Day 360, Year 7: Not So Fast
Date: Friday, November 2, 2012
Weather: Overcast and Windy
Latitude: 41 31.443 N
Longitude: 070 40.603 W
Location: Great Harbor, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Tonight Windbird is now on mooring outside Woods Hole in Great Harbor. The
bridge opened as promised and the parade of boats made their way out of the
pond. Bob Morris sailed away in Apogee taking her north for the winter.
Mitch from the Marine Biological Lab sailed his brand new Sabre, Helix,
north as well. A couple of us took moorings in Great Bay. All of the
workmen who hand-cranked the bridge open, as well as some city officials,
were on the dock as we went under the bridge so we were able to thank them.
When we go through there are just a few feet on each side of us. It is
cozy. Heather and Oliver were in Woods Hole having lunch with Jed and
Oliver and she was on the shore to get a photo of us going through. Once we
were secured on the mooring, Mark went up the mast to put cable clamps on
the stays underneath the top spreaders to keep them from ‘drooping.’ We
have the lazy jacks that hold up our main sail cover attached to the ends of
the spreaders, and over time, they have pulled them down a bit. Now the
cable clamps will keep the spreaders nice and straight.
I spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for the passage by doing
some meal preparations and Mark worked on the weather. At 4:30 pm we made
radio contact with Herb Hilgenberg of South Bound II to get his
recommendation for our departure date. He nixed leaving tomorrow and
suggested that we plan to leave on Sunday but check-in tomorrow for further
recommendations. After much consternation, we have decided to take his
advice. So NOT SO FAST. We are going to have to hang out here for another
day. Unless something else changes, we will leave here Sunday morning and
head directly for the Delaware Bay instead of Norfolk. The Nor’easter
arriving early on Wednesday morning looks ugly so we won’t try to make it to
Norfolk. We’ll duck inside and make our way to the Chesapeake Bay and down
to Norfolk inside. It will take a little longer, but it will be much safer.
That’s the important thing. We should still get to our first destination of
Little River, South Carolina, in plenty of time for Thanksgiving and we
might even get to go to my friend’s wedding reception gala in Washington,
DC. So this looks like a win-win situation. Let’s just hope there is not
another weather update tomorrow that changes everything again!
We had a lovely farewell dinner with the Heather, Jed, and boys tonight. We
had sushi, our favorite, and spent time just enjoying time together. Sam
declared that he is 101 per cent sad about our leaving and wouldn’t talk
about it beyond that. I’m not sure Jonah knows what it means that we are
leaving and certainly Oliver doesn’t. But I’m like Sam. I am 101 per cent
sad to be leaving. At the same time, I am looking forward to spending time
in the Carolinas with my sister and then traveling on to the Bahamas in
January after a short visit back here. Before we know it, we will be back
here in April. So I have to temper my sadness about leaving with the
excitement of exploring new places and the fact that we will be returning.
But I’m still going to miss those three little guys
soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much.
Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco landed safely in Albuquerque at 1 pm their time
this afternoon and were driving north to Santa Fe the last time we had
contact with them. We are so glad their flight home was uneventful. Jo
wrote and said both Ziggy and Coco were amazing flyers today-no tears and no
complaints. Justin has to do a quick turn around to get ready to give his
TedX talk tomorrow, but hopefully he can relax with Jo, Ziggy, and Coco on
Sunday and then launch back into the work week on Monday. We are certainly
going to miss them as well, but the fact that we haven’t spent time with
them on a daily basis for over a year makes it a little easier But not
much.
We heard yesterday from cruising friends from France that we met in South
Africa. They arrived in their boat in New York City a few days before Sandy
hit and we were very worried about them and their boat, KEA. Amazingly, the
boat the Doms (Dominique and Dominque) are just fine. They were invited to
spend the night in the home of a local boater and they think New Yorkers are
the friendliest people on earth. We are so happy to hear that they are fine
and that we might get to rendezvous with them in the Bahamas this winter.
We have also heard from another cruising couple, Dave and Pam Gwinn. They
lived aboard their boat Jubilee at Shipyard Quarters in Charleston when we
lived there on Windbird prior to our trip around the world. Dave and Pam
now spend their summer in the Chesapeake and their winters in the Bahamas.
Dave has spent the last week holed up in the Dismal Swamp in the
Intracoastal Waterway with a friend who is helping him get their boat,
Jublilee, to the Bahamas. Pam, Dave’s wife, stayed at home in the
Chesapeake and will fly to the Bahamas once Dave has arrived. Their home is
on the water in the southern Chesapeake, and Pam had a few moments of terror
when Sandy hit and the water was licking at the foundation of their home.
We talked to her tonight and found that all is well. So we are very
grateful tonight that both KEA and Jubliee are just fine.
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| 121102 Day 360 Cape Cod, USA– Leaving Eel Pond |
