July 23, 2011

Deason has taken really well to the sailing lessons. He wakes up every morning looking forward to going. The other day he said "I wish there was sailing lessons on Saturday". Which is funny, because we practically had to drag him there the first day. He has also been using his dinghy that he and Chris built more often too. He rowed all the way from our boat to the end of the harbor and back the other day, which is at least a quarter of a mile each way. I am not so sure I could do that.

July 19, 2011

Dahlia and I killed time at Ben & Jerry's, while Chris was in surgery.
Chris had surgery on his right shoulder today, it has been bothering him for the past year, and it has slowly been getting worse. He had surgery on his left shoulder a few years back and now has more range of motion in it than he ever had, even when he was a kid.
So, he decide that while we are here on the Cape he had better get the right one fixed too. He had to be to the hospital by 10am, and was out by 2:30. He had the same surgeon that did his left shoulder, which was a relief. Plus, he was even able to get him in for the surgery in less than a week after his initial office visit.
Everything went really well, he had some calcium deposits that needed to be cleaned up, and some inflammation of his rotator cuff muscle, and that should heal without any problems now that the impingement is gone. He starts physical therapy in a few days and should be back to normal in no time.

July 11, 2011

The Flying Scot!

July 10, 2011

My Aunt, Uncle and Grandmother came down from Fitchburg for a visit, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was warm and dry with a light breeze. If we hadn't just got back from Tarpaulin Cove we would have taken the boat out for the day with them. As it was, we had a great day. Thank you Grammy for the delicious desserts, they didn't last long!

July 9, 2011

Deer in the morning!






We finally got out for an overnight trip. We motored over to Tarpaulin Cove for the night, we could have sailed, but our new stack pack (sail bag) doesn't quite fit right and needs some modification. We are awaiting an extender to attach it to, because currently it is attached to the topping lift (which is the line that holds up the boom). The pack is designed to stay open when the sails are raised having the topping lift as a support, but when we sail, we adjust the topping lift. This particular stack pack is designed to attach to the topping lift assuming that it won't be adjusted. Hopefully, the extender will be an easy solution.
The motoring went well, we have had no problems with overheating since last year. Which is a wonderful thing! We did however have some trouble with our windlass. When we tried to lower the anchor the windlass just wouldn't work. It wouldn't go up or down, it just kept clicking with no action at all. It took about ten minutes of motoring around while Chris inspected it, and finally got it working (the solution: hitting it with a hammer). It sounds absurd, but more often than not that seems to be a solution to fixing things on the boat. I am not sure how or why that works....maybe some equipment just needs to be shown who is boss.
Once we got the anchor set, it was paradise. Deason and I swam ashore, while Chris and Dahlia met us on the beach with the dinghy. The beach on the island is beautiful, sandy and not crowded.
One of the many things I like about anchoring is that we usually go to bed early and wake up early, both Chris and I were awake before six and had the benefit of seeing the small deer that was grazing on the beach right off of where we were anchored. Very peaceful!

July 7, 2011

Deason is positively thriving here at MacDougalls, and all the dock staff still insist that he is an asset. So, he helps them out almost everyday. He has been helping wash boats, and helping on the fuel dock, and his favorite...of course, is driving the pump-out boat. He has become very good at driving AND docking the boats. I feel like we are getting more than we pay for, Deason has basically been doing an apprenticeship for free.

June 30, 2011

Dahlia and I watch Deason from the jetty.

Deason's group in the Flying Scot in Vineyard Sound with Nobska light in the back ground.The Flying Scot on the left, sailing with the 420's.

Deason has started sailing lessons this week! He was reluctant to go, why, I am not sure! At first he was refusing to go, but we told him he only had to try it for a week. If he liked it, he could continue or if he hated it he could stop after the first week!
On the first day when Chris was walking him down to the yacht club, (it is only a quarter mile down the street at the end of Falmouth Harbor....conveniently close) Deason said "how many days do I have to do this?". On the way home he said, "what time do I get to go tomorrow?". So he loves it!
He is doing the "learn to sail" program right now, which has about ten kids in the group and they learn knot tying and rigging, and they all sail together with two instructors on a 19ft Flying Scot. Once he and the instructors feel that he is ready, he can go to the Opti sailboats.
On Fridays they have a free day for kid and adults they call it "Funky Fridays", they do bail-out races, sculling races, and the kids get a chance to try out the different sailboats. I told Deason that Chris and I were going to go, and he said we couldn't (but his undertone was that he didn't WANT us there), I think he is starting that phase where he is embarrassed by us?????