by Judy Handley | Apr 23, 2013 | Little River, SC, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 171, Year 8: Making Lists and Checking Them Twice
Date: Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Weather: Winds ENE 10; Temp in the Low 70’s F—Getting Warmer
Location: Lightkeepers Marina in Coquina Harbor, Little River, SC
Santa Claus is not coming to town, not as far as we know, but we are still making our lists and checking them twice. Getting ready for departure on a passage is one of those time when it is really important to make lists and make sure you have done what is on the list. We defrosted the freezer and cleaned out the refrigerator in anticipation of the upcoming passage. We then went to Patsy and Joe’s and spent part of the afternoon cleaning their van that we have been driving for the past five months, did some cooking, and got our photos stored away. It doesn’t sound like much, but it was a full day of activity. Tomorrow morning we go to get fuel, do some more food shopping, get ready for the trip to Annapolis, and then go out to dinner with Patsy and Joe and Brian and Judy Thompson. It will be another full day. On Thursday morning we will head to Annapolis with Lynda and Lee Kaufman to help in their search for a new sailboat. We hope to be home by Saturday evening, but more realistically, we probably won’t get home until Sunday. Depending on the weather and exactly when we get home, plans will be made on Sunday for the final departure time for Windbird.
The weather was much better today. The day started out windy and cool but by evening the wind had finally died down and it warmed up a bit. It is a temporary warm up, however, as another front moves across the country and sends north winds back this way on Thursday. That will cool things down once again. It’s still too early to tell what the weather will really be like next week for the beginning of the passage, but it is my bet that it will be an Intracoastal trip to the Chesapeake and on up into the Delaware Bay. It looks like things are just not settled enough for an outside trip. But we shall see.
by Judy Handley | Apr 22, 2013 | Little River, SC, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 170, Year 8: Getting Windbird Ready for Passage to Cape Cod
Date: Monday, April 22, 2013
Weather: Windy NNE 15-20; Temp in the Low 60’s F—Feels Cold!
Location: Lightkeepers Marina in Coquina Harbor, Little River, SC
The weather here right now feels more like Cape Cod this time of year than like what the Myrtle Beach area should feel like in late April. With the north winds blowing, the thermometer might say 60 degrees, but it feels downright cold. Everyone is waiting for the warm spring weather to come and stay, but it just isn’t happening this year. Maybe the weather is just trying to keep us acclimated so that we won’t feel too cold when we head north next week. Since I am flying, I will certainly arrive first. Mark is hoping that things will warm up more by the time he gets there. It’s looking like he will have to go the inland waterway route and that will take at least two weeks. Cape Cod can be quite delightful by mid-May, so hopefully he gets his wish. Right now the Cape is having the same weather as we are, but it will warm up here when these north winds stop blowing whereas the temperature on the Cape will remain the same. We talked to Heather this evening and she is expecting a shipment of bees to arrive tomorrow. Unfortunately it is supposed to be cloudy and rainy—just the kind of weather that bees don’t like. So we’ll hope the forecast was wrong and that she will have a sunny afternoon for putting her bees in the hive. In any case, good luck, Heather.
It was Mark’s day to do a rebuild on the aft head pump and my day to clean out food lockers and get them organized for the passage. Once Mark finished his job, he pitched in and helped me. I think he now has a much better idea of where everything is located. This is a good thing since I will not be along to do the cooking! We had dinner with Patsy and Joe and will go back there tomorrow morning to do a little more passage cooking and to get all of our photographs stored away. We have five huge plastic storage boxes of photographs that have been spread out all over one of their guest rooms for the past couple of weeks. By Wednesday this wicked wind is supposed to calm down and we will take Windbird to get fueled up. At that point, Windbird will be basically ready for take-off except for the final grocery run for fresh produce. We are both finding it hard to believe that we have been here for five months. The time has passed so quickly. We have so enjoyed being here with Patsy and Joe and will miss them so much when we head north. But then in only six months we’ll be headed back this way. So goes the life of a snowbird.
by Judy Handley | Apr 21, 2013 | Little River, SC, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 169, Year 8: Back to Lightkeepers Marina
Date: Sunday, April 21, 2013
Weather: Windy ENE 20-22; Temp in the 50’s F
Location: Lightkeepers Marina in Coquina Harbor, Little River, SC
Today was another cool and windy day, but at least the sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We got off the Barefoot Landing dock around 9 am with enough water under the keel to keep us from going aground. The tide was going down, so we ate breakfast and got out of Dodge while we could. It was a beautiful morning for messing about in boats, and we enjoyed the trip back with Brian and Judy. It was windy but that didn’t affect our trip. But with 20 knots from the NE and gusts to 26, we were a bit worried about getting into the slip at Lightkeepers. Luckily the wind died temporary just as we headed in and James (the manager) and another couple were there to catch our lines. Five Power Squadron boats all arrived at the marina at about the same time, so James was a busy man. Once we were tied securely to the dock, Brian and Judy went home but then Brian returned with his saw and sander. Mark needed to cut a bit off the bottom of the door leading into the aft cabin. When Mark installed the carpeting, we were no long able to open and close the door. So now that little task is completed. While the door was out on the dock, I decided to clean it with Murphy’s Wood Oil and then give it a bit of shine with Old English Oil. While I was at it, I decided to take off all the cabinet doors in the aft cabin and clean all of them. This job took most of the afternoon, but the aft cabin is a lot cleaner. We then went over to Patsy and Joe’s to say hello and do some cooking for the passage north. I made enough salmon cakes for an army so we had salmon cakes and kale with rice for dinner. So far I have chili, salmon cakes, and lasagna made and frozen for the passage. Since this could be a 14-16 day trip, the preparation, food and otherwise, will continue this week.
by Judy Handley | Apr 20, 2013 | Little River, SC, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 168, Year 8: Outing at Barefoot Landing
Date: Saturday, April 20, 2013
Weather: Winds NNE 10-15; Temp in the Upper 50’s F
Location: Barefoot Landing, North Myrtle Beach, SC
What a difference these northeast winds make here in South Carolina. Yesterday with winds from the south it was warm but today with the north winds blowing and little or no sunshine, it feels quite chilly. But we continued on with our trek from Lightkeepers Marina to Barefoot Landing. It was only about seven miles and took us well under two hours, but it was nice to be out and about in Windbird. Brian and Judy Thompson came with us and we have had a great time. We had a bit of a hard time getting to the dock here as we kept going aground trying to get to the dock. We tried one place and then another, and finally on our third try we found a spot where we could barely get to the dock before going aground. We’re hopeful that we will be able to get away in the morning, but we’ll worry about that in the morning. In the meantime, we had a great time here. We started ‘Happy Hour’ once we arrived and Roger and Bonnie Williams from a sailboat named Moondancer joined us. Then we went to the dock party hosted by the Sail and Power Squadron. There were free margaritas for all, but instead of drinking margaritas we spent most of the time touring other boats. The other Squadron members here are on power boats and it was quite interesting to see how the other half lives. The whole group then moved to Castanos Italian Steak House which is conveniently only a short walk from the dock. We ended the evening on Flo and Roger Clark’s boat, Knotty Girl. Flo celebrated her birthday last night and she had enough leftover cake to feed a crew of us again tonight. It has been a delightful day and now we are just hoping for sunnier, warmer weather tomorrow for our return to Lightkeepers.
by Judy Handley | Apr 19, 2013 | Little River, SC, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 167, Year 8: Thank You, Patsy and Joe
Date: Friday, April 19, 2013
Weather: Winds S 18-22; Temp in the Mid 70’s F
Location: Lightkeepers Marina in Coquina Harbor, Little River, SC
Thanks to Patsy and Joe, we have a brand new auto pilot controller. Thank you, thank you, thank you. They wanted to do something for us to thank us for helping them through Patsy’s surgery. We insisted that we didn’t want anything, but they had heard us talking about the controller that was giving us so much trouble. So it was ordered from Amazon and now it is installed. We first had trouble with the display on the controller when we were Thailand. When we came home in 2009 we bought a remote controller ‘just in case.’ Luckily, we made it home without having to rely on the remote. But then on the first day of our passage from Cape Cod to here back in November, the button that you push to engage the auto pilot just quit working so that there was no way to use the auto pilot. Thankfully we had the remote and we could use it to engage the auto pilot. But it is battery operated and a couple of times when the batteries were low, we were not able to engage the auto pilot until the remote was recharged. I felt it was a bit dangerous because we would forget and hit ‘auto’ and then think we were in auto pilot mode when we weren’t. It didn’t take long before we would realize our problem, but now we don’t have to worry about that all. So we are very grateful. Thank you, Patsy and Joe. And by the way, Patsy is doing great. She still has some gastrointestinal issues, but all of that is getting better. She has lost about 5 pounds and is working hard to regain the lost weight, but she has lots of energy and looks great.
Mark spent his day installing the new controller while I spent time in Patsy and Joe’s kitchen making chili and lasagna to freeze for the passage to Cape Cod. We then all spent our entire evening watching the events in Boston. I couldn’t leave until we heard that they finally had the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing in custody. Thankfully that happened just in time to let us get home before the heavens opened up in downpour. We literally just barely got to the cockpit before the pouring rain came down. Unfortunately Mark wanted to go back out to run another line in case of high winds. He got a bit wet but Windbird is more secure. It looks like the rain should subside sometime tomorrow morning and then tomorrow afternoon we take off for Barefoot Landing. Brian and Judy Thompson are going with us and we are looking forward to a fun overnight trip.
by Judy Handley | Apr 18, 2013 | Little River, SC, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 166, Year 8: Panic Time
Date: Thursday, April 18, 2013
Weather: Winds SE 10-15; Temp in the Mid 70’s F
Location: Lightkeepers Marina in Coquina Harbor, Little River, SC
It always happens. When a passage is approaching, there is always a day when panic sets in, and today was that day. Mark went with Lee to look at boats today and when they returned, Mark turned the aft cabin upside down to examine our steering cables that are under the bed. Mark thinks they need to be replaced before the trip to Cape Cod, and if that is going to happen, we have to hustle. The company that made the cables that are there now is no longer in business. Another company bought them out and the cables we have been discontinued. So just trying to figure out what to buy and from where is a challenge. Not to mention the fact that the project would have to be done in less than two weeks. So that’s Mark’s panic. My panic, as usual, is about provisioning for the trip, but this time the job is even more challenging than usual. I have made a decision to fly to Massachusetts to help our daughter Heather while Jed is out of the country from May 1 to May 9. I made reservations tonight to fly to Boston on Wednesday, May 1. That means I will not be onboard Windbird for the passage north to feed the crew. Lee Kaufman has graciously agreed to go with Mark, and Lynda Kaufman might go as well. But Mark is used to me doing all of the cooking during passages, so this will be a new twist. I bought things yesterday to cook a lot of meals that can be frozen, but now the issue is time to do the cooking. It will all get done, but tonight the task looks daunting. But then, everything always looks worse at night. Tomorrow is new day, and I’m sure things will look brighter.
We are supposed to be going to a Sail and Power Squadron outing this weekend and Lee and Lynda have invited us to go to Annapolis with them next week to look at boats. If we do both things, the number of days to prepare dwindles. So time is precious. The weather for this weekend is not looking all that great, so we might have to scrap the weekend boat trip to give me more cooking time. And depending on what Mark decides to do about the steering cables, we might have to scrap the Annapolis trip as well. I guess we’ll just see how tomorrow goes and make one decision at a time.
