by Judy Handley | Jan 6, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 78, Year 9: World Travelers Visit Windbird
Date: Monday, January 6, 2014
Weather: Overcast with a Little Rain, Temp Dropping by Morning
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Good friends Jon and Heather Turgeon came by to visit today. They are on their way to see Heather’s parents in Vermont and by the end of January they will be back in New Zealand. They have just completed their second season of world cruising and their second passage from the Pacific islands to sit out the cyclone season in New Zealand. Their boat, Evergreen, awaits their return. The weather was not conducive to doing much this afternoon, but we did go to Woods Hole and had a tour of the Coast Guard Station there. The station in Woods Hole houses the command center for the Southeastern New England Sector as well as the local station. We didn’t get to see the sector command station, but we did get a glimpse of what the local station does. The most fun was touring the small boats. They have a new one that is about 40 feet in length and you drive it with a joy stick. After the tour we returned to Windbird and had a fun evening catching up on life. Tomorrow life is back to normal. Since there was only one work day last week and then the snow storm, we haven’t gotten back into our routine from before the holidays. But tomorrow we jump in with both feet. Heather has to be on the air by 9 am, so we have to get up early and be there to walk Sam to school and take care of Ollie. Mark starts a new consulting job tomorrow. And after Heather is on the air at the radio station in Woods Hole she has to travel to Boston. So it will be a long, hard day in the ‘salt mines’ for all.
by Judy Handley | Jan 5, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 77, Year 9: On the Twelfth Day of Christmas . . . Quiet
Date: Sunday, January 5, 2014
Weather: Overcast; Warming Up
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
The twelfth day of Christmas was a very quiet day here on Windbird. Mark repaired the platform that is our entry to the boat from the dock. It moved around so much in the heavy winds on Thursday night that some boards came loose. So he bolted and screwed it together this time. I did laundry and prepared the boat for overnight guests. Tomorrow our friends Heather and Jon Turgeon arrive. We met Heather and Jon when we lived aboard in Boston in 2003 to 2005. They are now sailing around the world and are home for a visit. We are very excited to see them tomorrow. It will be a short visit, but we’ll just talk fast!
by Judy Handley | Jan 4, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 76, Year 9: On the Eleventh Day of Christmas . . . Ice and Snow
Date: Saturday, January 4, 2014
Weather: Most Sunny Day; Low Overnight Below Zero, High Today 30 degrees F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Mark and I survived the cold night just fine. The temperature outside dipped below zero but the inside temp stayed at 60 degrees F and warmed up quickly this morning with sunshine and a little help from the oven. Closer to noon, Mark and I ventured out and we were shocked at the build-up of ice around us in just one below zero night. Last evening there was the merest skiff of ice around the boat, but his morning there were 1-2 inch slabs of solid ice. The marina keeps one bubbler going under the boat most of the time (bubblers are meant to keep ice from forming by constantly disturbing the water), but this morning they had all of the surrounding bubblers going full blast. It looked a bit like a bubble bath! Since the temperature didn’t get above freezing today, the ice is still here but those bubblers are still going and hopefully with warmer weather tomorrow and Monday there will be a bit of melting.
Mark and I are both still plagued with cold-like symptoms, although I don’t believe it is a cold. It has lasted over a month now and nothing has really helped. I only get a bit of a cough when I lay down and it goes away quickly. But Mark is having to sit up to sleep. He spends his nights on the settee in the main cabin, but at least he can sleep propped up there. Mid-afternoon today he went up in the cockpit, which was nice and warm, to read for a bit, while I went over to pick up Sam and Jonah and take them sledding. Mark and I spotted a great sledding spot in North Falmouth when we went to the store yesterday, so I called and asked to ‘borrow’ the big boys this afternoon. The spot is perfect for little ones to sled. It is steep enough that they feel very daring, but other than one tree, it is perfectly safe. When we got there, we were surprised to find people that Sam knows from school in East Falmouth. His PE teacher and his family were there as well as one fellow first grader and his mom who also works at Sam’s school. She guarded the menacing tree while everyone sledded. Sam and Jonah have saucer-shaped metal sleds. The other kids had a variety of sleds and everyone shared and all got a chance to try everything. The fastest sleds were Uncle Bob’s snow tubes which are inflatables that look like huge inner tubes with a solid seat in the center. The next favorite looked like a thin boogie board, some made for one rider and others for two. The kids all agreed that the thin plastic sleds that look like two-man toboggans felt unsafe. They turned over too easily, didn’t go as fast, and felt like they would break easily. But the neatest thing was that all of the children shared their sleds willingly with one another. Jonah was the youngest sledder there, but he didn’t let that stop him. He rode from the highest hill and had a great time. Sam and Jonah went up and down the hill for a solid hour and a half, and even with tumbles and bumbles, there was never a complaint. What a great afternoon in the snow. And by the way, in order to walk from the parking area to the sledding slopes we had to walk through snow that was waist high on Jonah—almost up to my knees in places. And the boys thought that was as much fun as sledding.
by Judy Handley | Jan 3, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 75, Year 9: On the Tenth Day of Christmas . . . COLD
Date: Friday, January 3, 2014
Weather: Snow Overnight and Winds to 45 Knots, Currently 5 degrees F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Today can be summarized in one word—COLD. And it is getting colder. We will get down to zero tonight and then by Monday we will hit a high of 50 degrees F before it dips back to the teens on Tuesday. What a weather rollercoaster! The foot of snow we got last night is beautiful, but that’s all I can say for it. We woke up to 45 knot winds rattling everything on the boat and could see by looking out the ports that the fine snow had been blown in under the plastic covering so that Windbird’s deck had a coating of snow. We tried to go out mid-day for a walk, but even though the winds were down to 25 knots, it was enough to freeze your face in a few minutes. By 4 pm, however, we did venture out to the market not far away. The marina had our car plowed out by 9 am this morning and it was so windy here on the water that there was no snow accumulation on the docks. It all blew away. So thankfully, we didn’t have to do any shoveling. Yesterday through today our daughter Heather was running a live weather blog for WCAI, the public radio station located in Woods Hole. We enjoyed reading her updates and were surprised this morning when an early morning of photo of Star, the sailboat that belongs to our friends Irene and Steve Mascek, was featured. They are living aboard in the Falmouth Harbor and evidently Irene got up first thing and went outside to get the photo. Star’s deck was piled high with snow. Normally Star spends her winters in the Caribbean, so this storm and cold weather have been a bit of a shock for Steve and Irene. All Steve had to say is that he is sure glad Star doesn’t have high bulwarks. He was able to push the snow off the deck rather than shovel and throw over—a bit easier, but still not my idea of fun.
The temperature inside Windbird has been dropping a degree every hour or so tonight, but we started at 71 F and I don’t think it will go below 60 F. That’s cooler than we like, but I will turn on the oven in the morning and it will help warm things up. And once the temp is back up a few degrees outside, we’ll be fine. But it’s always nice to have a back-up and tonight Jane Woodin called and invited us to come there to get warm. I don’t think we’ll need to take her up on the offer, but we do so appreciate that she and Bruce were thinking of us.
by Judy Handley | Jan 2, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 74, Year 9: On the Ninth Day of Christmas . . . Snow, Wind, and Cold
Date: Thursday, January 2, 2014
Weather: Snow Off and On All Day, Temp in the 20’s F and Dropping
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
As we write this letter, we are experiencing a winter storm that is bringing 25 to 35 mile per hour winds and snow. We could wake up in the morning with a foot or more of fluffy white stuff on the ground and before the storm moves on tomorrow afternoon, the snow accumulation could be even greater. This will be the fourth snow of this winter season whereas we had only one major snow storm two years ago. But Windbird’s plastic bubble and the two oil-encased heaters keep us nice and toasty. Tomorrow will be the really cold day and since the wind is supposed to continue to blow, the wind chill factor will make it mighty chilly. Here on Cape Cod, surrounded by water, it will not get nearly as cold as it will further north and inland. But then, anything below 50 degrees F is cold to me!
Jonah doesn’t have school this week, so he was home with Ollie today. Sam cried because he had to go to school today and Jonah cried because he couldn’t go. But Sam had a great day at school and Jonah and Ollie had a great day at home. Jonah has had a bit of a stomach bug for a few days, but today he was able to eat with no problems. I even talked him into taking a nap as I figured a little rest couldn’t hurt. He actually sat in my lap in the rocker and we sang The Twelve Days of Christmas together and then he and Granddad took a nap together. I was a happy Oma because Jonah will be 5 in June and I figure opportunities to hold and rock him might not happen again. Jonah and Granddad became best buddies today because Granddad played games on his tablet with Jonah. Ollie, Jonah, and I had fun playing in the snow this morning and then again after school. An older neighbor boy, Cassidy, came over to play in the snow and he brought his snowboard and his new GoPro camera mounted on the front of his helmet. Sam and Jonah were duly impressed and tried their best to ride on the snowboard. I think Cassidy shot some video of their attempts. He is in middle school and he has a GoPro! Cassidy’s is mounted on his bike helmet and he can capture video using no hands with the helmet-mounted camera. I’m so jealous. I would love to have one of these tiny cameras that I could wear on my head like a headlamp while sailing and snorkeling. Maybe if I am extra good this year Santa will bring me one next Christmas.
by Judy Handley | Jan 1, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 73, Year 9: On the Eighth Day of Christmas . . . Happy New Year
Date: Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Cold, High in the 20’s F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Happy New Year! I always try to spend my New Year’s Day the way I hope to spend the next 365. My dad always said that you will spend the rest of the year as you do on this day. So I got up and went on a cleaning frenzy, visited with Heather, Jed, and boys for a bit to help them get leftover Christmas cookies ready to hang on the trees outside for the birds, came home and cooked dinner (so far, so good), and tried to get a yearly update letter written to friends and family. In typical fashion, the letter is not completed. So I guess I’ll spend another year trying desperately to get things done that just don’t get done on time. Some things never change!
