by Judy Handley | Oct 16, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 357, Year 6: Trip to the Outer Cape
Date: Sunday, October 16, 2011
Weather: Windy, Partly Sunny, Temp in the Upper 60’s
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
We’ve sailed to Provincetown at the end of the Cape a couple a times, but I have never driven to the outer Cape until today. Mark had to work, but I went with Heather, Jed, and boys to the Wellfleet OysterFest. And I tasted my very first raw and fried oysters. When I was in early elementary school, my sister-in-law Sue from Massachusetts “encouraged” me to taste a fried oyster. I thought it was the most disgusting thing I had ever tasted and vowed to never eat another one . . . until today. Maybe Wellfleet oysters really are better than any others in the world, but after fifty-five year a self-imposed ban, I really enjoyed the oysters today. We went to the festival primarily because Heather was giving a talk at 10:30 am entitled, “Fisheries in Hot Water: How Climate Change Threaten New England’s Most Storied Industry.” Jed and I painted pumpkins, made oyster shell necklaces with the boys, watched a glass blower making an octopus, and ate roasted corn on the cob while Heather spoke. Then we all perused the artists’ stalls and had lunch together. Wellfleet looks like a charming little town, but we’ll have to go back when there aren’t so many people to experience it. Heather decided that I should see a part of the National Seashore while on the outer Cape, so on the way home we stopped at Coast Guard Beach near Nauset Lighthouse. According to Henry David Thoreau, this is where The Great Beach (of Cape Cod) begins. According to our daughter Heather, this is the dividing line where the current carries some sand north and the other half south. This started a conversation about a great article that Mark and I had just read in the Cape Cod Times. The article outlined how and why the National Seashore is vanishing at three feet per year and there were great illustrations showing how the shape of the Cape has changed over the past 6,000 years. I was telling Heather that I think we must have gotten the copy of the Times when we were in Martha’s Vineyard last weekend. Then she told me that, no, I didn’t get the paper last weekend. It was a copy of The Cape Cod Times from early August and the article was written by her. She had left the paper on the boat last week for us to read and I had read it and saved it for Heather to read because I was sure she would be interested. I guess next time I had better pay attention to the date of what I am reading and who authored it!
Our stop at the beach was a highlight of the day for me. The surf was rolling in and the sun was shining. Jonah had fallen asleep on the way, so Jed stayed with him in the van while Heather, Sam, and I went to the beach. We hadn’t been there long when another little boy came up to Sam and asked if he would like to build a sand castle with him. The little boy’s name was Luke and he announced that he was four years-old, and 90 percent of the way to five years. Sam is 75 percent of the way to five years-old, and the two boys slowly warmed up to each other and had a wonderful time building sand castles. Jed and Jonah joined us and the adults talked while the children played. Sam and Luke were like two peas in a pod, but unfortunately Luke was here visiting from New York. As we were leaving they were making plans for seeing each other again next year.
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by Judy Handley | Oct 15, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 356, Year 6: Fun with the Grandkids
Date: Saturday, October 15, 2011
Weather: Windy, Gusts to 45 Knots; Mixed Sun, Clouds, and Rain
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Despite the changeable weather, we attended Sam’s Saturday morning soccer game in the sunshine, had a sunny but windy lunchtime picnic at the playground here in Woods Hole with Jed and the boys, brought the boys to Windbird for naps, and then had Heather and Jed join us for dinner on the boat. In between some of those activities, we had heavy downpours and we had super windy conditions all day long. Sam was so worn out from his morning soccer game that he had no problem falling asleep on Windbird as she creaked and groaned in the wind. But it was so loud in the v-berth (the straining of the mooring lines) where Jonah normally sleeps that I had to take him to the aft cabin.
In the late afternoon, the boats in the pond were pointing in strange directions. It was either current or the high winds whipping off the buildings on shore and causing some of us to face one way while others face the opposite direction. This put us way too close to one boat and Mark decided it was time to move from the mooring to the dock. When we got home last night we saw that Woods Hole Marine had cleared a spot for us, so with Heather, Jed. Sam, and Jonah’s help, we moved Windbird to her new location. Mark drove the boat, I threw lines ashore, and HJJ&S caught the lines and fended us off. A huge houseboat is attached to the dock and we are now tied to the houseboat. So no more creaking and groaning on the mooring and no more worries about hitting another boat. And now we have shore electricity and water, so when the weather does turn cold, we will have heat.
The big boat news of the day is that we have a new home for Windbird for the winter. The manager of Kingman Marine called today and said that they would refund the entire deposit so that we can now go to Brewer’s Fiddler Cove for the winter. This means that we can use our own contractor to do the plastic covering for Windbird for the winter, but it also means that we will probably be the only live-aboards there. However, the marina is staffed daily through the winter, so we will have a bit of company. Fiddler’s Cove will allow us to come in anytime after the end of October, but depending on the weather, we might stay right here in Woods Hole until the middle of November now that we are at a dock. It will cost us a bit more, but it is so convenient to be here. Besides, maybe staying here longer will make the winter seem a little shorter.
by Judy Handley | Oct 14, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 355, Year 6: Just a Work Day
Date: Friday, October 14, 2011
Weather: Cloudy AM, Rainy PM, Temp Hovering Around 70
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
It was warm today, but partly sunny all morning with periods of heavy rain in the afternoon. At least it is not a cold rain, so it still feels like summer. (Maybe we’re just getting acclimated.) I dropped Mark off at West Marine this morning, did some shopping, and then went to Heather and Jed’s to do more laundry. Then I went to pick up the boys. I had planned to take them to Windbird for the afternoon, but as I drove to Woods Hole, the heavens opened up. It would pour the rain, then stop, and then pour again. I decided that I didn’t want to be out in the dinghy with the boys when it decided to pour, so we headed back to Heather and Jed’s in East Falmouth. After naps, Sam, Jonah and I spent a bit of time singing folk songs together. They loved “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” and “This Old Man, He Played One.” Last week “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain” was a favorite. After singing, the boys flew to South Africa in a couple of cardboard boxes, and then we went out to do some puddle stomping to run off a little excess energy. You do what you have to in order to keep an active two and four year-old busy and happy.
Our weekend plans have changed a bit as Mark learned today that he works on Sunday. We will start our day tomorrow watching Sam play soccer and then we will take the boys on an explore (not sure where yet) and then back to the boat for naps. Heather is spending her afternoon at the Marine Biological Lab in a series of seminars and Jed will be working on a grant due on Monday. On Sunday, I will go to Wellfleet with Heather and gang for the Oysterfest. Heather speaks at 10:30 am on the topic of how climate change will affect the fishing industry in the next few decades, so we will have to get an early start.
by Judy Handley | Oct 13, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 354, Year 6: Back to Windbird’s Electrical Problems
Date: Thursday, October 13, 2011
Weather: Drizzle Off and On, Temp Hovering Around 70
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Where does the time go? Somehow we seem to fill every moment, but this morning Mark finally had time to get back to checking out our electrical system. Our inverter/charger is still not charging, so we run the engine twice a day to keep things going. We’ve checked out all of the suggestions sent to us by Dave Laux in Delaware and still have not come up with anything. Mark has been contemplating buying a new unit, but it is very expensive. The old unit cannot be repaired because Xantrax no longer makes parts for it. But today on the phone, they suggested yet another fuse inside the unit that could be the culprit. Mark will have to wait until Saturday to check this out as he works tomorrow. If the fuse is not the problem, then springing for a new unit is our only alternative. Another boat project today was trying to see if there is somewhere other than Kingman Marine here on the Cape where we could spend the winter. As I mentioned in yesterday’s log, Kingman is not being very flexible and we feel their price for covering the boat is out of the ballpark. We did find out today that we could stay at Brewer’s Fiddler’s Cove Marina and they would allow us to use our own contractor for building the winter cover. We feel much more comfortable with this arrangement, plus it is much cheaper, but we have already paid Kingman and have no idea if we can get our deposit back. Mark went there today to talk to the manager, but she was out. He waited an hour, but she didn’t return. And he couldn’t get through to her by phone later in the afternoon. So we’ll have to continue that search on Monday.
I have to share a grandkid story. Jonah is being very “two” these days and has been telling me all week that he’s a big boy and can do things by himself. Heather shared today that part of the insistence on being a big boy comes from the fact that Jonah has been practicing saying his full name, Jonah Biggs Goldstone. He says it as Jonah Big Goldstone. So, indeed, he is BIG(gs) boy!
This evening we had dinner at Heather and Jed’s before heading back to Eel Pond. When we got here, a fog had settled over the pond and the water was almost glassy. It was really beautiful. We have come to love life here in our little pond. This week Bob Morris returned to the pond with Apogee. He came over to talk to Mark yesterday while I was putting the boys down for naps. Bob had sailed the boat across Buzzard’s Bay to get the bottom painted and some boat work done to get ready for his trip to the Caribbean in a couple of weeks. He invited Mark to sail south with him to St. Martin’s, and Mark would love to do it, but he wouldn’t be back here in time to help me get Windbird moved to her winter location. Bob has made us feel very welcome here and we will look forward to seeing him here again next summer. Tomorrow evening we are getting together with a young couple on the boat moored next to ours. We have met Simon and he is interested in talking about our sail around the world. Steve and Irene on Star, the biggest sailboat in the pond, are preparing to return to their winter home in Nevis in the Caribbean. They will be leaving next week. Somehow we have not found time to get together, but they will be back next summer and we’ll make it a priority. Slowly we are meeting other sailors here and beginning to feel like a part of the local scene. Next year we’ll be old timers around here.
by Judy Handley | Oct 12, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 353, Year 6: Laundry, Grandkids, and Boat Work
Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Temps in the 60’s
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
The memory of our beautiful warm weekend is all that is keeping us warm as the temperature continues to drop. Instead of sunny and in the 70’s, it is now cloudy and in the 60’s. Add to that the fact that we have a 70 per cent chance of rain for tomorrow and Friday, and you have a pretty bleak forecast. Sunshine should return on Saturday, but it looks like high temps in the 60’s is the best we can hope for in the next week. At least it’s not freezing yet, so I think we should count our blessings.
This morning we decided to go to Heather and Jed’s so I could do a proper job of cutting Mark’s hair. While cruising we would take one of our beach chairs to shore and do the job there. Sometimes I would do this on the back deck, but that doesn’t work when the wind is blowing. Last week I tried to cut his hair in the cockpit, but I didn’t do a great job. So this morning we decided to go where no wind blows-inside Heather and Jed’s house. While there I did some of our laundry and then it was back to Woods Hole to pick up Sam and Jonah and came back to the boat for naps again today. Granddad lay down with Sam and got a bit of nap before getting up and starting to work on rewiring the boat. Today he spent his time taking out old wires that go nowhere as he prepares to install a system monitor for our battery system. This same system will be able to monitor other things like bilge pump cycles, fuel tank levels, and our 110 volt system, but all of that will come later. Right now we just need a more accurate way of monitoring our charging system.
Heather called and had me come to shore to pick her up late this afternoon, so she was here when the boys woke up from their naps. Then I went with Heather and boys to the local playground for a run around before they headed home. Once I got back to Windbird, we had a Skype call with Justin, Jo, and Ziggy. The internet connection was terrible this evening-off and on. Once we had our Ziggy hit, we gave up on the Skype and called Justin on the phone. Technology didn’t work perfectly for us, but at least we got to see Ziggy for a bit. We’ll try again in a few days.
by Judy Handley | Oct 11, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 352, Year 6: Back to Daily Life
Date: Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Weather: Partly Sunny and Cooler
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Early this morning we took off with Kitty and Tom to take them to Providence. Kitty got off at the train station and we took Tom to Budget to rent a car to drive to Maine on a business trip. I had only met Tom once, and very briefly, many years ago at a public radio conference and I had never met Kitty before this weekend. Yet it was hard to say farewell this morning. We had such a wonderful time sailing together with them this weekend. And we know that it might have been the last good sail of the season. So in a way we were saying farewell to them and to the sailing season. We’re hoping that is not the case, but I don’t know how we can expect another perfect weather weekend like this one.
We stopped at Kingman Marine on our way home. Kingman is where we will spend the winter and we have been having a back and forth “conversation” about getting our boat covered for the winter. We did this ourselves in Boston, but Kingman won’t allow us to do our own work. They require that we use their contractor and the cost is really outrageous. They want $33/foot to do the work, and that won’t give us a cover with doors and headroom. We have found a contractor who will do the work for $11/foot if we build our own frame, but Kingman will not allow him to do the job. It is a most frustrating situation, but we refuse to pay their price. So it looks like we will be using tarps to cover the boat. It will be less than ideal, but it will work-and cost a fraction of what they are asking. Once back in Woods Hole, I picked up the boys from school while Mark parked the car and walked over to Woods Hole Marine to find out when we will be able to bring Windbird to the dock. It is going to be another week, but the weather is supposed to stay in the upper 60’s/lower 70’s for the rest of this week, so that should be fine. We don’t need heat with those temperatures. Once on the boat, the boys played for a bit and then went down for naps. They surely do look like little angels when they are asleep, and today they were especially endearing. During their nap, Mark packed the stuffing gland around the prop shaft as it had started leaking more than usual and that required some pretty loud tapping. But Sam and Jonah slept right through it. When they did wake up, they wanted to know what Granddad was doing, so he took them back to look into the engine room and give them an introductory lesson-Engine 101.
