by Judy Handley | Sep 15, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 316, Year 8: Dinghy Search Continues
Date: Sunday, September 15, 2013
Weather: And Yet Another Beautiful Day, Just a Tad Cooler
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
The search for a new dinghy continued today. We drove to the West Marine store in Hyannis to see the West Marine RIB-310. This is 10’2” long dinghy and everything about it looks great except for the size of the tubes. They are only 16” and I am desperately holding on to having 17” tubes for stability and dryness. But the price that Mark can get either the PVC or hypalon version of this dinghy for is just too good to pass up. There is a five year warranty on the dinghy and we know that West Marine is absolutely true to its word on warranties. If we have any problem, they will make good on it. But that doesn’t solve the problem of the 16” tubes. Our current dinghy is like a tank. The West Marine dinghy would be more like a 4-wheel drive. In rough conditions, I’d rather have the tank, but a 4-wheel drive will get me through. PVC is a tougher material than hypalon but it just doesn’t stand up to UV rays. Since we will be spending half of each year in the tropics, hypalon is the only material that makes sense, but I could almost buy two PVC’s for the price of one hypalon. Dilemmas, dilemmas. We stopped to see our dinghy on the way home. It definitely has a leak in the forward seam, but it is a slow leak. EJ, the dinghy repair guy, was able to slow that down even more with tube sealant, but if we kept it, we would have to inflate it every day. That would be a bother, but not terrible, but that seam could go at any time and we would be without a dinghy. And replacing a dinghy once we are in the Caribbean would not be cheap. So we know we have to do something. EJ pointed out that West Marine dinghies are made by Zodiac, but then he added that he hates trying to repair Zodiacs. Their prime weakness is their valves, but luckily West Marine does not use the same valves. And according to EJ, there are also a few other things they do differently that make it a better dinghy than the Zodiac. When we got home, we started searching for used dinghies. People are asking outlandish prices for 12 year-old dinghies—older than our AB. So right now, I’m leaning toward the West Marine RIB-310. EJ thinks we can sell the AB for $400-$500, even with the leak, and that would certainly reduce our cost for a new one. Hypalon makes more sense, but PVC is cheaper. Will being sensible or being cheap win the day? We shall see. And if we do go with the West Marine dinghy and it works out, we could become a West Marine testimonial!
by Judy Handley | Sep 14, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 315, Year 8: Happy Birthday, Justin
Date: Saturday, September 14, 2013
Weather: Yet Another Beautiful Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Thirty-six years ago tonight our son, Justin Bryant Handley, was born at home in Jenkins, Minnesota. Tonight he celebrated his birthday in South Hampton, England, with his wife Jo and her sister Kath and husband-to-be in just four days, Tom. We talked to Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco via Skype late yesterday afternoon, and they all seem to be recovering from the trauma of the van explosion a week ago. Ziggy has been sad about losing his ‘home’ away from home, but is letting that go now. Justin has been working like a madman trying to make money to make-up for the losses and Jo has been dealing with ordering or shopping for those things they need to replace right away. Friends and family have been very generous and they have been given lots—so thanks to all for that. Little Coco has just continued enjoying life which is what a one year-old should do. She is walking now and we got to see her in action on Skype video which was great. We’ll hope today had none of the drama of last Saturday and that Justin had a wonderful birthday. Happy, happy birthday, Justin!!!
Today was a big day for Jonah. He had his first soccer practice. You can’t be in the Munchkin Soccer program until you are four, so he has watched Sam for the past couple of years and could hardly wait for his turn. His team was given blue shirts, his favorite color, and three of the friends that go to his preschool are on his team. In Munchkin Soccer, they don’t really play official games, but they practice and after a few weeks they will get to ‘play’ against another team. Jonah was so excited and it was great to see him so happy. Sam and Ollie had to watch from the sidelines this morning, but Ollie kept grabbing soccer balls and kicking them or sitting on them. I guess his years of watching and wanting to play like his big brothers have begun. Soccer for Sam’s age is on Saturday afternoon now, so Saturdays are pretty much a soccer affair for the Goldstones for the next few weeks. It was a beautiful day here, so Heather and Jed took the kids to the beach in-between the soccer times and again after Sam’s game. We, on the other hand, took off after Munchkin Soccer and headed to Newport.
We didn’t go to the Newport Boat Show last year and we hadn’t planned to go this year. BUT the news that our dinghy leak cannot be found has sent us scurrying about looking at dinghies and the Boat Show is one place to go to see a number of them at one time. We had hoped to see some Caribe and AB dinghies, but there was only one Caribe and no AB’s. It’s just as well as they are both so expensive, but it would have been nice to look and see first-hand what we’d like but can’t afford to buy. There were a lot of Walker Bays, but they are very expensive. Our current dinghy is an AB Vestus, a 9’6” fiberglass rigid inflatable with hypalon 17” tubes. Replacing the same thing would cost $3,600 and we are just not going to do that. The advice of one saleswoman today was to use ToobSeal and hope for another year or two out of the current dinghy. This is a product that you somehow put inside the tubes and then roll the dinghy over and over, once every 30 minutes for four hours. Not easy, but something we could try with a little help. Mark can buy a dinghy through West Marine which is one option, but the diameter of the tubes on all of the WM dinghies is 16”, not 17”. And one of our bottom lines has always been having a dinghy with 17” tubes. But the price is right so West Marine might win the day. We found two aluminum bottom dinghies today that were enticing because they are so much lighter in weight, but the Boat Show price for each is around $2,000. Either tomorrow or Monday we will drive to the West Marine in Hyannis to look at the West Marine dinghy we are considering (not available here in Falmouth) and then we’ll make the decision.
by Judy Handley | Sep 13, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 314, Year 8: The Dinghy Blues
Date: Friday, September 13, 2013
Weather: Another Beautiful Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Our dinghy, Little Bird as Sam calls it, has been with the dinghy repairman for over a week now. He called today with news we didn’t want to hear. He still can’t find the leak, has called in a friend who is also a dinghy repairman, and he can’t find the leak either. They both think the leak is in the seam. As a last resort they sprayed something into the tubes that should seal a leak from the inside, but we are feeling a little uncomfortable heading south with a dinghy that could be impossible to keep inflated. We use our dinghy like a pick-up truck to cart things to and from Windbird, and we take her out on long adventures to go to the best snorkeling or fishing spots. I love our current dinghy and am going to have serious withdrawal if we have to get rid of her, but that looks like the case. So now we feel like we need to go to the Newport Boat Show tomorrow to see what is available there. What a hassle after making the two trips to Defender earlier this week. Defender has one dinghy that might work for us, but it is certainly not as good as what we currently have. Their boat show prices are not much better than their regular warehouse prices, but there is a slight price break—just not enough to pay for the fuel for all these trips to Rhode Island. We’ll make the trip tomorrow and then probably have to go back on another day to pick up a dinghy if we do buy one. We’re going to go to Jonah’s first soccer practice before we take off, but that is at 9 am and we will be on the road by 10 o’clock. Jonah has watched Sam at soccer practice for two years now and has been so anxious to be 4 years-old so he can play, too. Tomorrow is his day.
Mark and I helped with drop-off and pick-up of Sam today as Jed had to take the 7 am bus to Boston. Sam was so excited because he was having his first spelling test. When I pick him up he was beaming. He got a 100%. Congratulations, Sam. After school, we took Sam with us to Walmart to look for moth traps. After our hours of cleaning on Wednesday, there are still moths, so trapping them would be a good idea. But our Walmart had nothing. I had read on the internet that you can use fish oil to attract them and fly paper to catch them. I told Sam this and he suggested we try to make traps using double stick tape. Sounded like a decent idea to me, so we went to CVS and bought fish oil vitamin capsules and tape. Sam was so excited to be able to build these traps himself. Now we just have to hope they work.
by Judy Handley | Sep 12, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 313, Year 8: Windbird’s Pharmacy
Date: Thursday, September 12, 2013
Weather: Another Beautiful Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
I spent most of my day dealing with what I call Windbird’s ‘pharmacy.’ When we started out in 2005, we signed onto the WorldClinic. This is an organization based in New Hampshire that outfits world cruisers, mountain climbers, and ‘crazy’ people of all kinds that will be out of the reach of conventional medical care while out adventuring. They specialize in telemedicine. “WorldClinic is the only concierge physician practice that provides immediate emergency telediagnosis and medical treatment at any hour, anywhere in the world, with just one phone call.” At the time, we had our satellite phone activated and we did need to call for help a couple of times in the first year of our voyage. And they do answer the phone after just one ring at any time of the day or night. Dr. Carlin at the WorldClinic outfitted Windbird with enough medicines and medical supplies to deal with almost any medical situation. We still have the big blue medical bag and most all of the original medications. We did have to use a few things, but there are about 25 prescription drugs that we didn’t use that are now way out of date. I had an appointment with my doctor this afternoon for a physical and he had told me to bring in the meds so we could sort through what should be updated. Basic antibiotics and an Epi-pen were at the top of the list to be renewed, as well as Scopolamine patches for seasickness and an Albuterol inhaler just in case. It was a good use of time to go through all of the things we have and to get the basics renewed.
Our friends, Geoff and Chris of Shambala, reached Shelburne, Nova Scotia at 7:30 am this morning, just 30 minutes shy of 48 hours for the total passage. Check-in was very easy and it didn’t cost anything, so Canada gets a thumbs-up for this. They can stay until October 30 and then they can get an extension, but the temperature might dictate a sail back south before then. The yacht club in Shelburne was very welcoming, but they were told that they would have to get off the dock by morning and take a mooring or anchor out due to the high winds expected tomorrow as Tropical Storm Gabrielle brushes past Nova Scotia. Here’s hoping that the next few weeks are warm enough to allow Chris and Geoff to enjoy sailing the Nova Scotia, and possibly the Newfoundland coast.
Mark continued his rebuilding of our aft cabin flooring. He has taken out some of the teak floor boards and has reinforced the sub-flooring. Refinishing the section of flooring is going to be real challenge, but he has a plan and in a few days we’ll find out if the plan works. If not, we’ll go to Plan B. The only problem, however, is that we don’t have a Plan B. But we’ll develop one if needed.
by Judy Handley | Sep 11, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 312, Year 8: Cleaning Kitchen Cupboards–Ugh
Date: Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Weather: Beautiful Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Heather and I spent this lovely day in her kitchen cleaning out the pantry and kitchen cupboards. We didn’t do this just to be cleaning. We did it because she has an infestation of moths and we needed to go through every little bit of food and decide whether or not it could be kept. Each can or box or bottle had to be wiped down and inspected. And, of course, one of us had to keep an eye on Ollie all the while. He was such a good little boy and enjoyed helping us, but a baby still takes time. I didn’t get home until after 7 pm and we still aren’t finished. Heather works tomorrow and Friday, but I think I will return on Friday to finish the job. I volunteered all of my Wednesdays until we leave to help Heather with Ollie so she can get her house cleaning projects done and this was #2. Heather has great aspirations for getting the whole house cleaned from top to bottom, but today she said she can see that we might spend all our Wednesdays right in the kitchen.
Mark stayed home on Windbird today and tackled a project that he has been dreading for a couple of years. Here removed parts of our aft cabin floor that adjoin the head and bolstered up the supports for the floor. We are going to have to do some refinishing when he is completed, but the project is going great.
We heard from our friends Geoff and Chris and they are having a great passage to Nova Scotia. They had no trouble negotiating Pollocks Rip yesterday and they are sailing on gentle seas with the headsail poled out to catch the wind from behind. They are having beautiful weather, but it is a bit chilly out there—“only three layers on so far with beanie, socks and gloves!!” Tropical Storm Gabrielle will skirt Nova Scotia southern coast on Friday, but they will arrive tomorrow and can get settled in and secure before dealing with the residual winds from a tropical storm.
by Judy Handley | Sep 10, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 311, Year 8: Happy Birthday to My 98 Year-Old Aunt Ethel
Date: Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Weather: Overcast and Very Windy
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Despite the overcast skies, blustery winds, and sprinkling rain . . . and the threat of Tropical Storm Gabrielle galloping up the North Atlantic . . . our friends Geoff and Chris left Eel Pond this morning headed for Shelburne, Nova Scotia. They should arrive on Thursday and Gabrielle should not skirt the southern tip of Nova Scotia until Friday. In the meantime, the weather is looking a bit unstable with a chance of thunderstorms, but wind will be behind them so there shouldn’t be a problem. Their biggest challenge might have been today. They were headed east across the Nantucket Sound and were hoping to negotiate the shallow pass from the Nantucket Sound through Pollock Rip to the Atlantic while the current was still with them. We are anxious to hear how that passage went and when we hear, we’ll let you know.
Today, September 10th, is the traditional peak of the hurricane season. It is unusual to not have had a formed hurricane before now, but Humberto is forming and could be headed our way soon. It is looking like the ‘traditional peak’ date might have to be moved forward just a bit. So with the absence of a hurricane, Mark and I decided to form our own. We are tearing into cabinets on Windbird and doing a whirlwind clean-out. I’m going to name this storm Whirlybird.
And finally, happy birthday wishes to my 98 year-old Aunt Ethel. She is an amazing woman who just doesn’t seem to age. At 98 she is much more like a very young 70. So here’s hoping her 99th year is as good as all the rest.
