Tucked Away for awhile

We are in Sandpiper Marina.  The nicest and cheapest place we could find.  the people here are sooo overly friendly! well not overly! they are just right! everyone we have met has been super sweet and helpful letting us use their cars if we need.  but we don't, cuz my dad will be here tomorrow.

We cleaned the hull (that was me... I pouted and Ben let me cuz he wanted to clean the hull... why? would we fight for that job?  well I have methods to my madness... my back is sore and bending over to scrub the deck does not sound fun... plus you get to sit in the kayak and have a bit of fun balancing while you try to scrub the guck off the bootstripe. it was fun but don't tell Ben... I made sure it looked hard. ha ha)

He scrubbed the deck - thanks Ben and did many other things while I did stuff.  all together we cleaned out the head... (peee-you) that is never a fun job, cleaned the bilge, washed off all the salt anywhere on the outside, washed the floors on the inside also called the soul, and the cabinets, picked up stuff, washed anything we saw, cleaned the seats with a little dirt devil, I'm sure i'm missing something...

I'm tired and sore...

we ate mac and cheese with peas on the side for dinner... we played backgammon and we double the cube to 64 again this time I pulled it away, then Ben came back and is up 32 to 10.

I can't get my work checkbook to balance yet.  I bet I'll get it when I get home.

that's good enough for now...

see you all soon...

Amen
Pam

same o same o

Getting the hang of the ICW

One thing that is new for us too is anchoring in a “river” with a tide. Cuz in the middle of the night your boat switches sides.  If the river/canal was going south your boat will be facing north but in the middle of the night the river changes and now you are heading south… so does your anchor grab when it is turned 180 degrees?  Well it seems to. 

We set the anchor one way but then the boat moves.  This makes for an unhappy pam at night unless we set an anchor watch. When we were first doing this we set out watch at about 30 feet so we knew when the boat was ready to swing.  This made for a crazy Ben.  I say that cuz happy wife is happy life. (thanks Gary vikesland for that saying I use it all the time… well when I need to.) So he is the one that checks the anchor at night.  He can fall asleep at the drop of a hat and me… well if I get up… then I’m up for hours afterwards.  I have taken my shift at running outside just once.

Although now we are getting used to anchoring and also used to what to set the anchor at.  Oh wait add a few strong winds going the opposite of the current and you have interesting swinging boat.  What would you think is stronger a 1 knot current or a 15 knot winds?  Which direction wins?  The current most always.  Normally without currents we set the boat into wind and anchor and we stay there most of the night but rivers are a challenge cuz the current is stronger.

This morning we got up a little late 6:30am, a much needed half an hour. I motored for the first 5 hours while Ben made the coffee.  We motored through a big expanse of water but yet could still only stay in the channel.  I was moroting at high tide so it was a good motoring for me.  Ben is doing well … I have not felt any hit yet.

Tonight we will anchor in Fort Pierce inlet somewhere. I have gotten a lot of work stuff done this afternoon and a little blogging… im excited for movie and popcorn night tonight!!! That will be fun and yummy!

We plan to be at our destination tomorrow… then my dad will pick us up on Sunday and we will play with him for 2 days then it is home for the holidays.!!!

I missed out on a turkey dinner so Im sure we will have you all over for thanksgiving!

Today same old story… dolphins, birds of all kinds, motoring past big houses small houses retirement homes, marshes and more marshes except today it was a bit warmer but rainy and cloudy 48-50 degrees is colder than 44 in the sun! BUT tomorrow it’s suppose to be in the 60! Are we in florida yet???

pictures!!

National Geographic Here He Comes! Ben's photos are amazing!

ICW has it’s own beauty.  If we were on the outside sailing we would not see anything except water, a few birds, cargo ships, fishing vessels and a few small boats and possibly a dolphin or two.  The outside would have been too cold for me to enjoy… or so I think.  29 degrees and wind and wet is very cold – the wind chills were in the 15s, so I’m glad we just been motoring on down the ICW.  I have stooped to using hand warmers and they are worth their gold for my fingers! On my off break I put the warmers in my socks to warm my toes!

Today was a day of “warmer” weather, we woke up at  6am (that’s 5am your time just to let you all know)… it was 33 degrees and too cold to want to get out from under the very warm down sleeping bags for sure! 

I pulled up the anchor this time as I watched the sunrise.  Our first bridge we missed by a few minutes so we had to wait 20 minutes for the next one.  Oh well, we’ve been pretty good so far.  I’m getting the hang of bridges… although some bridge masters are super nice and flexible and some are not. Some will wave to you as you go by and some will not. Some will tell you to hurry along and some will not. Some wish you a nice day and some do not. The majority of bridge masters are nice. I could do that job!  I’d wave as they passed and yell out the window, “Have a nice day! Ya’all come back now ya hear!” no they don’t have the southern accent in Florida. That was my impression of Jed Clampet from Beverly Hillbillies…

(here is an out of sequence comment… right now Ben is making supper! I’ve made breakfast and lunch so it is his turn… although he would rather fast than make supper I know he is making it for me!)

Today we motored past beauty all around us and the most that shown was the birds!! Birds of every kind! So many pelicans of different colors! An eagle, osprey, egret, herons, seagulls, king fisher, just to name a few!  The pelicans are so novel to us… how many pelicans do we have in Minnesota? Ben has great footage of them flying. Today we took out the camera cuz our fingers were not so frozen – finally during the day it got up to 50! Warm enough for taking pictures.

We also saw a rocket being launched!  Exciting, right from cape Canaveral! The space center.  The rocket was called the falcon 9 and it was made by a private company SpaceX.  It was like someone was reflecting a mirror in the sky at first, then we could see more details as it raced passed.  The rocket jets were a big flame following the rocket.  Well  you can google it I’m sure… seeing it from our boat in the water was exciting but doesn’t make for a good blog.

We motored by places that looked like a jungle of trees lining the fairway with herd or murders of birds everywhere!

Now there are the dolphins that I almost touched! Ben got a picture.  Then we switched helmsmen and he got to try and touch one too but the camera had a dead battery so just imagine Ben reaching out to touch a dolphin too!  For a while I went to the bow and waved at them as they chattered and squeaked noises.  They would look up at me and I’d wave and they would do cute tricks like one at a time they would go ahead and jump up in the air… it truly was just like being at the zoo! I squealed too with excitement.  We helped each other be more happy for the day! Not that I was not happy mind you. It was just a day-brightener.

Oh here comes supper: clam chowder and brown bread from a can. I better go…. Chomp chomp chomp! I made oatmeal for breakfast and leftover spaghetti, sausage and cheese on crackers, carrots, grapes, clemintine and whatever else had just a few bits left… we ate.

WE did not go aground today! We had plenty of anchorages to pick from (that makes for a happy Pam! Cuz if you can’t stop at night what do you do? Sometimes your gps is correct and sometimes it is as much as 60 feet off, then you would really run aground!) Ben kept all the red markers to our starboard… I know it is hard to see them when the sun is always shining in ones face!

That’s all I hope you enjoy the pictures! I have !  wait till you see some of the movies with dolphins and bridges!

Blessed are we with the abundance all around us! Humbled….Pam

12-7-10 dolphins and sand bars

Today started out at 6am… brrr cold again… we happily had a tail wind or a favorable current most of the day.

I charted our course for the day the night before.  I had a route for 45 miles and then for 60 cuz there was nothing in between to anchor at. So we either stop early afternoon 2ish or we go till 5ish.  We got to the 45 miles at 1:30 plenty of time to continue on.

First let me say I did motor in the morning and take my due shift in the coldest part of the day while Ben made the coffee. Brrr I was glad to be on the inside the icw!

Ben is the designated motor cuz machines and man go together naturally… well for some guys and I think Ben is included in this stereotype.  I’ve  seen the way he throws the throttle into fast and reeves up the engine. I’ve seen how he likes to power us off the sand bars/shoals.

Now for some fun… I’m going to make Ben blog and I will type his recollection of the day’s events.

I am now Ben…. No Ben is Ben and I’m his secretary…

“That’s just silly… people will read this and think it is just silly…

…oh I’m being recorded… well the first time I got stuck today it totally was not my fault. The sailboat in front of us had his sail out and he was coming toward us or what looked like it was coming toward us … he was on the pink line on the chartplotter so I thought I would pass him port to port so as I moved to the starboard I realized it was getting shallower and I grounded and the bouy that was shining in the sun was RED and could not tell cuz of the sun… I thought it was green…  yeah… a mistake anyone would make oh by saying it was a mistake I guess that means it was my fault after all but oh well we got right off. No harm done… maybe a little less bottom paint.

But the second time we got stuck on a sand bar… I should have known better to have gone so far out of the channel or near the edge but I was moving over to allow a big motor trawler to pass and I still had the green bouy to my port.  But it was too late…

But it was fortunate to be stuck for a few hours cuz then we got to see all of the things that swim and fly by us… like pods and pods of dolphins leaping out the water, surfacing for breath, splashing around and making a fine ruckus fishing for their suppers… oh and storks and seagulls and all the other sea birds were also beautiful as they flew by us!

And the tide got us off the sand bar just fine and we are safe and snugg just fine all happy ready for spaghetti and bed… after we play family feud online.  That’s it.”

And there you have Ben’s story… finally…I’m glad I typed this up for him cuz my recollection might have been a bit different like he says about my blogs they are 80% right as my view goes.  Ha ha ha

Love  you all sleep well.

Pam n Ben

dec 6th Happy birthday David Evans!

Being away from friends it is hard to not see them on birthdays.  Know that my thoughts and happiness goes with you all day long and into the future! Much love

Our day started again at 6:00am. that has been the schedule. We get up before the sun... pull up anchor... start motoring by 6:30am... Ben is the new designated motor man through mud...

this morning we got up and I thought I could start motoring so he could make the coffee.  he makes better coffee.  so I pull out and the chartplotter says i'm in the middle of the channel the markers look like i'm on the edge but still I should get through...NOPE  grrrr stuck aground again! we got off quickly so far all our groundings and yes Ben grounds too he just thinks it more fun than i do.  we got off mostly cuz the tide was rising and we did not plough through we just lightly bumped into the shoal which are EVERYWHERE!

needless to say you know my thoughts about shoals and rivers.  all in all the day went great. picture this...

me at the wheel with tunes cranked loud and dancing in the cockpit to keep warm when all of a sudden I feel like I'm being watched... sure enough... a motor boat has snuck up behind me... he hails me and laughs as he says, "Im going to pass you by on your port - smile" as he passed I waved knowing he had been watching me dance for a while... oh well a day brightener I'm sure....

we were at day marker 735 we made it to 785... not bad we could have gone further if we can find anchorages! it is so hard.  the channel is just that a channel if you go a little outside of the channel you are in less than 5 feet... the night before we do a lot of homework...

check the bridge height and times they open... then time the trip taking into consideration the current... sometimes we travel 5 knots an hour if we keep our engine at 2000 RPMs that is a happy motor where we get 1/3 - 1/2 a gallon per hour... if we go 3000 RPMs we use a gallon per hour!!! eek!!! sometimes the water speed is 5knots but our gps speed is only 2.5knots per hour due to the current against us and the reverse is true sometimes we fly at 7.5 or more...!!! if you go one hour and the brdige is 5 nautical miles away 5 knots is perfect but if the current is on your nose then it will take you 2 hours!!!

Today during one of my shifts, I motored through St Augistine very beautiful city and a cute little bridge.  That was timed perfect we arrive at 1:30pm... it was pure luck due to the currents.  on the way to the bridge I was flying at 8.3 knots due to the current then once you hit an inlet from the ocean now you are going the opposite way the current is adn then I was going 2.5 just crawling!

WE had a place marked out on the map where we thought we could anchor. it said 7-12 feet.  so we ventured in and got stuck! it is so frustrating for me... does not seem to bother Ben... give him mud over seasickness.  So we went further but on the map there was absolutely no place to anchor for the next 15 miles and we would not make that before dark. so we went back to a place we thought might work and it did... or so we think... i'll let you kjnow tomorrow if we get grounded or we drift away during the night.  we will have the anchor watch on... i sleep better and Ben the first rate mate we will get up at 2:30am after the tide and current change to see which direction our boat will be and to make sure our anchor is still good with the new direction we will be facing.

after getting stuck this morning i decided that I'd rather make coffee and so I did.  it's not as good as Ben's of course, he is the coffee master!

tonight ended with wifi and work and soon to beat Ben in cribbage. last night I crushed him in rummy 500 but he came back with backgammon and won by one shake of the dice! we had the doubling cube up to 64 games so he took the night in style.

good night all.

dec 2-5th Highlight Dolphins!!!

First let me say... thanks werner for all of your comments. I will keep you updated on our trip.  thanks to all the others that make comments on my email.  I know most of you can't comment on this blogspot cuz it won't let you for some reason.  I am the same way with another blog I was reading and could not comment on it too.  anyway it is heart warming knowing that you all read about our travels.  this next blog might get technical about the winds and direction and sailing but hang in there cuz dolphins are in this longggg blog of 3 days worth.

Plans, what is that in sailing? (12-2-10 thru 12-5-10)

The weather talked about 10-15k winds and tonight gusting to 20k. ha ha there has not been a gust over 3k.  we are going along the coastline at a very nice motor I might add.  Not that I like to motor but the other option is to sit here and not that I wouldn’t mind sitting here if it was sunny and 70 but since the cold front is really cold on the water… I thought 42 was cold… tonight I will tell you how 28 is. As of now it is 43 and I am down below cuz I was getting cold and it is Ben’s turn to sail for a while or motor. 

It seems like we will motor to Savannah GA an  unexpected stop due to no wind and we are motoring that means we have to watch our consumption. The only thing with that is there is no gas gauge. No “out of fuel” warning not even a “warning fuel low”  on this boat it just stops. Stopping out here might not be so good unless we had wind and even if we did it would be difficult to sail into some of the ports since they are on a river.  Long story short we will tuck into Savannah and buy fuel there and then either ICW or atlantic depending on the weather.

Our fuel tanks are not square; they are an odd shape.  They are molded to fit in the back and since we have a boat like a big canoe – a double ender – it is in that shape. So the tank is smaller at the bottom then opens up bigger.  We measure the fuel by dipping in a long stick that has marks on it. We can see… oh we are half the way down in the tank but that does not mean half the way down cuz the tank is big at the top and small at the bottom… so is half on the stick mean 1/3 of a tank left or ¼ of a tank? Whos-ta-know?  This next time we fill up we are going to pour in 5 gallons than mark the stick then pour in 5 more etc… this should help us.

Just before I came down here Ben and I were eating oatmeal and he noticed some splashing!  Yes we had 4 DOLPHINS!!! playing in our wake at the bow of the boat!  I have been waiting my sailing career to see this! Finally! It was so cool and they stayed and played for about 20 minutes or more. I waved and yelled hi and hoot and hollered with total excitement… now santa does not have to bring me anything for Christmas this year cuz I have already got my Christmas present… dolphins… who could want more? Not me!

Those dolphins were so cute! Check seeing dolphins off on my bucket list of sailing. I have sailed with the whales and now with the dolphins.  This whole trip so far we have had dolphins grace our presence once a day or so. None so spectacular than dolphins jumping around the boat… swimming side by side… playing in the waves… playing next to the bow… they look at you… they look this way and that!  They are small yet musclular. They make cute noises. AND they smile like I am now and will for the rest of my days as I remember dolphins.

What’s on your bucket list? Whales, dolphins? My next sailing bucket list to see is fish jumping in the boat so I don’t have to go fishing… I hear they just jump in the cockpit.  I can’t wait!

It is 5:30pm, sun just set. I’m going to get shut eye since my shift will be freezing in 4 hours… Ben and I agreed that if the person on duty was cold they just have to tell the other one.  So I don’t know how long this will be… and I don’t know how long I will last when it is my turn but for now… I’m going to get some shut eye!

12-3-10

Well once night came so did the winds! So we changed our ideas and we decided to get as much out of the NW blow as possible.  We think we have 30 hours in our fuel tank to motor if needed.

The night was cold but not too cold.  Well I was cold but not freezing it was about 42 but this time it was not raining and the winds were about 15k. I thought as I shivered do I like to shiver and be cold better than this past summer where I was so hot and miserable??? Hummm I pondered that questions for a good part of the night. One has to think and perseverate about something while keeping oneself awake.  And after my long dialogue in my head… for the life of me I can’t tell you which is worse or what answer I came up with… if any.  They have their plus and minuses.

So we changed our course due to the winds were good and strong so we went on a nice beam which slowly had us going out to sea a bit which was fine since we would be in a direct line to Jacksonville our first goal. 

During the night what was supposed to stay NW for a few days started turning west. That was ok all the next day until late afternoon the winds started going more SW now we were being slowly pushed out to sea and no longer could we keep our heading to Jacksonville.  The winds started to pipe up to 22k.  We were about 25 miles out we pulled into wind more and more until now we were 35 miles out. Ok now this is not what we wanted but NOAA kept saying West winds… I wish they were out with us cuz they were SW winds.

Decision time… we tack and go a little backwards and get no where or we keep going further out to sea in hopes that NOAA will be right the winds will go back to w or NW…

The weather did not seem it was going to change. I was sailing almost into wind the winds got bigger and stronger.  Ben came on shift. Now we wanted to get back to shore that means west and the winds were west south west. The winds kept building to 25-28.  It was too windy so Ben, being the best first mate there is, he set out to reef.  I offered like I always do – half heartedly – I have done it.  He knew I really did not want to.  (my rain gear is super heavy on my body, it is cumbersome and hard to even step up with my bib overalls on. I have boots that are slippery. When I have my jacket on the collar comes up to my eyes and I can’t see really right or left without moving my head which is hard to do due to the stiffness of it all. It is hard to even pick my nose with all that clothing on.  Oh and guess how many layers I have underneath?  Just guess… count for yourself: underwear, think long underwear, silk long underwear, black stretch pants, jeans, flannel pants, bib overalls!! Yes 7 layers… imagine going pee!!! So Going and reefing was not first on my list…. Later I discussed it with Ben that next time I would reef but I would take off my foul weather gear and then I could move and be more responsively to the boats bucking and lurching.)

So anyway this time he went up… it is dark… all I see upfront is his head light glowing… my job is to keep the boat into the wind in such a way that the boom does not surprise him.  He did an excellent job! I have to say that is the scariest part of sailing is reefing and I don’t even reef 99% of the time.  Ben came back into the cockpit. It was hard to figure our sail configuration… too much sail with the jib and main. So we pulled in the jib.  Then we did not have enough sail. The winds were piping hot and we were only going a few knots. So ben set out to put up the small sail. Which again I half heartedly said I could.

It was done and the sail set was as best as we could get.  We were headed in the right direction and we made 1 mile in 4 hours! The other thing is now it was Ben’s shift and he had just gotten sea sick and lost his supper. Usually steering helps the side effect lesson. I had just spent 4 hours being cold and needed sometime.  So he half heartedly said he could sail for a while. 

I was now in the exhaustion sleeping mode.  The first day I can’t really sleep well… but by the second night I am ready for my shift to end so I could rest! I was physically exhausted, cold and tired.  I knew the sail set was the best we could do and it was just a matter of time or having the wind change to be more favorable.

I was cold and sleepily as I could be.  The 2 hours flew by even though I was aware of the jumps and changes of the boats response.  I came up and asked if Ben needed a break or should I take a normal 4 hour.  He was way ready to be done.  I felt refreshed. Ok a little groggy but refreshed by the quality of sleep.

Before we retreated… we listened to the weather NOAA finally they changed their minds… ok they really changed their minds.  Now there is a SW gale headed for us! (that means 25-35k winds or 30-40 miles per hour winds) we were trying to get to shore but still 35 miles out and still only moving 1 mile every 4 hours.  Welp there is nothing we can do but keep ondoing what we are doing.

Ben was too tired and sick and exhausted to stay up anymore.  I was glad to take over… I don’t mind a strong wind if the sails are right. I don’t mind big seas either – they are kinda fun. It was getting warmer with that wind coming and it was 48 degrees or so.

Each of us on our watches and together combed the coast for a place to enter.  There are rivers and outlet/inlets but most of the charts say, “Only pass if you have local knowledge”  what is that! Anyway there was another guy stuck out with us but he was way closer to shore. Ben and I had already decided we would be one more night outside and get in as day light permitted and as the winds would permit. We heard him on the radio at like 10am talking to “sea-tow”… I listened in. (brilliant!) He asked if anyone there had local knowledge of the passage way he was thinking about taking.  What a great idea! The guys from sea-tow are the guys that pull boats off of the shoals and rocks that run aground. I will use that knowledge when we need it.

Finally during the night the winds changed just a bit to NW to W to NW to W to S… we kept on.  The winds were just right to get us to shore – finally – ahead of the gale winds. 

Both Ben and I were happy to be tucked safe and sound on a dock in GA, st. simon island. We also just happened to be there on their xmas party night were everyone gets free food and drinks.  We were hungry and tired and ready for bed after a nice warm shower.

What a nice surprise. Now we are back in the ICW it is super low tide and I just got done running aground on my shift – give me strong winds and no where to go than a river at low tide!  (Ben disagrees – he would rather take his chances on a river at low tide and just bump into a sand bar and then get pulled off with the tide than to be out in the wild sea – sea sick and stuck in the same place. He also commented that if you get stuck on the sand here atleast you are not seasick and you feel  much happier)

Now to find an anchorage on a river and to send this out.

Oh to get in the Christmas mood we have bought egg nog and played xmas tunes while sailing. I miss Christmas cookies!!!

wednesday at port 12-1-10

Wednesday

We slept so well! I’ve been having the worst pains in my stomach area… well under my ribs… like stabbing pains when I lay down.  I’ll go to the dr when we get home… I have no clue except that it keeps me awake at night but last night I slept all the way through with out any pain!! Finally.

Anyway on to our day…

We got up late! Nice! Then ventured to the prayer meeting.  The pastor asked us if we speak in tongues.  Nope. But we can pray.  He didn’t seem to acknowledge our form of prayer the kind acceptable to God… or so that was my understanding of him? I could be wrong.  So this was the first time I experienced lots of loud voices sounding like morse code: ba ba la la mo ba la la over and over again… it is hard to concentrate when loud shouts and chanting is all around you walking around… but I settled into the noise as Ben and I silently prayed our form of prayers and meditated the way we know.

Afterwards we all shared a meal together. It was a difference experience one I have to think upon… I still connected with the God, Creator that I know. It’s just that I was the odd ball.  Which I can deal with.  I wonder what they thought of our quite ways. God comes to people in whispers as well as from thunder.

Back to nautical thoughts:

Weather is going to be COLD for us.  There is a north wind the kind we would like to have for  a few day coming!  Here is the next weather window to go on the outside again.  Tomorrow we will leave here in the sunrise and make it to little river inlet… we asked the locals if a 6 foot draft can make it through and if it was clearly marked.  He positively said that is the best inlet to go out on.  Ah Ha! Local knowledge --- Check. J

Thursday winds changing from SW to W to NW – 15-20 gust to 25, seas 3-5

Friday N winds 10 - 15

Saturday NW going to SW  10 – 15k (we don’t want SW but it should only be for 12 hours)

Sun N winds 10 -15 seas 2-3

Looks like the window to make 300 miles outside? The only kicker… the temp will be 26-45 degress.  Brrr remember the picture of me on my face book? That was 42 degrees – raining – dark and I was cold.  I guess I’ll use more hand warmers this time.

Today is funny watching Ben bulk up food for the trip.  Since he gets sick and mostly does not eat for 2 days while we are out in the seas he is a bottomless pit today devouring everything in site and does not get full.  He is preparing for more days at sea. We all prepare a little differently.

ICW day 2... 11-30-10

Yesterday’s boring events:

This time we set out with knowledge of how to navigate through the ICW.  First of all our all precious charts that cost a lot of money… worthless except to tell you where you are… there are no anchoring notations… no water guesses as to the depth (The charts just say see note C for depths: Shoals can arise at unpredictable times, we recommend you do not enter, only go through if you have local knowledge of the passages. What are you supposed to do with that. Some places are 16 feet deep why not put that down?)

The chart plotter has a path in white marked out for us to follow… all well and good but still no anchor places, no depths off the beaten track, and here’s the kicker… the white path is supposed to be the best path to follow because we update our chartplotter with the newest information… so what do you really follow a gps signal or do you follow the green and red markers?  Sometimes the red marker is not even close to the path marked on the chartplotter sometimes the green marker is in the middle of the path, sometimes it seems are gps is 30 feet to the east of what we sight on the shore… all confusing!  In two days we have seen 2 boats in the mud off of the channel and one boat we heard her come on channel 16 (the distress channel) and say she was inside the green marker and still she ran aground.  The person responding on the VFH said something like yup we have shoals that just happen…

All of this talk does not make for a calm ride down the ICW… given all of that… I did have a sweet ride due to the fact we had our course planned to the best of our ability, we tried to guess the currents, we tried to time the bridges and it was s beautiful day to boot.

We ended up at the place we set out to end at. Holden Beach Marina. We are on the gas dock just inside the channel.  The forecast for Wednesday was Thunderstorms and 20-30 Knot winds and even tornados watches were in effect, needless to say I sided on the side of safety to stay one more day and wait out the storms… I don’t mind rain but thunder and tornado watches… well I say no more…

Once we arrived at the dock Ben and I went exploring in the dark as usual.  We love our explore time at each port and this was no different.  We went walking till we came across a grocery store and could not help but get a few comfort food items namely ice cream.  As we sat under the eves out of the pouring rain we ate our ice cream and talked with a cashier on her break time.

The rain kept pouring so with our groceries in our hands we walked back (about 1 mile) on the way back we ended up walking by a sign “Jesus is a Live” service 7pm Tuesdays.  Well it just happened to be 6:50pm on Tuesday. Sooo we stopped…

Picture this… I have not showered for 6 days… better yet I have not brushed my hair for two days… why brush it when I just keep it in braids… we are wearing our heavy rain gear jacket… we are soaked in the legs… I have on my rubber boots… I have my ski headband on my head so as to not show too much greasey hair but I know that in the back of my head is a snarly mess. I was fine if we sat in the back row so no one could see us.  I have more appreciation for those that come to places not dressed in the normal attire.

As we sat in the back we realized that we were in for a fiery service complete with speaking in tongues before the service even started the pastor was in the back room preparing for his sermon by speaking in tongues.

The room was a mix of all kinds and we didn’t quite fit in… or at least that was my feeling yet I was there to praise God so it can’t be wrong since the sign said Jesus is a live.

We sang songs at a high spirited level way over the top for conservative Lutherans but not over the top for my spiritual insides.  I like clapping and dancing and praising the Lord.

At the end the pastor picked us out to come forward so he could pray for us… oh boy… I was very self conscience of how I looked but I had to let that go cuz I am who I am and I look how I look. While he was praying… I was listening to his words and he said some quite insightful things about Ben and I that were right on… I had to think the prayer was from God to us and not just from this guy.  I tryied to put aside all of my worriness of how I looked and my assumptions of what people thought and I concentrated hard on his words… his words were true to my heart…

Last summer I was reading a book on how do you know if God is talking to you or not?  He stated that God will talk to you through many people to confirm what God ahs already told you and that is an indication that God is speaking to you… You know when people say, “God told me this…” I wonder did God really tell you this or did you tell you that? The guy also said don’t tell others what God told you until 3 other people have told you what God has told you then you can be pretty sure it is from God.  God speaks your language and He will keep speaking to you until you hear it.

So I really listened to the pastor prayer.  Then he invited all of us to a prayer meeting on Wednesday at noon.

We ended our night battening down the hatches waiting for a big storm. And zzzzzzzz to bed.

ICW 11-29-10

IntraCoastal Water Way (ICW)

Well when you can’t get south in the Atlantic cuz it gives you strong south winds and storms then you go on the inside.  And when you need repairs you go on the inside. What is the ICW? It is a dredged canal that expands from Norfolk VA all the way around Florida and thru Texas to the Mexican border.  In the old days they would ship cargo and stuff during the wars.  It is still used today by many Snow birds boating to florida on their way to warmer waters i.e. Bahamas, such as we would like to go to this winter also.

The ICW… seems easy and as we left today I felt like… wow motoring is boring… it is not like sailing when you are sailing… thinking of wind, speed, direction, watching and riding the wave etc… Welp I was wrong – darn – I thought I would get a lot of work done today… not a chance… once again a huge learning curve was had.

People tell me… watch for the currents… watch the bridges… why do they tell me this when all that means nothing to me until I experience it. 

I love a good plan. Our previous owner to Cricket was a huge planner and he showed us his planning for going down the St. Lawrence sea way from MN through the great lakes and pop out to the east coast. Now that was amazing.

This morning Ben and I, ignorant as the green ICW travelors, set out to enjoy the day… If someone tells me something I might get their drift… if I have to read about something then it just bounces in and out of my brian with little comprehension but if someone shows me it or if I have to learn it on my own then amazing learning is accomplished… sometimes that curve has hard lessons learned.

Today we thwarted a lesson that might have us taken to a bridge at the wrong time in the night with no where to anchor. Phew! Thank heaven for nudges and redoing my first try at navigation. 

Ben’s job today was driving… seems simple? This canal is small and tight.  We saw a boat stuck in the mud… they must have missed the mark.  Our heading line on the chartplotter is 20 degrees off … grrrr.  And we have reset that once and it stays for about 5 minutes…. Grrr oh well.  So Ben had a good job.

We had dolphins along the way greet us and actually now at anchor they are around the boat we can hear them splash and spurt air out of their blow hole. So cute all worth the days work…

I had looked at the charts briefly and it looked simple (first assumption – wrong). Ben did some previous night calculations and it looked simple to him too.

We set out… as we went. I wrote down all the bridges we would pass.  Some were 65 feet we can get under and some were 12 feet or 20 feet.  They only open on the half hour or the hour.  Ahhh timing them.  We get that… speed up or slow down to time it.  Call the bridge master and ask if they see us and can we make it by the time.  The masters vary in flexibility. The bridge controlled by the Marines said, “we open at 2pm if you are not here by 2:01 you will have to wait a half an hour.” (by the way! He did not open the bridge until 2:03!!!) The next guy was jolly and fun and he would wait up to 5 minutes if we needed.  Now we get the timing issue.

Next I asked Ben where he thought we would anchor since he was the lead navigator the night before. (I would have done the same)  Nope he did not know.  It is deceiving cuz it is a long canal but around you is plenty of room to anchor… nope… try again… it looks good but it is only 3-7 feet of water if you get off track out of the canal. 

I spent all day and I mean all day looking for an anchorage.  When I think I found one I would read in our worthless ICW book and it would say… “don’t anchor here there are shoals and shifting sands underneath”  needless to say we did not anchor there.

As I looked I found a place that was far down we would get there in the dark… i.e. no one we have talked to travels the ICW in the dark it is too narrow. But it seems possible if we just watch our chart plotter… (mistake #2… cuz we saw a person in the mud on the way)… but here we were stuck with no place to anchor…

… so we trudged on down the ICW just like you keep on paddling in the BWCA if you don’t find a campsite, but then I was reading in the ICW book and it said, “this is the last marina to stop at if you think you will not make the Wrightville bridge.”  What ?  where? What bridge? I had it on my list of bridges but I thought our last stop was before that bridge not after.  I’m so glad I read that! It tipped me off to relooking.  Sure enough we would have been there at 8:30 in the dark with no place to anchor and have to go back 30 miles…

then we were talking to our Mentor sailors Darrell and Nancy.  Darrell said call the marinas and ask if you can anchor infront of their marina.  So I combed the marinas on the way down… I called and this nice guy answered and suggested a place only a few miles down.  We could make it in the twilight! AHH this took me all day to find and research!!!

I mean all day.  I fretted and worried about not having a place to stay … then thinking about anchoring in the dark somewhere if there was a place etc… what a worry-some day for me.  But not Ben… he felt fully confident that I would find a place to anchor… “it will all work out” he just had to drive today and it was a beautiful drive and he was not seasick once! That is a good day for him! He was happy not being seasick! Ha ha

Now tomorrow Ben has a plan! While he was planning the next day I was working and catching up on work and emails. Thanks Ben! It took him 2 hours to plan our next day which took me 6 hours. It took Ben 2 hours cuz he has already experienced the ICW today and knew what to look for on the charts. We hope we can anchor in the river he found.? We’ll see!!!

That was my day.  Uffda! I thought it was going to be easy.  Well here’s to tomorrow being boring and for me to enjoy the scenery. 

peace

Pam

11/27/10 2 days at sea and a visit from a dragon

BAMM!  Zing!

Winds were 20-25knots, Waves 3-5 feets, 48 degrees and sailing happily then like I said, BAMM, Zing and we have a wild metal headed dragon flinging wildly blowing in the wind and trying to crash anything in its sight.  Well maybe not a dragon but it might as well have been.  Our jib (the big sail in the front of the boat that is about 60 feet tall and 20 feet or more at the foot)let loose and was attached at the mast top and a few lines but the bottom was flapping furiously with a whipping action. Ben went forward at which point I started the engine and put her on auto pilot so I could “help” Ben muscle through.  It looked bad from my view and there was no way I’d get in there like Ben.  so I was trying to think how to tame the dragon with out getting stitches in my head (which I did not get any stitches no one got hurt luckily, or should I say Praise the Lord)

All Ben could do was subdue the beast by hanging on tight with his big muscles, oh and that was after he had to try and catch a fast flying cable with a metal connector. There, Ben was sitting down with this big long cable that attached to our Harken furling.  Luckily again or blessed again we were happy to have a second forestay (two front cables that attach to the mast and to the boat so the mast is held up tight) anyway it was good that our mast did not fall down… well we have 4 of those cables in the middle of the deck that attach to the mast so things would be likely the mast would not fall down.  What a scary thought if it did.

Now that Ben had the dragon in his hands… now what?  The sail is so big and ridged. It is bulky and hard to move.  The sail started falling into the water as we continued on auto pilot.  We knew we did not want the sail in the water it would be impossible to get back out! So I started pulling in whatever I could muscle up.

We looked at each other and we could feel each others wheels turning in our heads as to what to do next…  then it came to both of us… let’s tie this cable down with a line to the  bowsprit. I ran and got whatever we needed… I walked the plank there matie… ok I crawled on the plank to run the line from the dragon to the end of the plank or bowsprit.  All while the boat was a bucking bronco. Success.

Ben lashed down the angry creature.  Phew! That took a very long time.  It’s like you hear about or see in the movies… boat blows cotter pin and unleashes fury.  The dragon did crash out one of our running lights, but all in all amazing no injuries and we got to get going again but this time under motor. Oh one more detail to tie up… what did we do with 60 feet of sail? Ben started lashing it to the deck and I yelled in the strong winds, “you start motoring back and I’ll lash.” Why you might ask? I know that Ben has only a short amount of time on the bowspirt without loosing his lunch and he had that look on his face.  He was happy to go and motor but the sea sickness still got a hold of him.  Poor guy. I let him take as long a rest and shut eye as needed to feel a little back to normal.

Now it is getting dark… we were so happy that broke in the day.  If that was at night??? What would we have done?  The question is did we have too much sail out for the winds?  The boat seemed to sail perfect with just jib alone.  Although for those of you that know about slow big fat boats such as Cricket – our hull speed is 8 knots but one time during the night I hit 11.1 knots!!! Yes on the gps speed.  It was a funny story too cuz it was my first night shift this time back and the seas were about 6 feet maybe more? Anyway… I had a hoot watching a big wave coming nearer and I sat on the helm and stared striaight into the waves curls – face to face- and then tried to get the boat to ride down the wave.  I hit a few perfect. I was a kid on a rollercoaster or a kid in the BWCA paddling a canoe with wind behind.  Yahooooooo! I wanted to yell but Ben was sleeping and I did not want to wake him thinking that I was hanging half in and half out of the boat.  So I was quiet.  During my watch Ben could not sleep cuz he was worried that I was having a tough time sailing and that the waves might be too much to handle… etc… He told me that and I laughed – I wanted to yell but I thought that might scare you.  He laughed I think a yahoo would have made me less worried.  Here you have Ben worrying again.  Wow he is becoming a captain after all.  His boys trip has definitely changed his thinking for the better..

I am pooped! We made it to Portside Marina in NC.  This marina is like going home.  This kind man named Denard met us in the morning. He smiled and laughed when he told us he saw our Furling all bent up.  He told us we were not the only ones these past few days with all the high seas and wind that others too have past this dock with needing repairs.

To way back up…

We left Yorktown after having a great thanksgiving! We surprised Becca and Jason with our presences.  Jason had coast guard duty so could not be with us. So it was great we went to visit him at work. Becca was going to be alone with the kids… So we went to the grocery store and bought turkey pot pies and made pumpkin pie! We played games and had a great time!

Friday we waited for the weather to turn from south to west and we made our escape out of Yorktown out the Chesapeake and to the atlantic! Just like old times except there are way way way fewer boats!!  I love that when sailing at night.  The winds piped up and away we went.  I even slept pretty good the first time… well as good as one can when you only have 4 hours to prepare food, eat, and get in and out of all my layers and layers of clothing. I slept about 2 or 3 hours each of my 2 shifts off.  Then next night as we had to motor I could not sleep, the winds were relentless and now we had to buck a head wind to get to port.  We went slower than a slow walk about 1 to 2 miles per hour a normal walk is about 3mi/hr.

It was painful and it was a test of patience! But no sleep could I get in those waves and loud engine and toss in a little worry – we made it to port about 10 am we had just spent from 4pm to 10 am motoring in winds and waves.  We were happy to get a port.

We got hooked up with a guy names Paul he is a sail maker, rigger, racer, and boat maker.  He was happy to come out and help us.  He taught us all we know about Harken Furling! We actually got it back together and working!!

And now it is finally time to sleeeeeeeeep!

11-24-10 deltaville to yorktown

11-24-10

Hi All,

Today we left Deltaville and sailed to Yorktown.  What a wonderful day! Stiff winds behind us made for a fast sail.  Let me back up our day…

We have been stalking noaa weather to make sure it would be a good day to sail. 

We got up late about 8am… did chores… put everything in its place in the boat since we knew we would be rockin and rollin with the waves… I heard the boat in the slip next to us making weird noises and their lines had gotten fowled so I hopped on their boat as I would hope if ours was bad someone would hop on our boat and we fixed their stressed lines and bow pulpit… as we were ready to depart a boat sailed to the dock and I asked if they would like us to assist them in docking… it was windy and they gladly accepted the help… then we got to talking like we always do… I said we got to get going as captains always do…

Here is the funny part… while I was gone home and Ben sailed from Maine to VA… Ben turned into a captain… our roles were reversed… funny very funny… as we were leaving Deltaville… well it is a tough hair pin turn and easy to run aground… I was driving and Ben was a pleasant back seat driver (just how I am to him)… yup normally when he drives I say things like… you can make your screen closer so you see more detail.. but this time he said that to me – not only that but he made the screen bigger… then as I was going through the channel I was looking at this and that cuz I have been there before… normally he would be doing that and I would be nervous saying watch… but now he was asking me to watch and I happily replied with what he would have told me… I got it… yup I see it… etc… I was now laughing cuz our roles have switched…

It felt good to hear him worry – or be aware of – the things that I usually am aware of but not sure if he is aware of them… now he wondered if I was aware of them… well that makes two of us totally aware… nice.. co-captians is great for us… but we all know when it comes to decisions… a happy wife is a happy life so I might get the last word in depending on the situation…

the temp today was 45 degrees. I was in my super duper windproof foul weather gear bibs and jacket. I can say I was never chilly or cold, my toes got a little cool. Ben on the other hand had a reversed role again... he was ca ca ca cold and shivering a bit although like a guy he did not admit he was cold.  silly guy. he also might have had to get ride of some ballast in his stomach as he got his sea legs... poor guy... always in good spirits though.

It has been  nice to see Ben advocate for the ICW intracoastal waterway (that means taking the inside route instead of going on the atlantic side… in the old days they made many canals on the inside of the land so the cargo vessels and such could make it to florida during the war.) so hear I have Ben all excited about telling me about the winds and the waves that could be on the outside when normally he would say… welp we have to experience it sometimes why not now… experience is a wonderful thing.

We plan to be at Becca and jason’s for thanksgiving! How fun is that!!! Then Friday seems to be a rough day in NOAA land so we might wait a day and leave Saturday and we still don’t know if it will be on the inside or the outside.

Happy thanksgiving all!

Ben south of Block Island

I just popped on the www.marinetraffice.com/ais/ and there was Cricket! going 3.9 knots below block island sound about 20 miles!! yippy I can see him on AIS! that is so exciting!

He left nantucket today in the AM and timed the currents just right to go through martha's vineyard by 12:40pm and now he has a south wind (which is good for making a straight line).

Exciting news to see Cricket!

blessings Pam

Ben is in Nantucket!

Ben and Kurt are good and they are tired!

Well I have to say it sounded a little bit rough for the boys. They took the direct route which was the offshore route that NOAA said was going to be 7-9 foot seas. The first leg was a straight headwind with 10 foot seas. (that was Ben's guess at height) the wind finally turned enough today to get them more on a beam yet the winds were still a strong 30.  They were reefed one down and used only the small staysail and they were fighting the weather helm most of the way.  He said it was too rough to reef one more.

Both of the guys had sea sickness.  I asked Ben if it was just a little. He replied by saying he just muscled through it.  He was on the edge most of the time and could not keep food down.  poor guy! He tried to eat oatmeal and toast for breakfast and could not even keep that down.  he is now in a mooring and I asked if he ate supper yet.  He is going to wait until morning.  He is super tired after 2 nights and 3 full days of sailing he would just rather sleep.

He loved how the boat did sail great through all the wind and weather.  His foul weather gear helped but yet there were times when he was cold but not super cold. His mittens he says were not water proof at all.  The temp at night was about 45... brrrr!

tomorrow they will get their stomach and hunger back.  they plan on resting and then deciding when the next weather window will be and decide if they want to stay closer to the coast or go further out to sea.

Thanks for all the prayers and love sent to the boys while they were out at sea.
land locked,
Pam

Ben update

I have not heard from them.  If they took a direct route they should be in 7-9 foot seas bucking a head wind most of wednesday. thursday after 5 looks good for a West wind. (that is the wind we are looking for) If they took the coastal route they should be in W winds starting this evening.  My guess is that they will be to Nantucket by morning? My phone is dead so I hope he got my message to call Jason to get me! peace-out-pam

Ben update

Hi All,
Ben just left Matinicus Island in ME this morning in the AM. He will be traveling past Cape Cod to Nan Tucket. He has SW winds 10 - 20 gusts to 30 (this will be bucking a head wind). The wind should start moving to W to NW 15 - 20 winds by thursday which will be good for traveling. there is a chance of scattered rain thursday afternoon.  seas are estimated to be 2-4 foot. (Unless they go out further then the seas could get up to 8 feet.  But I think he will stay closer to shore.? All looks good from NOAA.  He is loving his new foul weather gear. I will update you when I hear from him again either thurs - saturday sometime.  it is only 167 Nautical Miles. so with perfect winds 27 hours or 2 days if a head wind the whole way. Oh and our electrical is finally fixed! I'll let you know if it is "really" fixed.
thanks for all your prayers for safety and such!
blessings to you all.

What Next?

I know I already said goodbye to you all but I have had many of you ask what next?

The boat is getting worked on in Maine.  We rented a car and are driving back home to MN.

We are stopping off to see Annie on our way.

I will be working from sept 20 - nov 20th.

Ben will drive back to Maine and sail Cricket with a few buddies to VA.  I plan on meeting him after thanksgiving to sail in the freezing cold to Florida and sail to Bahamas during Dec.  then I shall fly home in January to work a bit more depending on what is needed.

Now what about reentering the "real" world....  hummm.... well on the bright side I can use a toilet again and I don't have to aim in a bucket!  That I have enjoyed....  sleeping in a hotel is strange... the earth does not rock... the sounds don't creak and moan all night long... almost too quiet... well I might blogg about reentry once I get home for those that want to know what I do during the regular part of my life. ha ha

going to bed... zzzzz
Pam
thanks again for all your reading this past 4 months.  I can't believe it has been 4 months since I was last home.  that is the longest I have been away from home and my kids since forever! I am homesick to see my friends!!! all of you!!!

Rockland ME. Ocean Pursuits Boatyard

        Mount Desert Rock there were no whales :(  ... note the clouds coming.

        Ben with all his fowl weather gear on.  This is a picture of him and later me when we have not slept for 2 nights and are happy to not be near the lobster lines at night!!!

         tired and happy to be almost in port!

        Owls Head Lighthouse on our way in the bay to Rockland.

        Doing a bit of bright work and caulking.

          Nice work Ben!

       this is looking down our refrigerator.  It is very very deep and I can only reach it by foot.

         See it's my feet that can reach.  Bye for this year folks!! 

we are all safe and snug in this harbor just closing her up for a month while Ben and I drive home. If we can find a rental car!

So not many blogs left to write.

I scrubbed the deck today while Ben varnished and caulked a few areas that needed it badly.

I cleaned the refrigerator compartment that does not work but we store food there and it was moldy and not so gross. it is dry and clean now.

tomorrow pumpout the head... get diesel fuel topped off...

Tuesday pack up

wednesday drive home...

that's all folks...

I hoped you enjoyed the pictures and the blogs this season! It surprises me how many and who are reading the blogs.
I love you all.
Pam

hair brain idea explained

Hair Brain Idea…

What else do you have to do in the middle of the night while sailing in the… dark, cold, rain, and you are slowly being dragged further out to sea (which was a good thing)… I had to ask myself while in the thick of it… how did I get here?

Well for you faithful readers I’ll give you the life and times of a green horn captain and her thinking… should I be decaptained? I think not… this case just a little more wiser… it’s all in the learning.  The greatest lessons in life are those that one experiences.

So we can back up a bit…

Tuesday after the holiday Labor day we called 5 boatyards. We had our list. We know what we need. And we have learned a lot about boatyards and communication. We picked Oceans Pursuits in Rockland, a 45 mile sail. If we went 5 knots an hour it would take 9 hrs to get there, assuming the winds were right. (key point here… the winds were right).

Ben and I had wanted to sail to Mount Desert Rock cuz there are to be whales to be watched out there.  He said it was about 10 miles or so.  In my mind I counted 55 miles. We could have left Wednesday sailed half way, then the rest on Thursday.  Wednesday’s weather was stormy – Thursday weather looked better. Ben wanted to leave on Thursday and sail into the night out at sea then come in at early dawn.  We both knew that sailing in Miane  near the islands or coast during the  night was out of the questions but here Ben was asking if we could do that. He had a good point we would stay out far enough.

Instead of me saying what was on my mind – which is no way lobster lines at night – I thought…  Well he has a point and I’ve been really good at feeling more comfortable with sailing in different conditions – which has been good training and stretching and learning –

I also have in the back of my mind. I’m the captain and like I’m the boss at work. I try to listen to everyone. Hear their feedback. Weigh everyones thoughts and many times I let the staff decided since they do the work everyday and they know a lot more than I do about certain tasks – but when it relates to the overall picture of the business I know that I have to go with my gut (God’s nudge) cuz I’m the one that has to live with the consequences in the long term. Plus if I make a bad decision yes the staff might suffer with me in the decision but then I only have myself to blame.

I’m not pushy, or loud, or bossy nor do I make people know that I’m the boss unless it is tongue and cheek.  Same with Ben – we tease about me being captain in a good way (or so I think, you might have to ask Ben that question.) Well Ben is quick to say I am the captain.  His past jobs he has been a nurses aid, people say he should be a nurse he is so good and caring but he will tell you he does not want the responsibility and he does not want the paperwork. Then he was a paraprofessional at a HS for special ED for 17 years and he was well respected by all his peers and teachers. They would encourage him to get a teaching degree and his answer would be, “I don’t want the responsibility and the paperwork. I like the hands on work.” So it does seem natural and to us it seems natural. If you ask Ben why not be the captain he will tell you, “I don’t want the responsibility, Pam has more common sense, she is more safety conscience, I don’t like the paperwork and I’d rather just be sailing.” Those comments I would concur. We essentially do all the same things. We confer on the days happenings we hoist sails and steer. 

Interestingly enough when we started talking about Ben bringing out a crew to sail with him excitedly  asked me, “Ok, so, what do you do that now I have to do?” I was so happy that he as all ears! We made a list of things he would need to teach the crew, plus we made a list of things that I do that he doesn’t do.  This was so great cuz why can’t he do paperwork stuff too? Oh yeah he doesn’t want to know he see the honor in doing them and wants to make sure he and his crew will be safe.  Here is the list that I do as captain: I have a mental check list in my head before we take off: check the… bildge, oil, batteries, fuel filter, water strainer, I count the hours on our tank of diesel, make sure we have water, check the head, we go around and check the rigging: cotter pins (I have found one that fell off!!!! It was all good), check white tape, look for loose things on deck, in the log book I write: date, time, from place to place, wind direction speed, long-lat, weather forecast, hours on the engine to-date and anything else that will help me remember this day. If it is an overnight I keep a long-lat and write it down every so often so if we are out of gps we know our last sighting.  Ben has and does join in some of these events but I’m the one to make sure they happen. Oh I also have a list of the food on board so when we finish some stuff I cross it off so we know how much food is left too. I’m sure he thinks that might be a bit overkill.  And ultimately if I don’t feel safe going at a certain time or I don’t feel safe with out fuel filter not being replaced or … we don’t go … and Ben always has respected my decision cuz ultimately he has to live with me ha ha ha. I consider him a co-captain really – he does too – accept I have the very last say and mostly it is about safety. Oh and I really do have experience sailing 5 years on a CNC 29.

Since Ben has a bigger comfort zone of  withstanding cold… he likes more adventure, he has a stronger body, and he likes to live on the edge… he likes to do things without planning and go by the seat of his pants (this has served him well and is fun on land to do)… he likes to suggest things that I’m not ready for (and frankly I don’t think he is either but he likes to learn from mistakes – well I do to but how miserable do I want to be? My comfort zone is smaller than his but bigger than most women I know!)

Sooooo this summer I have been feeling our experience increase through rain, fog, winds, long days, many hours sailing and docking and mooring and anchoring that I’m easing up on what he would like to do as long as I still feel comfortable and it is a smart thing to do.

This request of his to sail at night was followed by … we could stay out of the area and sail the ocean at night.  I weighed the pros and cons in my head. I should have said them outloud but instead I went into my head and thought… “well he says it is only 10 miles to MDRock then 45 more if we leave at 6am we would have 13 hours of daylight and one hour of dusk. We could motor the last hour to get in faster if we needed.” So I said yes not looking at the winds. I want to make sure he makes many decisions or we make them together.  Last year I said no a lot. This year  I’ve  only had a few and have explained my no’s pretty good. He’s happy go lucky like I am so it is all good what we do.

My response to his idea was, “Sure if we leave at 6am” Which was a surprise to him that I would say that cuz we know and I know that he is not an early bird to say the least. He likes a slow morning and I like to get going. All summer we pretty much have had slow mornings so it is my turn to get up and get going.  In the back of my mind was we would make it to Rockland by sunset but I never told him that.

6am I bounced out of bed and away we went, Lesson one: don’t sail into the sun in the morning if you can avoid it.  There were two ways around a few island go east first then north to west or go west first then north to east. Oh boy, it was right in my face and that was so hard to see the lobster lines and buoys that it took along time to get through the mine field!

We set out and headed south to MDRock. I look on the chart and it really was 20 miles.  Ben looked, ooppss you are right I  measured from the closest island to MDR. Oh well.  Oh well I thought and did the math of hours hummm… look at the winds they are north west exactly the way we want to go.  This will take us double time.  At that moment I was resigned to sailing at night. BUT I should have just looked for a different port to come to at sunset – got a good night sleep then head out the next day. I thought… Ben doesn’t get much time to do things like he would want… when I should have told him my safety issues with the idea.  If I would, he would have listened and he told me he would have agreed if I would have said something.

We saw no whales but had a great sail to the rock and that day.  Here comes night….

The clouds started to roll in.  Still I’m positive about the weather. It was fun to track the clouds and try to avoid the rain as it came our way.  That was fun to do.  The night started early now at about 7am. I did not sleep the night before we left (well now I know why I should have listened to my sleepless night). I was tired. The wind was 15-17k and Ben was turning out more to sea to get away from the lobster lines that so easily fowl us and get wrapped in between the skeg and propeller area.

Once in a while we would hit a lobster line and I could hear the buoy go bang bang bang on our hull and I’d hold my breath that it would not get hooked.  None did for that while.

I looked at the chartplotter on my shift.  We were getting out and still lobster lines. We would see, I guess in sept the lobster lines go further out to sea as the lobsters start going out for the winter.

Here I was… 11pm. My shift 11-3am. I could see the dark sky of rain clouds tring to smother out any chance of light. It was also the phase in the moon where you don’t see the moon.  We are talking dark! So dark that the bio-illuminesence were amazing! The water glowed when churned up.  The wave top splashes were glowing like something out of a sci-fi movie. Our trail of wake was glowing and there was one long stream of something that looked like a lit-up el. (Ya know the el’s that glow in the dark but long extending 30 yards back) it was following us.  I could see 3 stars for a long time. The wind was cold off the port blowing past the side of my face. I was wearing: long sleeve shirt then long underwear shirt, then turtle neck, then hooded jacket then my winter outer jacket, a head band, a rain cap made for sailing in rain, longies on the legs, jeans, and rain pant with thick socks and rubber boots.  The temp was aboug 51 degrees and the wind hit my face and was cold.  I only put out the main sail so as to waste time and just wait til morning light. I tacked back and forth in a small area. I was standing up cuz my butt was tired of sitting. I turned facing starboard and steered with the wheel under my armpit and my hip tight against the wheel so I could keep it in place while shading the wind from my face and also my 3 friends… the stars… were smiling at me.

This is the time I had all the time in the world to sit and think… how did I get talked into this?  I wasn’t talked into it. I am the captain and I let it happen. Then I reflected… I can’t wait till Ben takes out his crew of guys and does stuff like this.  I could be a fair-weather sailor what is the shame in that? I know when we sail around the world I will have to face, cold, wind, weather, etc… but not by choice.

While I watched the sky grow completely dark and my three little friends I had to say, “Noooo don’t go…. You are the only thing I can see… stay with meeeee…..” one by one… bye, bye, bye…. Darkness had enveloped my stand. The wind was going through to my legs… I played mind games to keep my occupied… I asked God to put a name in my head and I would pray for that person… then the wind picked up… 20 k, not bad with only the main up. I was not fighting the wheel and we were going 2k still.  Then the boat started acting funny. The wheel was turned all the way away into wind (we had 20k winds) and the boat was pulling away from wind! Strange.  Was the wing pushing the boat and the main sail was not big enough to pull us into wind?

Even though it was strange I liked the break.  There was no steering as the steering was useless. We were adrift. Moving out further and further.  Which was still fine by me. We were on a beam now sailing – drifting .1k. it did not accur to me that we had a lobster line on.. we were too far out!

At 2:30am I could not take the cold… well I could but why be that miserable when Ben is the “man” he doesn’t get freezing cold, he wanted to sail at night.  So I woke him up… “Ben, nothing is wrong , take your time, but can we switch?” He jumped out of bed got dressed and come out.  I asked him to check the batteries before coming and sure enough they were almost dead! So he started the engine. I slowly (like I always do) put her gently into gear and right away I heard a bang bang bang as a lobster buoy was getting wrapped around the propeller. I knew exactly what the first bang was and I slammed it back into neutral as fast as I could!

OHHH no! dark, raining, windy, and stuck to a lobster line and this time we might not have an engine to help us along at anytime and I kept thinking we need to be in port by a certain time and day.  The word “sea-tow” came into mind. But I was not sure what we had coverage (Ben says yes) and we were fine in the direction we were drifting. I had no idea we were caught.

At this time there was no way Ben was going in the water in the dark and 20k winds to unfowl or saw off the line that we thought was wrapped around. We drifted for a while and all the while we thought there has to be a way to get that off! The steering was stuck and could only turn it ¼ a turn.  I went back and forth and something gave way! The steering returned to it’s happy self.  And Cricket smiled as so did Ben and I.  We still think that there is a fowled line around the propeller but atleast we can sail.

We turned on the engine for batteries.  I went to the stern cabin so I could be close to Ben if he needed me. I was wrapped up in my sleeping bag which is rated for below 5 degrees! I was ok but my feet were still freezing and I could not sleep.  After 3 hours of tossing I got up out of there to make hot chocolate and eat something.

As I sat in the cockpit with hot chocolate I just stared out at the morning light. Thankful we could be on our way again.  Ben thought we should try the engine gear again cuz we have 30 miles to go and it is 6am we told the boatyard we would be there Friday am. We can’t get there sailing cuz of the wind direction – well we could be then it would be dark again before we got to the boatyard! I’m not doing that again!

Ben slowly put it in gear – waiting for something to happen – we don’t know what would happen but it started moving us and there were no big sounds. We took down the sail and started motoring as we got in 25 miles the lobster lines were everywhere but this time the tide and winds pulled down the buoys so you could not see them always.  Some would be under the water then pop up and surprise you then get pulled under again! Nerve racking. I motored from 6-8am and said “Tag your it. My brain hurts of lack of 2 days no sleep and squinting to try and go around all of these.”

We made it about noon. I’m sure we have fried our batteries. We are so glad we did not go off shore with out electrical as it was.

Ben and I went to town and ate at a nice tavern while sipping my cider ale I opened up the conversation and said,” I thought it would only take us till 7p. sorry. I should have told you I was in a hurry. I know it is insane to sail at night in maine! Now I have experienced something I should have known and did know but didn’t say anything … my bad!”  Ben to my surprise said, “that was crazy of me to think we should sail at night even out far! I’m sorry too.” We then went through the last 48 hours in detail. We laughed about how stupid that was and we were thankful we did not have to experience too much pain as a result of our decision. We both appreciated the fine display of bio-fosferences. I told him about my 3 friends the stars. We know we are better for it.  WE both are happy to be in port to get our electrical ripped out and put back in the right way!!!

Note from my first mate: “I would do this again … follow her out to sea if that is what she asked to do but I would sit behind the wheel and mumble to myself …of all the hair brain ideas…..”  ha ha ha I read Ben my first paragraph to this blog and he sillily said add this to the end as tongue and check since we know it was his hair brain idea that I hair-ily brainedly followed without any resistance. So really it was my hair brain idea too! I love my first mate!

One of the basic sailing lessons that we ignored was, you cant be on a schedule, we will get to rockland when we get there but we wanted to get there on a certain day. Ooppss

Smile Pam

Truly blessed