Aug 31, 2011

We are down to the home stretch. This storm was kind of a bummer, but it did get us to go through some of our equipment. When we took our genoa down we noticed that it had some rotten stitching and the stitching was missing in some spots. The good thing is that now it is getting fixed. I only wish that I had a machine that was good enough so that I could do it myself. I have done a few small projects for the boat like; recovering some cushions and the helm seat, and I made safety netting gates that we can attach with snap shackles. I am also going to make some sun shades before we leave so that we don't get crispy like we did on the way up! A good sewing machine is on my list of "wants", unfortunately, there are some pricey things on the list of "needs".
We are checking the batteries off of the "needs" list. We were going to wait until we got down to Lauderdale to get batteries, because they are cheaper down there, but it would have been pushing it. We have 12 size 8G 4D batteries right now that are sealed gels, we decided to replace them with AGM's, and its is not exactly an item you can find on sale...bummer! It will be worth it. Right now if we are at anchor, we would have to run the generator at least once a day to maintain our power needs (which isn't much....fridge, water pump, shower pumps, lights at night, and the occasional fan), but with the new batteries we can go 4-5 days with out running the generator, and with out trying to conserve power.
Once that stuff is done, which is hopefully by Sept 8th, we will start to head south!

Aug 29, 2011

Everything survived! The boat did just fine in the water, but I am glad that we didn't have to go through a real hurricane. We saw sustained 40knot (46mph) winds with gusts of 55knots (63mph). I really can't imagine what it must feel like to be in 100+mph winds. As it was, the docks got a pretty good workout. If that storm was forecast to hit us directly, we would have hauled the boat.
The town was in fairly good shape as well, of course some large tree branches were down. There were also significant power outages all through the town, but everything seemed to be turned back on by 2am. Chris had gone back to the boat at that time to do a double check once everything started to calm back down.
By 8am they had all the beach roads cleared of all the sand that had washed up, and the piles were taller than our car. One of the small inlets had completely filled with sand and debris, and had to be dredged by a excavator. All in all, we were very fortunate!

Aug 27, 2011

These are tricky water tight doors that they have put up around all the doors and low lying windows. Hopefully, these are overkill, but you can never be too cautious...right?





Well, we decided to stay in the water. We moved the boat, and have now lashed down the main, taken down the genoa and bimini top, and secured as much as we can. The storm has appeared to slow down and break apart a little bit, and hopefully this was all for nothing. I like to remain optimistic.
Today, when Dahlia and I were walking around taking some pictures, she stopped to collect some rocks. Collecting rocks is a normal practice for her, except for today she found a small orange rock. She kept repeating "orange rock", "orange rock" and my normal responses of "wow" and "so pretty" must not have been enough for her, because she eventually said "orange rock nose".
As I turned to look at her, she had the biggest smile on her face and was pointing to her nose. Sure enough, that small orange rock was up her nose. Of course, the rock was nice and smooth so there was nothing to grip as I tried to get it out, and the funny thing was that Dahlia was giggling the whole time, obviously proud of herself. After much coaxing, the rock came out, with only a few tears, only after I told her "no more rocks in your nose"!
The whole time I kept thinking that I was never going to live this down, my mother still tells the story of when I was little and she had to take me to the hospital to get a pussy willow (of all things) extracted from my nose. Thankfully, this didn't require a visit to the ER.

Aug 26, 2011

We are on the fence about if we are going to get hauled out or not. They are holding a spot for us out of the water, but if we don't get hauled we will definitely move the boat to a more protected spot than where we are now. Right now we are at an end dock that is pretty exposed to S and SW winds, so we will move inside to a spot that is more protected from the E, and then the S winds that we will face. We will make the decision in the morning, right now it is hard to believe that there is even a threat of something on the way, the weather has been sunny and beautiful. The only give away to this storm is the boats that are slowly accumulating in the parking, and the staff here hard at work.
Deason has been busy helping the dock staff, they have had boats coming in a steady steam all day.

Uncle Bobby

A shout out to Uncle Bobby in Beaufort NC. Deason says take good care of Waterbug!
We hope you are on the backside of Irene, wait, that doesn't sound right....
Well we're trying not to worry about you because we know you wouldn't like that, but we are anyway.

Aug 25, 2011

We went up to Fitchburg to visit family before we head south, my Dad and Jodi were visiting from Florida too. We all had a great time. Unfortunately, Chris stayed home to work on installing the water maker and do some wiring. When we get home we will have to start doing some prep for the hurricane, hopefully, it falls off to the west and dies. Right now I am angry that we have to think about this at all.

Aug 21, 2011

We all went to Deason's end of the season sailing school awards dinner. Chris's parents and Kristin came along as well, it was a beautiful night so we all walked down to the yacht club since it is only 1/2 mile away. There was a spaghetti dinner, and then the awards ceremony. Every class member was given a certificate, and each class had a "most improved" award and an "instructors choice" award. By 8:30 Dahlia was getting tired and we decided to leave. At that time they had given out all of the racing awards and with only a few more awards to be given, we snuck out during a standing ovation for a volunteer award.
We got back to the boat and heard someone yelling "HELLO...HELLO"! Joyce from Boston Yacht Sales (she works at the MacDougalls' yard, and is also a member at the yacht club) had driven down from the yacht club to come and get us. Apparently, Deason was chosen for the last award of the evening. It's the "Robert E. Arnold Sportsmanship Award". We were told that they gave this big speech about Robert Arnold who was a great guy who everyone wanted around, would do anything to help anyone, and while he wasn't the fastest sailor out there he had the best attitude. Then they told a story about Deason, who had sacrificed his sinking shirt to save the rudder that was floating away after his boat had capsized. Joyce had came to track us down and bring us back to the yacht club so Deason could get his plaque and to see the big cup that will now have his name engraved on it along with all of the others who have won the award in the past.
I have to say, I have never in my life felt so emotionally conflicted. I am so proud of him, but I am also devastated that we weren't there. At the time that they were giving out the "instructors choice" award for Deason's class, I internally thought that with everything they were saying...it had to be Deason, and was a little disappointed for him that he didn't get that award. Then, we left early and completely robbed Deason of this great opportunity to be recognized for being such a great kid. By the time we got back to the yacht club most of the people were gone, but all of the instructors and the program director were still there, and Deason was ecstatic just to have them recognize him. Selfishly, I am sad that we missed it all. I wanted to hear what they had to say about him, I would have loved to see him get up there and have everyone clap for him. But being the great sport that he is, he was happy to get the plaque and be able to show it to all the dock staff.

Aug 16, 2011

We went on a sunset cruise the other night with some friends who are visiting from California, and my best friend Kristin who will be our deck hand on our trip down the coast (Kristin has just graduated from PA school and we are kidnapping her before she has to start working, hopefully she will stay on board until we get to Hilton Head).
The sunset cruise was suppose to be a sunset sail, but there was absolutely no wind. So, we motored over to Vineyard Haven and anchored out side the main harbor so we could have dinner. When we set out it was misting rain and a little cold...sweatshirts required kind of cold. Thankfully, we trusted the forecast, because it cleared up as soon as we anchored and later we were able to witness one of the most amazing sunsets I have seen in a while.

Aug 13, 2011

Deason saved his money all summer and used it to buy a kayak. He got a sit on top ocean kayak, mainly because he can jump off of it and it won't tip over (supposedly). It is also self bailing and will not sink. All that tip money, and money from the swear jar finally went to good use.
We got a regular kayak with a cockpit so Dahlia can ride with us, both kayaks are short and light. They are both about 9ft long and weigh approx. 40lbs each, Deason can almost carry his own kayak. Which is pretty amazing considering he only weighs about 65lbs.
Meanwhile, we have been prepping Dahlia for her watches on the way down. She will happily look through the binoculars all day long, we are just not entirely sure if she is trust worthy enough to stay awake for a midnight watch....maybe a few more years!

Aug 12, 2011

Dahlia has really taken to riding in the dinghy. We can't mention the word "dinghy" without her begging to go for a ride. The only problem with going in Deason's rowing dinghy is that when Deason is rowing and there is an adult in the stern, the bow is completely out of the water. It makes it kind of difficult for him to row, but Dahlia isn't old enough to ride alone with Deason, maybe in a few more years!

Aug 6, 2011

I find it amazing that Deason has been able to integrate himself into all working aspects of the docks. He is in love with the Sea Tow boat and it has been all he can talk about lately. I need to find a way to get him interested in the electrical shop and refrigerator maintenance departments, so he can be our repair man too!

Aug 2, 2011

Dahlia helping to wash the boat after we got back!
Coming by Nobska Light on our way back to MacDougalls.


Our second day at anchor was beautiful, swimming, boating, eating, more swimming, after such a great day I feel guilty even mentioning the storm. At about 8pm the wind picked up, and the clouds rolled in. At first it appeared as if the storm was just going to miss us, but then it got really dark and the rain became torrential. Then I heard Deason ask Chris "why we were getting hit by ice cubes". For about five minutes we got pelted with almond sized hail, and it was SO loud when it was hitting the whole boat. At the time, I was thinking that I can't remember being in a hail storm on the Cape. There were probably plenty of storms like that over the years, but I never noticed it being inside a house. It is amazing how attuned we get to the weather, some times it is all we talk about...what's the forecast?....where is the wind coming from? and I use to never even consider it before living aboard. Fortunately, those storms never last long, and after an hour the wind died back down, and it was quiet as can be again!