by Judy Handley | Oct 22, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 377, Year 10: Saying Farewells
Date: Thursday, October 22, 2015
Weather: Partly Sunny and Warm–High in the 60’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA
Despite all sorts of problems, we think we will be taking off in the morning. I say ‘think’ because Mark has developed another urinary tract infection and is feeling just terrible. But we are hoping the antibiotic will kick in overnight and that he will feel like sailing tomorrow. But if not, we will wait until he is ready.
We are still trying to decide whether we should head straight to the Delaware Bay or whether we should go across the Long Island Sound to New York City and down the East River to Sandy Hook. The weather reports tomorrow morning will help us make the final decision. Our crew member, James, is onboard, the dinghy and dinghy motor are stored on deck, and the boarding ladder is up. Tonight we had our traditional farewell dinner with Heather, Jed, and boys. We also said our farewells to Geoff and Chris of Shambala. So we are ready even though it was a tremendous rush to get this point so quickly. I still have lots of food that needs to be stowed away, so I’ll work on that as we sail. It is supposed to be a little rowdy tomorrow with 20 knot winds, but if it is too rough to store things, I’ll do it on Saturday when the wind is supposed to all but die out. The weather is certainly giving us a run for our money in planning this passage.
I must add this note about the wild turkeys in downtown Falmouth. Today we were in town with Geoff and Chris and we given an impromptu show by the turkeys. We first noticed them last summer and this summer there seems to be double the number. So they are flourishing in the city. One Tom Turkey really put on a show for us today by fanning his tail feathers. I think he thinks he is a peacock!
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by Judy Handley | Oct 21, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 376, Year 10: The Weather Conundrum
Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Weather: Still Mostly Sunny and Warm–High in the 60’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA
Oh, weather, weather, weather. We thought we had a three-day window for heading to Norfolk, Virginia, starting on Monday morning of next week, but that seems to be dissolving into a two-day window—not enough to get us to Norfolk. Chris and Geoff of Shambala are leaving on Friday morning for Block Island and that gave us the idea of taking a different route. If we leave on Friday morning and head west through the Long Island Sound, we can spend the weekend getting to Sandy Hook on the south side of New York City. We could leave there on Monday morning and be in Norfolk early Wednesday morning avoiding a full day of beating into south winds. I’m not sure I can get everything ready to go so quickly, but if I can, we might do this. We have never sailed through the New York Harbor so this would be an interesting side trip while, at the same time, helping us get to Norfolk a day earlier than planned. Mark called James, our crew member for the trip, and he says he can get here tomorrow if leaving on Friday is the plan. So we will check the weather again tomorrow morning and make the final decision.
Today was another day at Heather’s cooking for the passage south. Then in the late afternoon, I picked Ollie up from daycare and brought him to Windbird for a couple of hours. Sam had soccer practice and Heather needed to spend some time with Jonah working on a school project, so I jumped at the chance of picking Ollie up. We played Legos together and had a great time. He asked if he could spent the night on Windbird with us and I had to hold back the tears when I told him it was a school night and he needed to go home. I’m going to miss that little O, and Sam and Jonah so, so much. I really don’t want to spend the cold winter here on Windbird, but leaving Heather, Jed, and boys makes me so sad. On the way to take Ollie home, I pointed out the empty osprey nests where we watched babies grow up this summer and told Ollie that those babies and the mommas have flown south for the winter and are probably in Florida by now. He made me promise to wave to them when I see them in Florida. I promised I would wave and I also promised that Windbird will return in the spring about the same time as the ospreys.
by Judy Handley | Oct 20, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 375, Year 10: Weather Watching and Provisioning
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Warm—Hurray! High in the 60’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA
Today was all about those things you do before a passage—weather watching and provisioning. We slept in since it was a late night and when we got up we checked all of our weather sources. Right now it is looking like we will leave here on Monday morning. Stay tuned on that one. We then invited Geoff and Chris to go into town with us to do food shopping. Cruisers always need to go food shopping after a passage, so they were in. After the shopping, they dropped me off at Heather’s so I could cook some of the food I had just bought. They headed up to near the Bourne Bridge to a shop that thought they could help with Geoff’s search for a new connecting hose for Shambala’s cook stove. It took a bit, but they found the needed part. I cooked all afternoon making taco meat sauce, Shepherd’s Pie, and dinner for all of us. Mark, Geoff, and Chris went back to Quissett after getting the propane connecting hose and Mark spent his afternoon getting Windbird’s watermaker removed. Tomorrow he will rebuild it in hopes of getting it working for our trip south. At 6 pm, Mark, Geoff, and Chris drove back into town to have dinner at Heather and Jed’s. Tomorrow is more of the same. Mark will stay on the boat to do the watermaker rebuild. I will go into Heather’s to do more cooking. But before any of this, I will be getting up to listen to Chris Parker’s 7:30 am weather forecast for the East Coast. The weather watch continues.
by Judy Handley | Oct 19, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 374, Year 10: Shambala Arrives in Quissett & Mark Has Last ‘R’ Treatment
Date: Monday, October 19, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Cold, High and Low in the 40’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA
We had double celebrations today. When we got up this morning and Mark went out into the cockpit to look around, he yelled down to me that Shambala was on the mooring right next to us. She definitely was not there when we got home last night, so we figured she arrived early in the morning. About that time, Geoff came out into the cockpit and he and Mark yelled hellos across to each other. Geoff and Chris on Shambala are our Australian cruising friends that left here in July headed for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. We knew they were trying to get back here to see us before we head south, but the weather was keeping them in Round Pond in Maine. Yesterday the north winds started blowing and they took off, making a very fast trip from there to here and surprising us with their arrival. We could only say brief hellos this morning as we were headed to Boston, but it was great to see them for even a short time.
We headed to Boston and made a stop on the way to visit Costco. This was an expensive stop as I was stocking up on many things for the entire winter. So after spending $350, we traveled on to Boston. Mark had had last treatments, one general and one specific liver cancer radiation, and then rang the bell signaling the end of his radiation treatments—definitely a time to celebrate. We then headed home. We ended up having dinner on Shambala, spending time talking about where to from here and hearing a bit about Chris and Geoff’s explorations in Newfoundland. We look forward to hearing more about their travels tomorrow. When they leave here they are headed to New York to sail up the Hudson to visit with our mutual friends, Ed and Lynne Kirwin. We would love to incorporate a side trip up the Hudson on our way south, but we’re not sure we have enough time to do it. But we are putting that on the table for consideration. By Wednesday of this week, we hope we have a good enough handle on the weather to make a final decision. As of tonight, however, it looks like we will leave here on Monday and head straight for Norfolk. As always, the weather will determine our course.
by Judy Handley | Oct 18, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 373, Year 10: James Meets Windbird
Date: Sunday, October 18, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Cold, High mid-40’s F, Low in the 30’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA
Brrrr . . . the north wind is blowing and it will reach into the low 30’s F again tonight. Today was only in the 40’s and tomorrow will be the same before it warms back up a few degrees. So today was a cold day for James, the young man that will crew for us from here to Myrtle Beach, to come and meet Windbird. The good thing is that it shouldn’t be much colder than today during our trip south and it will warm up a bit once we reach Norfolk. Thank goodness for that. Mark put James to work even before he got to the boat. When Mark met him at the dock, he had James help load the old mainsail into the dinghy from the car and then get it from the dinghy up and onboard Windbird. Later Mark had James help get the spinnaker on deck in case we need it between here and Norfolk. And then Mark had him put Jed’s Mercury outboard motor into the dinghy to take it to shore. James took all of this in stride and was ready for more. And it was wonderful to have the help with heavy lifting. I think James is going to work out great as crew on Windbird and I hope we can offer him a positive sailing experience in return for his help. When we were showing him our weather sources we discovered that the weather forecast from last night has already changed. Getting a favorable three-day window is looking quite challenging. We will watch carefully and still hope to be able to leave sometime late this week or early next week as we have to get the boat to Myrtle Beach and be ready to fly back here for Mark’s CT on Monday morning, November 16th.
After we gave James a thorough introduction to sailing aboard Windbird, we headed into town to have dinner at Heather and Jed’s. Sam, Jonah, and Ollie see James when they go to Maine each summer and at Christmas time, so they were delighted to see him this afternoon. He played lacrosse with them and then helped them get their Halloween pumpkins ready to carve. James is great with the kids and they love his attention, so it was a wonderful evening with happy little boys. Heather and Jed whipped up a wonderful fall dinner of roasted pork tenderloin, pumpkin risotto, and stir-fried bok choy. And then Jed made fresh apple cider donuts for dessert. All was delicious.
by Judy Handley | Oct 17, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 372, Year 10: Another Soccer Saturday
Date: Saturday, October 17, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Cool, High in the 50’s F, Low Tonight in the 30’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA
It was another Soccer Saturday for Oma and Granddad. We went to Sam’s game in the morning, brought Ollie back to the boat for lunch, and then drove back into Falmouth for Jonah’s 1:30 pm game. After the game we drove to Heather and Jed’s so we could use their yard to roll out Windbird’s original mainsail to check it out. Our current mainsail is showing signs of old age and we wanted to see if the old sail is in good enough shape to use as a backup. The captain thinks it is, so we’ll take it with us . . . just in case.
It is looking like we might have a weather window ‘of sorts’ that will allow us to leave here a week from today. The winds turn to come from the north on Friday, but at this point Friday looks a little too windy with unsettled seas. Things settle down on Saturday and then settle a little too much on Sunday. As it looks right now, we might be motoring most of the way. We’d like to wait for an opening that would allow us to sail, but the forecast for the following week looks bleak. We might just have to take the less than perfect window and motor. Tomorrow the young man who is going to go with us as crew is coming down from Boston to meet Windbird. James is the grandson of Jed’s Aunt Sue and Uncle John and I think the last time we saw him was Christmas of 2007 in Maine when he was ten. Tomorrow we will go over Windbird’s major systems with James and answer any questions he might have. Then we will get serious about getting ready to sail south. Much to do this week!
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