by the taxi drivers in St Thomas who have a posted sign that the fare from the airport to the ferry dock (about ten minutes) is $55 if you have even a small animal carry bag. Lene also had a huge box of cat food, estimated its value at $100 and paid the $16 import duty to the BVIs. Our cab ride to Nanny Cay was easy, we found a cart to wheel Lene's stuff to the boat and then my little organizer insisted on putting all of her stuff away (and feeding the cats of course) before we could go to dinner.
Thanksgiving day was marketing day, but not before we met the Craigs who were talking with Jim and Jean Jacobs. The Jacobs' had sailed a magnificent Taswell 49 centercockpit sloop, Windsong, with one other couple in the rally. It is so big, heavy, slow and comfortable, that it smoothed the big waves for them. They were discussing Thanksgiving; the Craigs were baking a turkey breast, stuffing and a pumpkin pie. Jim Jacobs, a retired patent attorney from New York, said he had a great cranberry sauce recipe if cranberries could be found, and we were invited to join them for dinner at four. Our contribution was bread, salad and a veggie (and wine, but they had enough wine for everyone). Bobbies Supermarket in Roadtown sends a van to pick you up and to bring you back if you shop there. But such van arrangements take time. Also, we stopped at a local pharmacy and at a cell phone store (where we purchased an unlocked phone and card and minutes so calls to the US will be 30 cents rather than two dollars per minute), and a small bedside rug for Lene's feet. We called for the ride at 10 am and got back before 2 pm, dropped off the cranberries, bought blocks of ice, prepared the baked asparagus and salad, showered and went to the Jacobs' boat. It was built in 1989, they have had it two year, and it looks like brand new. Jim has 1100 cd's of music, mostly from the 60's and entertained us with trying to guess the artist, while we methodically ate everything in sight. Jean, a gourmet cook, made a sweet potato and clam soup (somehow delicious) and parboiled grilled brussel sprouts.
Our plan is to leave Nanny Cay today, clear out of the BVIs tomorrow, spend the next nine days in various bays on St. John (USVI) after clearing in at customs in St. Cruz, before returning to join the Harlem group. During this period, access to the internet will be much more problematic, which may impede our ability to blog.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Twas the night before....
It's 7:03 PM here in New York and I can't quite believe that I am really taking off very early tomorrow morning. Our flight is at 9 AM from JFK to St. Thomas, USVI. From there we catch a high speed ferry to Roadtown, Tortola where Roger will be waiting for us at the ferry dock at approximately 5:05 PM.
Alpha Girl had her stitches taken out this morning and received the go ahead to fly. She is doing just great. My heart is full!
And, I am ready. I am so psyched to be really ready. Packed and ready!
The next time you hear from me, I will be joining Roger in Paradise.
Alpha Girl had her stitches taken out this morning and received the go ahead to fly. She is doing just great. My heart is full!
And, I am ready. I am so psyched to be really ready. Packed and ready!
The next time you hear from me, I will be joining Roger in Paradise.
Monday, November 22, 2010
What's Up in Nanny Cay
Roger here.
First I promise never again to publish such a long posting as my last.
Those who know me to keep busy may be wondering what I've been doing down here since Tuesday, especially without the ever entertaining Ilene the Lady ("lady" is much better than "woman"), who is nursing kitty back to good health. I'd like to say that I have been converted to Island Time, with its manana attitude, but that would be only about 1/3 right, so far.
There were receptions. The first was a warm "congratulations and welcome to paradise" from the rally organizer by VHF radio when we reported that we had crossed the finish line. then we were received by Customs who charged only $15 plus ten cents for each of the cards that each man had to fill out. This, done permitted us to haul down the yellow flag signifying "Q" for quarantine, and run up the BVI flag. A bottle of Korbel "Champagne" was given to each captain at Tuesday night's reception. The final nightly reception, Thursday, was the awards ceremony: a Caribbean 1500 pewter plate was presented to each boat and a good buffet dinner celebrated after the cocktail hours. There is room to engrave 'ILENE" on the plate and "first place"; just kidding about the latter.
Bob and Peter had left Wednesday and Dave left the boat for a hotel on Friday and for the states on Saturday. It is amazing how much room we have aboard without the three guys and their gear. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed and needed them, but the place seems roomy with most of Lene's stuff and the cats' stuff already aboard.
The days are warm and sunny, tee shirts and shorts, with the nights cool enough to want a top sheet if you sleep without pajamas. It rains about five times a day, causing me to run topsides to close the four big opening hatches that provide ventilation (by the luck of the draw, we are docked facing east -- facing the wind -- for good ventilation) but the rain usually lasts about three minutes and so far has not been heavy, just wind driven.
I have gone for a couple of swims from the small beach that they have created here and then sat in a chair under a palm frond covered shelter staring out at the water until I dried off before showering.
I had a friendly visit from Tom Anderson, a longstanding friend of Bob Osborn of Pandora. Tom knocked on the hull and requested permission to board. He had learned that ILENE was here in Nanny Cay from Bob's Blog. Knowing the distinctive look of ILENE from having sailed on Pandora, he walked the docks until he found us. I had never met him before; he gave me several tips on places to sail to and anchor in this area.
On Friday I sailed ILENE with Hans Mertins. He is a retired Canadian air traffic controller who Lene and I met at the course in Annapolis and again in Hampton. He owns a Saga 35, little sister to ILENE, that he wants to sail down here in next year's rally and mentioned that he had never sailed a 43. And of course I needed him to take her out of the Marina, well not to take her out but to back her up into her slip at the end of the sail. We went out for about five hours, beating east through Sir Francis Drake Chanel almost to The Baths and then broad reaching back. The channel is what might be called the "inland sea" of the BVIs if this was Japan. It is bounded to the north by Tortola, to the east by Virgin Gorda ("The Fat Virgin"), to the south by a whole chain of small islands and to the west by St. John, USVI. Hans crewed down here on Zafu, a J-44 (race boat) from Toronto. He is a good sailor.
I had also met another of Zafu's crew, Ed, at one of the receptions. Ed sought me out because he had heard that I knew and had raced with Julien Dougherty, my late son in law. Ed sails a Beneteau 36, like Julien's boat, in Rhode Island, and told me that Julien was his hero because he followed his racing dream and won! Ed is the fleet captain of his Club and we traded tips on Club cruises.
Finally, through Hans and Ed, I met Zafu's captain, Mike Scott, retired physician, from Canada. He told me that a Zafu is a Japanese meditation cushion. Saturday night I invited him aboard for a semi-home cooked meal. I have so much food left and it will eventually go bad if not eaten up. He is a Mark Twain look alike, but taller, and very soft spoken. We had chardonnay, tilapia crusted with pesto, ravioli, grilled onions and salad and I finally had a chance to break into that fruitcake which had survived the voyage, with proper Canadian tea (they put in the milk before the hot water!).
I also acquired a postcard and a stamp to mail to our granddaughter, Alexandra, who lives in Portland Oregon and may possibly be available for a week aboard this spring. And I did some marketing, for bread and fresh produce: expensive.
Bur mostly I do boat work -- not Tuesday or Wednesday -- then I just crashed and recovered from the passage and wrote the long blog posting and other emails. I have cleaned the boat's interior and exterior, obtained and installed the missing clevis pin, block and shackle; rebuilt the starboard traveler sheave (good thing I bought two instead of only the one I had needed); rebedded a leaky starboard side opening port; reattached the blocks for the auxiliary small jib sheets, hung the dinghy from elevated davits, took down the pole that permitted lots of wet foul weather gear to hang in the aft shower and repurposed it as a flagpole lashed to the radar arch, starboard side, remounted the 2 x 12, put anti microbial poison in the diesel fuel, etc. I also contacted ICOM, the SSB radio maker, to figure out whether the corrosion damage can be repaired and if not to order the new part, and contacted the vendor of the watermaker, which currently beeps "salinity probe failure" and will neither make fresh water not purge itself every five days, like it should. Thank goodness for Skype: one call was to the vendor/installer in Rhode Island, who tried a few things with me by phone and then referred me to the manufacturer in California. My call to him was shorter: he seemed to know what was wrong and said that there were several such failures of late and referred me to Lincoln, of Aqua Doc, who I walked 300 yards to meet. Lincoln is coming tomorrow with a replacement part. The repair requires him to crimp on the type of jack with which you plug a phone or computer into a wall.
So I'm not bored.
First I promise never again to publish such a long posting as my last.
Those who know me to keep busy may be wondering what I've been doing down here since Tuesday, especially without the ever entertaining Ilene the Lady ("lady" is much better than "woman"), who is nursing kitty back to good health. I'd like to say that I have been converted to Island Time, with its manana attitude, but that would be only about 1/3 right, so far.
There were receptions. The first was a warm "congratulations and welcome to paradise" from the rally organizer by VHF radio when we reported that we had crossed the finish line. then we were received by Customs who charged only $15 plus ten cents for each of the cards that each man had to fill out. This, done permitted us to haul down the yellow flag signifying "Q" for quarantine, and run up the BVI flag. A bottle of Korbel "Champagne" was given to each captain at Tuesday night's reception. The final nightly reception, Thursday, was the awards ceremony: a Caribbean 1500 pewter plate was presented to each boat and a good buffet dinner celebrated after the cocktail hours. There is room to engrave 'ILENE" on the plate and "first place"; just kidding about the latter.
Bob and Peter had left Wednesday and Dave left the boat for a hotel on Friday and for the states on Saturday. It is amazing how much room we have aboard without the three guys and their gear. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed and needed them, but the place seems roomy with most of Lene's stuff and the cats' stuff already aboard.
The days are warm and sunny, tee shirts and shorts, with the nights cool enough to want a top sheet if you sleep without pajamas. It rains about five times a day, causing me to run topsides to close the four big opening hatches that provide ventilation (by the luck of the draw, we are docked facing east -- facing the wind -- for good ventilation) but the rain usually lasts about three minutes and so far has not been heavy, just wind driven.
I have gone for a couple of swims from the small beach that they have created here and then sat in a chair under a palm frond covered shelter staring out at the water until I dried off before showering.
I had a friendly visit from Tom Anderson, a longstanding friend of Bob Osborn of Pandora. Tom knocked on the hull and requested permission to board. He had learned that ILENE was here in Nanny Cay from Bob's Blog. Knowing the distinctive look of ILENE from having sailed on Pandora, he walked the docks until he found us. I had never met him before; he gave me several tips on places to sail to and anchor in this area.
On Friday I sailed ILENE with Hans Mertins. He is a retired Canadian air traffic controller who Lene and I met at the course in Annapolis and again in Hampton. He owns a Saga 35, little sister to ILENE, that he wants to sail down here in next year's rally and mentioned that he had never sailed a 43. And of course I needed him to take her out of the Marina, well not to take her out but to back her up into her slip at the end of the sail. We went out for about five hours, beating east through Sir Francis Drake Chanel almost to The Baths and then broad reaching back. The channel is what might be called the "inland sea" of the BVIs if this was Japan. It is bounded to the north by Tortola, to the east by Virgin Gorda ("The Fat Virgin"), to the south by a whole chain of small islands and to the west by St. John, USVI. Hans crewed down here on Zafu, a J-44 (race boat) from Toronto. He is a good sailor.
I had also met another of Zafu's crew, Ed, at one of the receptions. Ed sought me out because he had heard that I knew and had raced with Julien Dougherty, my late son in law. Ed sails a Beneteau 36, like Julien's boat, in Rhode Island, and told me that Julien was his hero because he followed his racing dream and won! Ed is the fleet captain of his Club and we traded tips on Club cruises.
Finally, through Hans and Ed, I met Zafu's captain, Mike Scott, retired physician, from Canada. He told me that a Zafu is a Japanese meditation cushion. Saturday night I invited him aboard for a semi-home cooked meal. I have so much food left and it will eventually go bad if not eaten up. He is a Mark Twain look alike, but taller, and very soft spoken. We had chardonnay, tilapia crusted with pesto, ravioli, grilled onions and salad and I finally had a chance to break into that fruitcake which had survived the voyage, with proper Canadian tea (they put in the milk before the hot water!).
I also acquired a postcard and a stamp to mail to our granddaughter, Alexandra, who lives in Portland Oregon and may possibly be available for a week aboard this spring. And I did some marketing, for bread and fresh produce: expensive.
Bur mostly I do boat work -- not Tuesday or Wednesday -- then I just crashed and recovered from the passage and wrote the long blog posting and other emails. I have cleaned the boat's interior and exterior, obtained and installed the missing clevis pin, block and shackle; rebuilt the starboard traveler sheave (good thing I bought two instead of only the one I had needed); rebedded a leaky starboard side opening port; reattached the blocks for the auxiliary small jib sheets, hung the dinghy from elevated davits, took down the pole that permitted lots of wet foul weather gear to hang in the aft shower and repurposed it as a flagpole lashed to the radar arch, starboard side, remounted the 2 x 12, put anti microbial poison in the diesel fuel, etc. I also contacted ICOM, the SSB radio maker, to figure out whether the corrosion damage can be repaired and if not to order the new part, and contacted the vendor of the watermaker, which currently beeps "salinity probe failure" and will neither make fresh water not purge itself every five days, like it should. Thank goodness for Skype: one call was to the vendor/installer in Rhode Island, who tried a few things with me by phone and then referred me to the manufacturer in California. My call to him was shorter: he seemed to know what was wrong and said that there were several such failures of late and referred me to Lincoln, of Aqua Doc, who I walked 300 yards to meet. Lincoln is coming tomorrow with a replacement part. The repair requires him to crimp on the type of jack with which you plug a phone or computer into a wall.
So I'm not bored.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
ALPHA GIRL
Hi....well, she's home. I was able to bring her home last night and although it isn't easy (she's got one of those collars on because she goes for the sutures when she doesn't have it on and that is a big NO NO) she is doing really, really well!
For those of you who don't know the latest, one of our cats ate a penny and I think it happened while we were in Virginia awaiting Roger's departure for the Caribbean. I arrived home on November 2nd and noticed she was throwing up and unable to keep food down and clearly in distress. These symptoms became worse and worse and sometimes she was even playful and affectionate so it was tricky. I thought she was upset because cats can be so intuitive and I was readying us for our departure on the 17th. Bottom line is on Tuesday the 16th we had an X-Ray taken of her belly and you could see it clear as day...she had swallowed a coin. The vet said we had to operate immediately and so she did. It was a penny lodged in her small intestine and indeed part of the organ had already died so we know it had been caught in there for a while.
So, again, the good news is she is home and only wants to play, groom, eat and poop. I am so happy to see her healthy again and we are now scheduled to join Roger on Wednesday the 24th. I miss him very, very much. It doesn't feel like a family without him and I really miss that.
For those of you who don't know the latest, one of our cats ate a penny and I think it happened while we were in Virginia awaiting Roger's departure for the Caribbean. I arrived home on November 2nd and noticed she was throwing up and unable to keep food down and clearly in distress. These symptoms became worse and worse and sometimes she was even playful and affectionate so it was tricky. I thought she was upset because cats can be so intuitive and I was readying us for our departure on the 17th. Bottom line is on Tuesday the 16th we had an X-Ray taken of her belly and you could see it clear as day...she had swallowed a coin. The vet said we had to operate immediately and so she did. It was a penny lodged in her small intestine and indeed part of the organ had already died so we know it had been caught in there for a while.
So, again, the good news is she is home and only wants to play, groom, eat and poop. I am so happy to see her healthy again and we are now scheduled to join Roger on Wednesday the 24th. I miss him very, very much. It doesn't feel like a family without him and I really miss that.
The picture above has nothing to do with this post but I don't know how to get rid of it so there it stays. Once we get down to Tortola Roger and I will figure the whole picture/video thing out.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Ilene has cleared into Tortola
Roger here. Don't watch the video of the ocean rollers, taken with the camera held firmly against the top of the back of the boat, if you are prone to seasickness; and the last few seconds of the film are of my foot, while I tried to figure out how to shut off the camera. (But sorry folks, I can't seem to get the pics to upload yet.)
Having left Hampton, Virginia at 9:30 am on Monday, November 8 (Atlantic Standard time-- which is the time we are on -- one hour before Eastern standard Time), we crossed the finish line off the western end of Tortola yesterday, Tuesday, November 16 at 7:03 am, about seven days and twenty one and a half hours later. We motored for the first 3.25 hours (out of port), and we motorsailed (sailed assisted by the motor) during two periods: the first one dark night when we were advised to get south as quickly as possible to avoid a storm and the second from 2:30 pm to 7:15 pm the next day (the last evening), to make sure that crew could make their flights home. Thus we motored for propulsion for 43.5 hours (plus another ten in neutral to make electricity to keep the food cold and the boat supplied with electricity) of the 190 hours, consuming only 37 gallons of diesel fuel of the 95 we had aboard. The last night the winds came up again, but without the big seas, and we sailed again, but as a safety measure we untrimmed the sails in order to delay our landfall by three hours until a 6:30 sunrise. In fact, we sailed a very conservative (safe) passage, frequently reducing sail as compared to what I would have been tempted to put up if we had been in a racing division -- and still got here with a very fast time, especially compared with bigger boats who motored more. One night we had up only the small jib and stack pack. The stack pack is a tube in which the mainsail is stored when it is down. it varies from three feet high at the mast to one foot high at the aft and of the boom and is fourteen feet long. Yet it provides windage and is our smallest sail -- and that night we hit nine knot peaks of speed.
The winds were essentially at or toward our back the whole way (from variations of northwest on our journey to the southeast. If you followed our track on the rally web site you noticed variations in our course. (Our actual course was much more crooked because the computer takes our position every four hours and connects the dots by a straight line; so that if we round an island or cape, as we did at the end or the beginning, it draws a straight line from those four hour fixes, even if they make it appear that we sailed across land.) The website also says we traveled at six knots-- NO WAY! we were much faster though the wiggles get subtracted so that the computer should describe the six knots as velocity made good toward the finish line.
We headed south and hugged the US coastline to south of Cape Hatteras. We then turned southeast to cross the Gulf Stream, before establishing a rhumb line -- a straight line-- from where we were to the west end of Jost Van Dyke, five miles from the finish line which was south of Jost, off the west end of Tortola.
The Gulf Stream is an amazing 50 mile wide river of warm water flowing from the Gulf of Mexico northeast along the east coast of the United States, at two to 3 knots. it can get very nasty crossing the Stream if the winds are from the northeast, directly opposite to the stream's flow, but on our day of crossing, as almost throughout the voyage, the wind was from the northwest and hence at right angle to the Stream so the waves were not momentous in it.
Once across the stream, our course changes were caused by variations in the wind direction and by changes in sail configurations. Most of the time, sailing with the wind directly at your back (sailing "on a run") is the very slowest course relative to the wind. The boat is normally much faster when the wind comes 30 degrees or more off from that direct line. Shifting from one side of the rhumb line the other (gybing) is thus necessitated by the desire for speed. We would gybe to the other side of the line when we noticed that these minor shifts made the new more favorable than the old.
The most amazing thing about the boat was discovered as an experiment. We put the small jib out to one side of the boat and a portion of the big Genoa (approximately equal to the square footage of the jib) out to the other side. Thus we had two big wings out from the front of the boat, catching the wind and pushing us down wind, where we wanted to go. We did this without the whisker pole, a pole that holds the end of the wing out. And the two sails worked together!! Whenever one wing would start to collapse (think of flying a kite that has insufficient wind and hence starts to fall) the wind in the other wing would push it open again. Also we directed our autopilot to not follow a specific course, but to go into "vane" mode, following intelligence from our wind wane telling it to steer the boat directly down wind with the wind directly at our back. It did so with much less effort (use of electricity) than when trying to keep to a preset course on one or the other of the broad gybes. We kept this configuration of sails for more than 24 hours, until the wind varied so that being blown directly down wind was no longer along the rhumb line. One of the photos shows our instruments which reveal, by the arrow, that the wind is directly behind us. Inset in this display is the true wind speed -- about 20 knots. The display below shows our boat speed across the surface of the water -- an amazing 10 knots. Subtracting our ten knots by which we were running away from the wind, from the true wind speed of 20 means the apparent wind was only ten knots. Some of the boat's speed was caused by the waves, big waves that had been built up by a storm near Bermuda, that picked us up from behind and pushed us forward. Our greatest bursts of speed were when we were being lifted up by waves from behind and surfing down their front sides, and we slowed down as we slid backwards a bit from the tops of the waves after their crests passed us. But on this and other sail configuration we had periods of over an hour in which our average speed exceeded eight knots.
We had some system failures but none that prevented the completion of the passage or caused death as happened to one young woman whose captain diverted from Tortola to the Bahamas and missed the entrance, running up on a reef. A tragedy!
One of our failures involved the new SSB (long range) radio. It tested well and we made one scheduled position report to the rally, but then it stopped. The suspected failure is a wire that connects the black box of the radio to the face plate with the controls. But were able to use our short range VHF radio to send position reports and to receive weather reports from nearby boats, who cheerfully relayed messages for us via their SSB radios.
The next big failure was a hose which came loose and caused the fresh water pump to pump ALL of the fresh water in our two tanks into the bilge, where the bilge pump then pumped it overboard. No worry: we had gallons of bottled water plus juice, soda, milk, wine and beer, (though no alcohol was consumed until the last two days when the seas calmed down) but no water to wash our dishes or ourselves. But we had installed a water maker in August and we ran it over the next few days for ten hours producing about 60 gallons of fresh water, enough for showers. One highlight for me was when Dave, who had agreed to taste the new water, gave forth with a big wide grin and "Tastes Good!"
We also had lines that chafed, pins that fell out, blocks that broke, etc, but these we were able to repair or replace.
I can't say enough about our great crew. Bob Fleno is the current Commodore of the Harlem Yacht Club. I had not asked him to join us, despite his vast experience (two Bermuda races and two races to Maine among many others) and good sailing instincts, because I had thought that his Commodorial duties would interfere. But Bob, who sails an Island Packet 40 named Thai Hot, has his priorities straight and volunteered. His sage counsel and calm "lets just get it fixed" approach to the crises that arise, made him an invaluable member of our team.
Peter Weinrobe is an experienced small boat sailor so he knows the fundamentals but was new to bluewater sailing (the water is really blue out there). I teamed him to stand night watches with Bob. Peter was also our official photographer and I hope to learn to upload some of his beautiful shots. Peter is also an excellent conversationalist and kept boredom at bay with his questions and stories. I was pleased to be able to give Peter his first bluewater experience, as Bob had done for me a few years ago on a return passage from Bermuda.
Dave Hornbach, like Bob, owns of an Island Packet, named Eau de Vie, which he sails mostly on the Chesapeake. He is a very competent sailor. He is big and strong and would have volunteered to do all of the hard physical tasks if others did not occasionally beat him to the punch. He is a Flotilla Commander in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and knows the rules of the road and the interpretation of lights, like the back of his hand- which combined with great vision are an unbeatable skill for early advance warning against close encounters. We also learned that Dave is a great chef, no mean treat in a rocking boat -- much harder than when the boat is at a dock or mooring. Dave was also our safety officer, frequently reminding us to clip our tethers (attached to our life preserver/harnesses) onto a line securely tied to two strong points within the cockpit or to strong jacklines (lines that run from stem to stern along the edges of the deck) whenever we left the safety of the cockpit to work forward. Thus tethered, if one of us did fall or get washed overboard, he would still be attached to the boat and the others of us could haul him back in. I teamed myself with Dave for night watches. Dave stayed with the boat throughout the week's delay in Hampton and will remain with us here in paradise until Saturday.
We all learned from each other, about sailing and about ourselves. It was a great and fast passage. I am elated.
Now I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of Ilene, the woman, and our two cats, including the adventurous Alpha Girl, who had a penny surgically removed from her small intestine yesterday at a cost of 210,000 pennies. They are scheduled to arrive here Wednesday. I have plenty of boat chores to do in the interim.
Having left Hampton, Virginia at 9:30 am on Monday, November 8 (Atlantic Standard time-- which is the time we are on -- one hour before Eastern standard Time), we crossed the finish line off the western end of Tortola yesterday, Tuesday, November 16 at 7:03 am, about seven days and twenty one and a half hours later. We motored for the first 3.25 hours (out of port), and we motorsailed (sailed assisted by the motor) during two periods: the first one dark night when we were advised to get south as quickly as possible to avoid a storm and the second from 2:30 pm to 7:15 pm the next day (the last evening), to make sure that crew could make their flights home. Thus we motored for propulsion for 43.5 hours (plus another ten in neutral to make electricity to keep the food cold and the boat supplied with electricity) of the 190 hours, consuming only 37 gallons of diesel fuel of the 95 we had aboard. The last night the winds came up again, but without the big seas, and we sailed again, but as a safety measure we untrimmed the sails in order to delay our landfall by three hours until a 6:30 sunrise. In fact, we sailed a very conservative (safe) passage, frequently reducing sail as compared to what I would have been tempted to put up if we had been in a racing division -- and still got here with a very fast time, especially compared with bigger boats who motored more. One night we had up only the small jib and stack pack. The stack pack is a tube in which the mainsail is stored when it is down. it varies from three feet high at the mast to one foot high at the aft and of the boom and is fourteen feet long. Yet it provides windage and is our smallest sail -- and that night we hit nine knot peaks of speed.
The winds were essentially at or toward our back the whole way (from variations of northwest on our journey to the southeast. If you followed our track on the rally web site you noticed variations in our course. (Our actual course was much more crooked because the computer takes our position every four hours and connects the dots by a straight line; so that if we round an island or cape, as we did at the end or the beginning, it draws a straight line from those four hour fixes, even if they make it appear that we sailed across land.) The website also says we traveled at six knots-- NO WAY! we were much faster though the wiggles get subtracted so that the computer should describe the six knots as velocity made good toward the finish line.
We headed south and hugged the US coastline to south of Cape Hatteras. We then turned southeast to cross the Gulf Stream, before establishing a rhumb line -- a straight line-- from where we were to the west end of Jost Van Dyke, five miles from the finish line which was south of Jost, off the west end of Tortola.
The Gulf Stream is an amazing 50 mile wide river of warm water flowing from the Gulf of Mexico northeast along the east coast of the United States, at two to 3 knots. it can get very nasty crossing the Stream if the winds are from the northeast, directly opposite to the stream's flow, but on our day of crossing, as almost throughout the voyage, the wind was from the northwest and hence at right angle to the Stream so the waves were not momentous in it.
Once across the stream, our course changes were caused by variations in the wind direction and by changes in sail configurations. Most of the time, sailing with the wind directly at your back (sailing "on a run") is the very slowest course relative to the wind. The boat is normally much faster when the wind comes 30 degrees or more off from that direct line. Shifting from one side of the rhumb line the other (gybing) is thus necessitated by the desire for speed. We would gybe to the other side of the line when we noticed that these minor shifts made the new more favorable than the old.
The most amazing thing about the boat was discovered as an experiment. We put the small jib out to one side of the boat and a portion of the big Genoa (approximately equal to the square footage of the jib) out to the other side. Thus we had two big wings out from the front of the boat, catching the wind and pushing us down wind, where we wanted to go. We did this without the whisker pole, a pole that holds the end of the wing out. And the two sails worked together!! Whenever one wing would start to collapse (think of flying a kite that has insufficient wind and hence starts to fall) the wind in the other wing would push it open again. Also we directed our autopilot to not follow a specific course, but to go into "vane" mode, following intelligence from our wind wane telling it to steer the boat directly down wind with the wind directly at our back. It did so with much less effort (use of electricity) than when trying to keep to a preset course on one or the other of the broad gybes. We kept this configuration of sails for more than 24 hours, until the wind varied so that being blown directly down wind was no longer along the rhumb line. One of the photos shows our instruments which reveal, by the arrow, that the wind is directly behind us. Inset in this display is the true wind speed -- about 20 knots. The display below shows our boat speed across the surface of the water -- an amazing 10 knots. Subtracting our ten knots by which we were running away from the wind, from the true wind speed of 20 means the apparent wind was only ten knots. Some of the boat's speed was caused by the waves, big waves that had been built up by a storm near Bermuda, that picked us up from behind and pushed us forward. Our greatest bursts of speed were when we were being lifted up by waves from behind and surfing down their front sides, and we slowed down as we slid backwards a bit from the tops of the waves after their crests passed us. But on this and other sail configuration we had periods of over an hour in which our average speed exceeded eight knots.
We had some system failures but none that prevented the completion of the passage or caused death as happened to one young woman whose captain diverted from Tortola to the Bahamas and missed the entrance, running up on a reef. A tragedy!
One of our failures involved the new SSB (long range) radio. It tested well and we made one scheduled position report to the rally, but then it stopped. The suspected failure is a wire that connects the black box of the radio to the face plate with the controls. But were able to use our short range VHF radio to send position reports and to receive weather reports from nearby boats, who cheerfully relayed messages for us via their SSB radios.
The next big failure was a hose which came loose and caused the fresh water pump to pump ALL of the fresh water in our two tanks into the bilge, where the bilge pump then pumped it overboard. No worry: we had gallons of bottled water plus juice, soda, milk, wine and beer, (though no alcohol was consumed until the last two days when the seas calmed down) but no water to wash our dishes or ourselves. But we had installed a water maker in August and we ran it over the next few days for ten hours producing about 60 gallons of fresh water, enough for showers. One highlight for me was when Dave, who had agreed to taste the new water, gave forth with a big wide grin and "Tastes Good!"
We also had lines that chafed, pins that fell out, blocks that broke, etc, but these we were able to repair or replace.
I can't say enough about our great crew. Bob Fleno is the current Commodore of the Harlem Yacht Club. I had not asked him to join us, despite his vast experience (two Bermuda races and two races to Maine among many others) and good sailing instincts, because I had thought that his Commodorial duties would interfere. But Bob, who sails an Island Packet 40 named Thai Hot, has his priorities straight and volunteered. His sage counsel and calm "lets just get it fixed" approach to the crises that arise, made him an invaluable member of our team.
Peter Weinrobe is an experienced small boat sailor so he knows the fundamentals but was new to bluewater sailing (the water is really blue out there). I teamed him to stand night watches with Bob. Peter was also our official photographer and I hope to learn to upload some of his beautiful shots. Peter is also an excellent conversationalist and kept boredom at bay with his questions and stories. I was pleased to be able to give Peter his first bluewater experience, as Bob had done for me a few years ago on a return passage from Bermuda.
Dave Hornbach, like Bob, owns of an Island Packet, named Eau de Vie, which he sails mostly on the Chesapeake. He is a very competent sailor. He is big and strong and would have volunteered to do all of the hard physical tasks if others did not occasionally beat him to the punch. He is a Flotilla Commander in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and knows the rules of the road and the interpretation of lights, like the back of his hand- which combined with great vision are an unbeatable skill for early advance warning against close encounters. We also learned that Dave is a great chef, no mean treat in a rocking boat -- much harder than when the boat is at a dock or mooring. Dave was also our safety officer, frequently reminding us to clip our tethers (attached to our life preserver/harnesses) onto a line securely tied to two strong points within the cockpit or to strong jacklines (lines that run from stem to stern along the edges of the deck) whenever we left the safety of the cockpit to work forward. Thus tethered, if one of us did fall or get washed overboard, he would still be attached to the boat and the others of us could haul him back in. I teamed myself with Dave for night watches. Dave stayed with the boat throughout the week's delay in Hampton and will remain with us here in paradise until Saturday.
We all learned from each other, about sailing and about ourselves. It was a great and fast passage. I am elated.
Now I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of Ilene, the woman, and our two cats, including the adventurous Alpha Girl, who had a penny surgically removed from her small intestine yesterday at a cost of 210,000 pennies. They are scheduled to arrive here Wednesday. I have plenty of boat chores to do in the interim.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
A Quick One
Spoke to Roger this AM via sat phone. He sounds exhilarated although he isn't sleeping well. His bunk is toward the front of the boat and with the wind coming from behind, he is being rocked back and forth. The weather has been really good and he LOVES how fast they are going. And, it's true! If you follow him on the web (directions to do so are in a previous post below), you can see how well he is doing relative to other boats in his group....most of which are larger than ILENE.
Don't remember if I mentioned this already but both Alpha Girl and Whitty have received their permits for entry into the British Virgin Islands. That is very relieving although traveling with them is still causing me worry.
Thanks, everyone, for following us on this blog. It will help me feel connected to home and I really will need that!
Don't remember if I mentioned this already but both Alpha Girl and Whitty have received their permits for entry into the British Virgin Islands. That is very relieving although traveling with them is still causing me worry.
Thanks, everyone, for following us on this blog. It will help me feel connected to home and I really will need that!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Finally...Gratitude!
Yesterday felt like a turning point. I'm not going to get into ALL of the feelings and help I received but the key word is help. Why is it so difficult to acknowledge when I need help? And I'm not talking about asking for help in getting the "things" I think I need or want. That I'm good at! I'm talking about the kind of help that requires I be vulnerable...I admit my fear and my weakness...maybe even shame.
I can't begin to describe the relief I feel today, and finally the excitement of what lies ahead on this journey. And all because I admitted my fear and people gave me love.
I have two leads already on how I (we) can be of service while cruising. One has to do with helping clear forest and debris from the national parks on St. John of the USVI and another has to do with helping children in the schools. I pray for the courage to be of service even though my self centered nature tells me I won't be any good at it.
Yesterday my internet was down but today I see that Ilene the Boat continues her journey safely. Whitty & Alpha Girl (feline sailing companions) have received their permits to enter the BVI's, and I continue (day 4) to give them doses of Animal Rescue Remedy which is supposed to calm them. They need to be calm on Wednesday the 17th when I will be packing them into a carrier and flying with them to Tortola. I was told to start them now on it to see if it will work. I don't know if it is or isn't but it's the best I can do. This is a non drug using family!
More anon.
I can't begin to describe the relief I feel today, and finally the excitement of what lies ahead on this journey. And all because I admitted my fear and people gave me love.
I have two leads already on how I (we) can be of service while cruising. One has to do with helping clear forest and debris from the national parks on St. John of the USVI and another has to do with helping children in the schools. I pray for the courage to be of service even though my self centered nature tells me I won't be any good at it.
Yesterday my internet was down but today I see that Ilene the Boat continues her journey safely. Whitty & Alpha Girl (feline sailing companions) have received their permits to enter the BVI's, and I continue (day 4) to give them doses of Animal Rescue Remedy which is supposed to calm them. They need to be calm on Wednesday the 17th when I will be packing them into a carrier and flying with them to Tortola. I was told to start them now on it to see if it will work. I don't know if it is or isn't but it's the best I can do. This is a non drug using family!
More anon.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Roger's Journey
Yes, he's out there with his crew of 4...my Captain. I give him so much credit. I've never had anyone in my life (and I apologize to anyone in my life who may be offended by this statement) with his determination and perseverance. He came home about a year ago and said "I can die without sailing around the world but I won't die without sailing to the Caribbean, and if not now then when? He put so much work (and money) into getting Ilene the Boat ready for this trip and now he is on his journey. I spoke to him Monday morning as they were nearing the Chesapeake Bridge & Tunnel which is, I believe , the official start of the Carib 1500, and if any of you know Roger you know that hearing pure excitement in his voice isn't an everyday occurrence. But it was there LARGE Monday AM.
I feel such happiness for him. I am grateful he is in my life and I am grateful to feel such joy for another human.
Please check out his position in the mighty Atlantic. Go to the website above and you will see ILENE on the left hand side of the page. You can see where he is relative to the other boats in his class (near the front!) and his mileage and where he is relative to the US Coast. It's pretty cool.
I feel such happiness for him. I am grateful he is in my life and I am grateful to feel such joy for another human.
Please check out his position in the mighty Atlantic. Go to the website above and you will see ILENE on the left hand side of the page. You can see where he is relative to the other boats in his class (near the front!) and his mileage and where he is relative to the US Coast. It's pretty cool.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Waiting Days in Hampton
Roger here. The photos are of the new shiny window frames with some of our jerry cans of diesel fuel and of the newly repaired block, both described below.
Our friends, Bob and Brenda Osborn sail a Saga 43, Pandora, a boat just like ours, except that because Bob is a mechanical wizard and master woodworker, their boat has a lot of new toys such as a heater for those cold Maine days, slanting sides to the companionway ladder (between the cockpit and the cabin) so that the step presents a horizontal surface when the boat is heeling, a larger freezer, AIS radio (so you know the name course and speed of boats near you) and cell phone booster. Bob is an excellent writer and those readers who enjoy my posts will love Bob's, at sailpandora.blogspot.com. His blog has been the inspiration for mine. The Osborns plan to sail south, but next year, after their house is sold and are following our blog. Brenda is a master weaver and their final problem may be to get one of her looms to fit on Pandora. Bob has asked me to describe some of the improvements we have made to ILENE.
Our planned seven month trip is divisible into two parts. The first part is the ten day (or less) dash from Virginia to Tortola, and the second part is the rest of the seven months. Ironically, most of the improvements have been made for the dash, because a boat is subject to many more contingencies out in deep water than in Long Island Sound or along the coast where help is nearer. Bob has asked me to describe some of the improvements we have made and future blogs on rainy days down south will feature ILENE's (1) Single Side Band Radio (for long distances); (2) Six person ocean life raft; (3) Man Overboard Module (MOM8-A), (4) Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB)(when deployed it tells the Coast Guard who we are, where we are and that we need help!), (5) two 80 watt British Petroleum solar panels to increase our electrical supply, which are mounted in what I believe is an unusual way by Erwin Eibert, one of our crew, and (6) a Spectra Ventura water maker.
As you can see, most of this stuff and many of the smaller items are designed for emergencies, to improve safety and survival and to permit communications and power. To the same ends, we have also acquired numerous smaller things: such as a ship’s bell (for fog), a throw bag (to throw a line to another boat or a person in the water), backup navigation lights (so we can be seen by other boats), LED bulbs for the existing primary navigation lights (they use a tiny fraction of the electricity of incandescent bulbs and last longer), a more efficient fresh water pump, a whole lot of spare parts for the engine, blue covers for the front edges of our two head sails, to replace the thin white material to be sacrificed so that the hot Caribbean sun eats these covers and does not degrade the sails, buckets (for bailing), new stainless steel lifelines (think of a fence around the deck) because the old stainless set was coated with white vinyl which could have concealed potential erosion, electronic and paper charts for the whole route plus potential side journeys that could be caused by weather, two new tethers each with two large safety clips at the end of canvas straps, so we can connect one strap before disconnecting another thereby never being unconnected to the boat at night in rough weather, lights and whistles for our life vests, etc.
Two nights ago, Dave prepared our dinner and we talked over it and a bottle of wine. He used the rosemary that had been given to Lene as a floral gift to flavor the potatoes, berry jam to flavor the chicken breasts, and roasted a red pepper on the burner of the stove. So gourmet chef is another of Dave's many talents.
The last few days were rather cold and wet so I did not do much work on the boat but yesterday, though cool, was sunny. Dave did his real day job from the ship’s computer and his cell phone while I put up two of the stainless steel window frames with rubber caulking to seal out the water. The other two will remain screwed in place but without caulk until I can get another tube of such caulk. We bought laundry detergent because we had thought to be almost in Tortola by now and clean things are getting scarce. I also managed to get two races each consisting of 28 3/16 inch tough plastic ball bearings into a fixed block through which the jib sheet can now run properly again after three years of a jury rig (snatch block tied to the post of the broken block). This turned out to be a fun job, using hair gel to hold the ball bearings in place until they were secured by the faces of the reassembled block, after which the hair gel got flushed out with a hose. I also replaced a rusty gas lift that holds up a seat in the forward head with a shiny new replacement and Dave tightened blocks at the bases of the stanchions through which the furling lines run.
We have lost one of our crew to hurricane Tomas; no, Erwin was not lost at sea, thank God, but his business appointments, which he twice postponed, could not be postponed again. But we will meet up with him when he charters a boat in Tortola in early December. Our eagerly awaited departure, now planned for Monday morning, November 8, only one week late, will see ILENE sailed by four men instead of five; I have to prepare a revised watch schedule.
Home
Today is day 4 at home since my trip north from Virginia. I must say it feels good. Knowing I have some extra time before I leave for Tortola (I was able to reschedule my flight from the 11th to the 17th. Roger is scheduled to depart on the 8th) has made me feel calmer. Things are getting done, and I now have more time to do them.
The cats are ready, although it will still take a trip to Kennedy airport to have their health certificate signed by a USDA vet to truly have the work completed for a trip out of the country with animals. There is plenty of time for me to grow anxious about having them in a carrier under a plane seat for 4 hours...and that is only the first leg of the trip. We land in San Juan and then have a 2 hour wait for a 30 minute connecting flight to Beef Island (Tortola). I land there at about 10 PM and hopefully Rog will be waiting for me. If not, I get myself and the kitties to the Marina where there is a hotel awaiting us. "No problem, mon, we take your kitties"
So, today is another day and I have at least 2-3 chores to accomplish. It's so much better to do them than to worry about them. Simple thought, but when one has a "built-in forgetter" one tends to suffer a bit before realizing there is another way. Action!
I feel badly for my hubby. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks that Ilene the Boat and Rojay sit at a dock in Virginia. The weather was beautiful during the first week when I was there, but since I've left it has been gray and windy and cold and wet. And no, I am not quite so narcissistic to think there is a connection between weather and my presence. And, yet....
Love you, Roger!
The cats are ready, although it will still take a trip to Kennedy airport to have their health certificate signed by a USDA vet to truly have the work completed for a trip out of the country with animals. There is plenty of time for me to grow anxious about having them in a carrier under a plane seat for 4 hours...and that is only the first leg of the trip. We land in San Juan and then have a 2 hour wait for a 30 minute connecting flight to Beef Island (Tortola). I land there at about 10 PM and hopefully Rog will be waiting for me. If not, I get myself and the kitties to the Marina where there is a hotel awaiting us. "No problem, mon, we take your kitties"
So, today is another day and I have at least 2-3 chores to accomplish. It's so much better to do them than to worry about them. Simple thought, but when one has a "built-in forgetter" one tends to suffer a bit before realizing there is another way. Action!
I feel badly for my hubby. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks that Ilene the Boat and Rojay sit at a dock in Virginia. The weather was beautiful during the first week when I was there, but since I've left it has been gray and windy and cold and wet. And no, I am not quite so narcissistic to think there is a connection between weather and my presence. And, yet....
Love you, Roger!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Anticipation or Anxiety
So much to do to get ready for this trip. The Carib 1500 has now been delayed until 11/8 for their departure from Hampton and I was able to delay my flight from the 11th to the 17th. I can't remember being away from Roger fro this length of time. It will be 2 weeks before we see each other again...God willing. I can't say I mind the extra time at home, in a way. It really does give me more time to get ready for being away for 6 months. On the other hand, it gives me more time to grow anxious about being away from home for 6 months. I'm not used to being so anxious. I can feel it in my gut. It's a real happiness preventer, I'll tell you that. I'm just hoping it's not a foretelling but a preliminary state until I get south on my boat with my cats and my husband and we're all safe in Tortola.
In the meantime, prayer works if I only would use it.
In the meantime, prayer works if I only would use it.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
From Home
Yes, after a surprisingly easy 8+ hour train ride I arrived home...snuggled with Whitty & Alpha Girl...watched a bit of TV and slept. It was great to read how much Roger is accomplishing and that he misses me. Maybe I wasn't as bitchy as I felt I was? Ah...always room for improvement.
Today is day 1 of my interim stay at home and involves taking cats to vet for final visit before we "import" them into the BVI's. I learned I'd better be very nice and very polite to the officials in the BVI because they can act pretty much as they want. There is little official recourse if one feels one is being treated unfairly. I plan on calling the Department of Agriculture at least twice from here and try and make a friend who will help me if the custom agent in the airport decides he, or she, doesn't want two more cats on the island.
I'll head to the Post Office and make arrangements for the mail to be sent to Roger's brother, Allen, in Atlanta who will receive weekly forwardings from the PO and keep us abreast of any mail looking like it needs our attention. And, I will be getting a long overdue haircut.
With that..adieu.
Today is day 1 of my interim stay at home and involves taking cats to vet for final visit before we "import" them into the BVI's. I learned I'd better be very nice and very polite to the officials in the BVI because they can act pretty much as they want. There is little official recourse if one feels one is being treated unfairly. I plan on calling the Department of Agriculture at least twice from here and try and make a friend who will help me if the custom agent in the airport decides he, or she, doesn't want two more cats on the island.
I'll head to the Post Office and make arrangements for the mail to be sent to Roger's brother, Allen, in Atlanta who will receive weekly forwardings from the PO and keep us abreast of any mail looking like it needs our attention. And, I will be getting a long overdue haircut.
With that..adieu.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Lene is away but work continues
Roger here; alone. This morning I drove Lene to the Newport News Amtrak station and, surrounded by friendly boaters, I nevertheless already miss her. But she will be arriving in Tortola by air with our cats on November 11, before me.
The past few days have been busy but fun. Monday we took a brief rest from our chores and visited the history museum here, where we learned that the street we drive on each day after leaving the marina, Kekoughtan Street, is a Britified version of the name of the Indian tribe that was displaced from this Hampton area. They would have spelled their name, if they knew how to spell in English letters, "Kikatan". They were one of many tribes on "The Peninsula", the land including Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg, so rich in American history, bordered by the James and the York Rivers. The chief of all of these tribes was Pocahontas' father. The town of Hampton was burned in the Revolutionary war, the War of 1812 and (by the southerners to prevent the north from using it) in the Civil War. Is was built by tobacco, rebuilt by crabbing and later by the US military, with a longstanding tourism industry as well.
The photo is of our friends, Stan and Carol Hoegerman in their new condo in Williamsburg. One of Carol's magnificent quilts is the backdrop. Interestingly, the name of the pattern of the quilt is: Storm at Sea. The picture was taken by Dave who accompanied us. Tonight the rally held an Hors D'oeuvres contest. I felt a bit awkward merely eating instead of providing manchego y membrillo, which is a nautically themed (looking like a yacht club pennant), tasty (salt and sweet combined), low carb (no bread base) entry, but I was too busy continuing to prepare the boat to shop for ingredients and make up the dish. And somebody has to eat the stuff, right? Dinner was superfluous after a substantial lunch and so many snacks. The most imaginative entry, in my opinion, was spam, cut into the shape of the top view of sailboats, and soaked in brandy.
The weather-induced layover has become a blessing in disguise, allowing for the completion of many chores that would not have gotten done otherwise. All of the recommendations of the surveyor and of the rally officials have been accomplished. Also: the nuts that hold the solar panels to their racks have been replaced with lock nuts; a short non-stretch line ties the tack (lower front corner) of the big forward sail closely to its stay to improve shape, two more five gallon jerry cans of diesel fuel have been purchased, filled, carted to the boat and lashed to a board affixed to the port stanchions, in addition to the original two such cans, giving us 20 gallons of fuel on deck, in addition to the 75 gallons in the boat's inside tanks -- hopefully enough fuel to motor half way to Tortola. (all this high weight also balances the boat, eliminating its list to starboard. Also, the missing sheaves for the small jib's sheeting live have finally arrived and we will be placing the 56 plastic ball bearings in it (using hair dressing which can be washed away after it is put together to hold them in place during assembly). I am trying to use crazy glue to repair a knob used to secure one side opening port. And we have placed the four new stainless steel "frames" against the outside of the boat's four fixed ports (windows). These had been fabricated by Erwin Eibert, who will be arriving on Thursday, and serve not only a decorative purpose, but also, when the silicon adhesive is placed between them and the side of the boat tomorrow, serving the useful purpose of stopping, once and for all, the leaking of rainwater and sea spray into the boat through cracks in the seams between the windows and the boat. This was definitely a two person job: one to hold the frames in place while the other looked from inside and yelled micromanagement of the adjustment of the frames against the windows to select the best location before they were taped on, drilled and screwed.
Also, the tightening of the shrouds pulled the sides of the boat a very bit closer together, preventing the lifting up of certain cabin sole (floor) boards that would need to be picked up to search for the source of big leaks if any such occurred. This would have to be done in a hurry and getting a screw driver to unscrew a latch is not fast enough. I removed accumulated rust from and sharpened our wood chisel and Dave used it to move the latches so that access is restored. We also took apart the front of the galley stove and Dave used penetrating oil to unfreeze the frozen knob and I cleaned food from places between metal that food has no right to enter. There are several other such chores, done or waiting to be done, that we would not have done until Tortola, if at all, but for the enforced delay.
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