Day 19, Year 11: Boat Cleaning and the Debate

by | Nov 10, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 | 0 comments

Day 19, Year 11: Boat Cleaning and the Debate
Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Warm and Windy
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC

The title of this log might be a bit confusing. There is no debate over boat cleaning. It’s a fact of life. What we did today was to watch the Republican debate this evening AFTER doing boat cleaning chores earlier in the day. I spent a good deal of time editing and naming photos this morning and Mark spent most of his morning dealing with our boat insurance. We got an email ‘reminding’ us that our insurance has been cancelled. Yikes! It was the first we had heard of this. We had our bank send the check about a month ago, but Mark last week when Mark checked our online checking account he noticed that the check had not been cashed. He has called the insurance office numerous times about this, but every time he got only an answering machine. He called and left messages but got no phone call back. But today when he called, he got a real person and after a little digging it appears the check was sent to an old address and was not forwarded. They also could not find the application we sent via email although we had the email in our sent box. So he resent it and had the bank send a new check. All is well, but it took a lot of time.

Mark and I worked together to vacuum pack some food that we will be leaving on the boat and then I cleaned the oven and stove top. It was beautiful and sunny out, so I then turned to polishing more stainless on deck so I could enjoy the afternoon outside. Mark felt guilty, so he joined in the fun. We are a little more than half way done with that job. Hopefully it will be completed tomorrow. Just as we were beginning to fix dinner, Mark got a call from Lee Kaufman inviting us over to their house to watch the Republican debate. So we ended our day at the Kaufman’s enjoying the ‘show.’

Day 18, Year 11: Family History

by | Nov 9, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 | 0 comments

Day 18, Year 11: Family History
Date: Monday, November 9, 2015
Weather: Rain All Day, High in the 60’s F
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC

According to Wikipedia, “Genealogy (from Greek: ????? genea, “generation”; and ????? logos, “knowledge”), also known as family history, is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history.” I love this stuff, but I never seem to have the time to devote to it . . . to really dig into it. In the early 1980’s, I did three interviews with my mother. And more recently I did a short interview with my sister Patsy and with my Aunt Ethel who just turned 100. But those interviews just begin to scratch the surface. They pose more questions than answers, so I took advantage of this rainy day to read over those interviews and start the list of questions. If I were a cat and had nine lives, I would most certainly devote one of them to recording the family history. But I have only one life and will just have to look for more rainy days to devote a little time to the search.

Mark got up before me this morning and had all of the bedding from our overnight family guests washed and dried by the time I had breakfast ready. He installed new drink holders in the cockpit and then read his day away. I did my genealogy work. The rain stopped in the late afternoon and we went for a walk. Quiet day in Lightkeepers Marina.

Day 17, Year 11: Rainy and Cool

by | Nov 8, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 | 0 comments

Day 17, Year 11: Rainy and Cool
Date: Sunday, November 8, 2015
Weather: Rain All Day, High in the 60’s F
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC

Last night it started sprinkling around 10:30 pm and by midnight it was pouring. But that didn’t keep Mark, my niece Jennifer, my nephew Tommy, and me from sitting in the cockpit and talking the night away. As the bewitching hour of midnight approached Mark went to bed, but not before encouraging Tommy to call Marilou and tell her he would spend the night on Windbird. It was just too nasty to think about going outside. So Tommy did decide to stay and he, Jennifer, and I continued talking until almost 3 am. When we did go to bed, I told Tommy and Jennifer that they were not allowed to get up until 10 am, but Mark was up early and by 8:30 am we were all up and about. And by this time, Mark had walked to the McDonald’s at the head of the harbor and brought back much needed coffee for everyone. He doesn’t drink coffee, so it was especially nice of him to think of us. Tommy talked to Marilou and she related that Bob and Ginny wanted all of us to come there for breakfast. They live only a mile or so from here, so it didn’t take us long to get there. We had a wonderful breakfast and had lots of time to just sit and talk. It was almost 1 pm by the time we all got motivated to travel on. Tommy and Marilou were driving back to Charlotte and Jennifer was driving back to Wilmington to spend the day with her son Jacob and daughter Jessica. And Mark and I drove away as well. Tommy and Marilou insisted that we take their old Suburban that Ryan is using. He is living with Bob and Ginny right now and they have two cars in addition to the Suburban, so we took them up on their offer. It will be nice to have a way to get to the store this week. In fact, before we returned to Lightkeepers, we made the mandatory trip to West Marine to pick up a couple of items and stopped at the grocery store to get laundry detergent. Jennifer took us to the store after dinner last night, but I forgot that one very important item. We spent a quiet afternoon on the boat as it had continued to rain all day and into this evening. We actually have a heater going in the boat tonight. The temperature was in the 80’s yesterday but only in the 60’s today and in the 50’s tonight. It is not really cold, but the quick change and the dampness make it feel colder than it really is. A chance of rain is forecast for the next couple of days, but the daytime highs should be back in the 70’s. We’ll enjoy the warm weather while we have it. We fly back to Boston on Friday night and I’m sure it is not going to be in the 70’s there!

Day 16, Year 11: Family Visit

by | Nov 7, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 | 0 comments

Day 16, Year 11: Family Visit
Date: Saturday, November 7, 2015
Weather: Another Glorious Day, High in the 80’s F, Rain Late Evening
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC

This afternoon Mark and I were outside working on polishing stainless. Mark was on the dock working on the boarding ladder and I was on the port deck when we heard a woman calling, “Hey, Mark.” I look toward S Dock and see a young blonde woman and wonder who Mark knows that I don’t. We were expecting my niece Jennifer, but this was not her. Then I see my nephew Tommy and recognize the blonde as his wife Marilou. They live in Charlotte, so it was a wonderful surprise to see them here. Marilou’s parents live here, so when they heard we were in town, they decided to make the surprise visit to see us and Bob and Ginny. We sat in the cockpit and visited for a bit and called to see where my niece Jennifer was. She was just leaving Wilmington, so we arranged to meet her at Pizzeli’s for dinner. This is an Italian restaurant not far from Bob and Ginny’s and it is their favorite place to eat. And besides, Tommy and Marilou’s son Ryan works there, so we could have dinner and see Ryan at the same time. It worked out great and it was delightful to see a grown-up Ryan at work. After dinner, Marilou went home to visit with her parents and Jennifer and Tommy came here to Windbird to visit. We solved all the world’s political problems and hashed and rehashed family history.

Note: I’m actually writing this log on Sunday as both Jennifer and Tommy spent the night on the boat and we were up until 3 am talking!
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151107 Day 16 Little River, SC–Jennifer, Tommy, Marilou Visit

Day 15, Year 11: All Alone

by | Nov 6, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 | 0 comments

Day 15, Year 11: All Alone
Date: Friday, November 6, 2015
Weather: Gorgeous, Warm Day, High Temp 76 degrees F
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC

After two weeks of traveling with James, tonight we are all alone on Windbird. Elizabeth, James’ mother, came to pick him up this afternoon. We really enjoyed having James aboard and we are going to miss him. But have no fear, we are not going to be alone for long if things work out as expected. My niece, Jennifer, called last night and she plans to arrive tomorrow afternoon. She is driving over from Charlotte to visit with her daughter, but will spend tomorrow night with us before heading on up to Wilmington to be with Jessica. So we are looking forward to her visit. And she offered to take us grocery shopping which is very helpful. We love Lightkeepers, but the nearest grocery store is almost three miles away.

Today was a work day on Windbird. I scrubbed the cockpit cushions and then the cockpit. We have basically lived in the cockpit, except for sleeping at night, for the past two weeks, so it needed a little clean-up. While I did this, Mark polished the stainless, starting on the aft deck. This is where we have the stainless arch topped with solar panels and it is the most difficult to polish as you are working up over your head. He did the hardest part and then let me take over. By day’s end we had all of the stainless on the aft deck polished and tomorrow morning we will start working our way forward.

We have spent this evening figuring out how and when we are getting back to Boston. We can fly from Myrtle Beach for about $80 per person on Spirit Airlines, but that means leaving here at 10:30 pm and arriving in Boston at 12:30 am. There’s no public transportation at that time of night, so we are now deciding whether to spend the night in Boston or to rent a one-way car. We talked to Heather and she thinks we should spend the night in Boston. Driving home at that hour means we would arrive after 3 am. She’s probably right, but we’ll think on this for a day or so before making a decision.

151106 Day 15 Little River, SC–Saying Farewell to James

 

Day 14, Year 11: Passage to Little River, SC—We’re Here

by | Nov 5, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 | 0 comments

Day 14, Year 11: Passage to Little River, SC—We’re Here
Date: Thursday, November 5, 2015
Weather: Overcast Turning Partly Sunny Late Afternoon, No Wind
Latitude: 33 51.733 N
Longitude: 078 38.290 W
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC
Total Miles Traveled: 780 Nautical Miles

We’re here in Little River and it feels like summer. The overnight passage from Beaufort compressed three days into one since we sailed night and day. If we had stayed in the Waterway, we would have motored in daylight hours only, anchoring at night. By midnight last night we were passing Carolina Beach which would have been our Friday night anchorage if we had stayed in the Intracoastal. Offshore overnight passages are certainly faster than doing day hops and we prefer passages when there is the light of the moon to guide us. But we didn’t have that last night. It was as black as pitch out there, requiring us to stick our heads out of the plastic cockpit enclosure to check the horizon for lights every 15 minutes. First you look out to port and then to starboard. If there is a light, you then have to keep a constant watch to see what kind of vessel it is and which way it is going. There weren’t many boats out there last night, at least not in our path, but you have to be vigilant just in case. And then in the wee hours of the morning, fog set in and stayed with us most of the way to Little River. The darkness and the fog weren’t major problems, but they certainly made the overnight passage a little more intense than normal. But we are here, safe and sound. Mission accomplished.

I always love entering the Little River inlet with its sand dunes, dune grass, and huge number of birds. Today it was pelicans. I have never seen so many pelicans all in one place. But as we traveled further toward Lightkeepers, we ran into civilization and the birds went away. We stopped to fill up with fuel before heading into Lightkeepers. I keep track of the hours sailing versus the hours motoring, and this trip we motored 80 per cent of the time. We took on 104 gallons of diesel and then headed the last couple of miles to Lightkeepers. Our friend, Lee Kaufman, was on the dock to catch our lines. They put us in the slip next to his boat, Sea Turtle, and I joked with Lee saying he only came to make sure we didn’t hit his boat on our way into the slip! Actually, he thought we were going to be across the dock from him, but the dock master made a change at the last minute. Thankfully it was near slack tide and we came in with no problem. And joking aside, we really appreciated Lee’s presence to help with the lines. It is always a relief to see someone on the dock to throw those lines to. So thank you, Lee.

It really is shorts weather here. Yippee! And a sheet is too much to sleep under. It is in the 70’s and humid, so it feels hot to us. And tomorrow is supposed to be warmer than today. So we will enjoy the warmth while we have it. Our able crew member, James, will be leaving us tomorrow. His mother lives in Raleigh and she is driving down to steal him away for a few days before he flies back to Boston. He has been a delight to have aboard and we very much appreciate all of his help. I’ve invited him to write a departing guest log for tomorrow night, so maybe we’ll hear his side of the story. We do hope he has enjoyed the trip as much as we have enjoyed having him with us. We celebrated our arrival by splurging and going out to dinner at the restaurant at the head of the harbor, Clark’s Seafood and Chop House. It is a little pricey, but we could walk there and we were able to sit outside overlooking all of Coquina Harbor while enjoying fantastic food. And I didn’t have to cook. Life is good.http://

151105 Day 14 Passage to SC–We’re Here