by Judy Handley | Apr 30, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 191, Year 9: Winter Coats
Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Weather: Overcast and Rainy All Day; High Temp in the 40’s F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
It is definitely time to shed our winter coats, but this weather just won’t let us. After school yesterday I was on the school playground with Sam, Ollie, and Sam’s friend Sebastian. There were three other adults there, all young mothers, and none of them had on their winter coats. Only me. But I was warm and they were all talking about how cold they were and attributing it to the fact of growing older. They were saying that when they were younger, they never felt this cold in late April. Not one of them thought it was because it might just be colder this year than in the past. I don’t know if that is true, but it certainly feels like it. Tomorrow is forecast to be another sunless, rainy day, but sometime on Friday, the sun should show its face and hopefully our world will feel more like spring. On Saturday we have to take off our plastic bubble and expose Windbird to the elements. On Monday she comes out of the water so the bottom can be painted. So a week of warmth and sunshine would certainly be helpful.
Mark and I both went to see the doctor today and she put us both on an antibiotic to deal with sinus infections. Since Mark’s lungs sound worse than mine and his cough is much worse, she also prescribed a cough medicine and an inhaler for him. So here’s hoping these drugs can do a final knockout and that we will actually feel healthy in another week or two. I’m sure looking forward to that!
by Judy Handley | Apr 29, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 190, Year 9: Aussie Friends on Lady M
Date: Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Weather: Overcast All Day; High Temp in the 40’s F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Our Aussie friends Geoff and Chris of sailing vessel Shambala are off on a very interesting adventure. I’ve written about Geoff and Chris many times. We met them in South Africa and we have seen them a few times here in the US in the past couple of years. When we sailed home from South Africa, Geoff and Chris made their way to the US and have been in this country ever since. This winter they have been living aboard their sailboat, Shambala, in Norfolk, Virginia, and a couple of months ago they were offered jobs on a 210-foot mega-yacht, Lady M, to serve as crew in getting Lady M from Fort Lauderdale in Florida to Majorca in Spain. They had to leave the US anyway as their Visas are up tomorrow and they had planned to spend May and June back home in Australia before returning in July to start their cruising year. So this opportunity worked out great for them. The Lady M is the largest boat ever built by Palmer Johnson and its Captain is Gordon Scott from Australia—who is also a good friend of Chris and Geoff’s. Chris wrote to us saying, “Lady M is spectacular and it’s been amazing getting to know her. The website to look at the official photos is www.palmerjohnson.com and look for the 210 foot Lady M.”
This boat is incredible. I think the best place to see and learn about it is at: http://www.boatinternational.com/yacht-features/lady-m-palmer-johnsons-new-64m-flagship-offers-power-and-grace-in-abundance/ or you can just google ‘Palmer Johnson Lady M’ and you will come up with various sites. I didn’t ask Chris’ permission to copy her email here, but I am going to assume that she would enjoy sharing their story with you. We received the email yesterday and it details getting the boat out of Fort Lauderdale and on its way across the Atlantic via Puerto Rico. If I get updates, I’ll pass those along.
“We are currently running down the outside of the Bahamas – no it’s true, I didn’t make a typo! Plans changed and things happened so quickly – it was all very fast and furious. On Friday night we were told that work for all starts at 6:30am next morning for a 7am departure from Lauderdale Marine Centre. The boat in front of us was notified the night before that we were leaving and they would have to move, the tugs were ordered to tow us out the New River, 20 contractors/inspectors came on board to do the final inspections and stay with us for the sea trials and everything was ready to go. However, this poor young beautiful lady was again plagued by misfortune when the captain forgot that he had to move the boat in front of us and the tug boats would not move it without the owner’s permission. So that meant we missed the tide and we had to stand down for another 24 hours. Poor Scotty was shattered.
Talk about p…ed off! One man had flown in from the Cayman Islands! Anyway it was actually a good thing as it gave us all more time to get better organized. The carpet guy came and reinstalled the carpets which were pulled up for access under the floor, the fuel tankers came and Lady M guzzled a squillion litres of juice and lots of odds and ends were attended to.
Sunday morning we had another go at leaving and cast off our lines around 8am. It took ages to reach the 17th Street bridge and it was an interesting trip down the river around the very tight bends with the fore and aft little tug boats doing all the work maneuvering M this way and that. They are expert men on those tugs, at times having barely inches to spare and all the while lounging back making it look so easy.
All along the river, people ran into or out of homes grabbing cameras and flashing away as we slowly crept past with a procession of smaller craft held up by our size, tagging along behind. I had starboard stern position to man and keep watch over standing in the hot sun for a few hours. All down the river we had a photo shoot going on overhead from a helicopter so it will be good to see those pics at some stage.
Once under the last bridge we cast off the tugs lines and we were under our own massive power heading out to sea for the trials which took all day. By late afternoon she had passed her trials and we were given the OK from about 10 different organizations to leave so we brought all the contractors back into the 15th Street fisheries wharf and off-loaded them, cast off the lines again and spun around holding up dozens of small craft and headed out again. Our route at this point is Puerto Rico, Madeira, Gibraltar and final destination Palma in Majorca. There is bad weather heading for Bermuda so we are going out of our way to skirt it to save time and hopefully miss it all. We have one contractor still on board with us working on the teak deck and will drop him off in Puerto Rico.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) by late afternoon we are due to arrive in San Jan, Puerto Rico for a fuel stop and quick turnaround before heading straight back out and off to Madeira. We will just make it out before our Visa expires Wednesday night at midnight – we hope!
My watch is 2am-6am and 2pm-6pm which I like and Geoff’s down in the engine room is 12midnight to 4am and 12noon to 4pm. All is going well and our first night at sea has been very peaceful with calm seas. Lady M is flying along at 20 knots guzzling just a 1000 litres of fuel per hour. She feels like she is floating on air and wants to go faster which she certainly can but for now the Captain is happy with this speed and the Engineer, also.”
by Judy Handley | Apr 28, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 189, Year 9: A Fighting Chance
Date: Monday, April 28, 2014
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High Temp in the Upper 40’s F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Mark and I are both reading Elizabeth Warren’s most recent book, “A Fighting Chance.” Whether you love her or hate her, you have to admit this woman is willing to fight passionately for those things in which she believes. And her book is well written and hard to put down. Today Mark and I drove to Mass General for yet another PET scan to find out the results of Mark’s recent round of radiation treatments. And sometime during the day, while sitting and reading Elizabeth Warren’s book while waiting for Mark, I realized that Mark thinks a lot like Elizabeth Warren. Right now he is putting all of his energy into fighting for his life and he does it with such grace. Next Monday we will find out what sort of fighting chance he has, but whatever it is, he will continue the battle with determination and never have a negative thought. He just goes forward.
But right now, he is getting sicker by the minute with something that has nothing to do with cancer. He has always had a weakness when it comes to upper-respiratory problems. This cold, or whatever, that all of us have had just hit him this weekend . . . and it is hitting him hard. After we got back from Boston this evening, he started feeling hot, and when he checked his temperature it was about 101. Since his normal temp is 97.3, this is more like 102 for the rest of us. He took some Ibuprofen is sleeping right now, and hopefully the fever will have come down by the time he wakes up. I continue to feel worse, not better, after two weeks of this. So tomorrow, we will both call for an appointment with our primary care physician. Heather still doesn’t have her normal voice back, but she is feeling much better now that she is on an antibiotic. And Ollie is doing great as well. Jonah recovered without having to take an antibiotic, but I think Mark and I are probably antibiotic bound. And hopefully a return to feeling healthy will follow soon.
by Judy Handley | Apr 27, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 188, Year 9: The Pirate Life
Date: Sunday, April 27, 2014
Weather: Overcast with Periods of Drizzle; High Temp in the Upper 40’s F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
While life here has been in the slow lane for Mark and me this weekend as we try to recover from this incessant cold/flu/sinusitis/whatever, life in Culebra for our son and daughter-in-law was definitely in the fast lane. After making the big move from New Mexico to Puerto Rico last September, Justin and Jo recently decided that they have had enough of paying huge rent payments and this weekend they made another big move from rental home to tent in the woods. Jo is writing a blog that will chronicle their experiences and it is entitled, “Our Pirate Life.” She has made two entries to date—one outlining their reasons for making this move and one describing the move. This is quite an adventure and we hope that all goes well for them. If you would like to read more about this, you can go to Jo’s blogsite at:
PIRATE CAMP
Yesterday Justin made a Facebook entry that included a 6 second video. It was a video that spanned an entire day of building a platform for their tent. I think you can see “My Day Today in 6 Seconds” at https://www.facebook.com/JustinHandley. I’m not 100 per cent sure this link will work, but it’s worth a try.
We know this has been a very busy weekend for Justin and Jo and we sure hope all has gone smoothly. Good luck–Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco–in this new chapter in your lives.
by Judy Handley | Apr 26, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 187, Year 9: R & R & R
Date: Saturday, April 26, 2014
Weather: High Temp in the Upper 40’s F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Today was a day of R & R (rest and recuperation) and R-ain here on Windbird. We didn’t do anything or go anyplace and nor did we have Sam and Jonah out for an overnight. Since I have been sick for two weeks, I should be getting better. But I am not. And Mark is just starting his battle with this cold monster, so we just have to wait and see how that goes. Right now we make a pretty pathetic pair. Mark will go to work tomorrow and I will try and muster the energy to do something fun with the boys. Surely good health and warm weather will come soon.
by Judy Handley | Apr 25, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 186, Year 9: Dominant Theme . . . The Sickies
Date: Friday, April 25, 2014
Weather: High Temp in the 50’s F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
It’s hard to determine the dominant theme here these days. Is it the weather or ‘the sickies’? I think I have to go with the latter. Heather went to the doctor yesterday after not being able to work most of this week and she is now on antibiotics for a sinus infection. Ollie went to the doctor today and is now on antibiotics for an ear infection. Stupidly, I didn’t go to the doctor and I’m certain that I have a full blown sinus infection. And now Mark has whatever it is that we are all suffering from. He was able to work today, but thankfully has tomorrow off. Hopefully a little rest tomorrow will help us all. What a way to spend spring vacation week. The only hope now is that everyone is better by Monday when life gets back to normal. Sam and Jonah were supposed to come out tonight for an overnight on Windbird, but we had to put that on hold. Maybe tomorrow night.
Tonight Mark and I watched the movie Captain Phillips. It sure made us feel good about our decision to go around South Africa instead of going through the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea in 2010. The one question that the head of the US Maritime Liaison Office in Bahrain, Captain Hastings, posed to us in an email caused us to reverse our direction, “Who in your family will you appoint to negotiate with the terrorists (Somali pirates) should you be taken?” This question stopped us dead in our tracks. We had no answer, so we reversed our direction. It was late in November of 2009 when he asked that question, the same year that Captain Phillips’ ship was boarded in April. The movie tonight made us sad to think of Jean and Scott Adams of Quest who did decide to go through the Gulf of Aden in 2011 and were boarded by Somali pirates. And just as with Captain Phillips, the US Navy tried to come to their rescue. But that rescue attempt didn’t work and Scot and Jean were murdered by the pirates. SY Quest was the first American vessel to be captured by Somali pirates since the Maersk Alabama hijacking in 2009 that is the subject of the movie, Captain Phillips. We knew Scott and Jean which makes all of this way too personal. But still, we enjoyed the movie.
