October 24, 2010 - The Crossing

Finally set sail for Fort Lauderdale, winds 16 – 20 knots, waves 6 – 8 feet, yikes it's going to be a fast uncomfortable ride.

We left the dock later than usual, around 7 p.m., because the bow light wasn't working – it still wasn't but Gerry taped a spare he had to the front hatch and off we went. I wasn't crazy about sailing in these conditions, I have been seasick once or twice but Chris was arriving Monday and we had tons of shopping to do so we didn't have much choice. Just past the reef, all was going well, the jib sail (only) was up and I was feeling fine when all of a sudden there was this horrendous noise! The anchor had decided to abandon ship and let itself out. When Gerry was attempting to fix the bow light he didn't refasten the anchor chain. So down comes the jib, out comes the winch handle and up comes the anchor – slowly, ever so slowly and without the jib to stabilize us the boat was a-rocking. I took it as an omen to turn back but I was outranked.

Still wasn't seasick but for some reason Gerry felt the need to refresh the minutes on his Bahamian phone and guess who got to read the code out to him – not once but 4 times. And then guess who started to feel seasick. The only position I was comfortable was flat on my back, in the cockpit and that's where I was when a giant wave struck – thoroughly drenching us. I wasn't pleased. I eventually dried out – didn't have the ambition to change and was trying to get some sleep down below on the couch when the boat encountered a very large wave. The boat went up, I went up but when I came back down a split second after the boat the couch wasn't where I left it. I hit the edge of it and was unceremoniously dumped onto the floor – ouch! Have a couple of lovely bruises to show for it. What with sea water coming in the front hatch (couldn't close it tightly due to a broken latch) and soaking the interior and even sometimes hitting me on the couch and feeling like crap, it was a very very long night and I was glad to see the sunrise.











Surprisingly I didn't throw up until we were entering the channel in Fort Lauderdale but didn't have to clean it up because a few minutes later it started to just pour, once again thoroughly soaked but rain water is nicer to be soaked in than salt. Pulled into our dock around 1 p.m. - took 2 days until I felt normal what with lack of sleep and seasickness. I'm not going back across until I get some drugs – good drugs!

Saturday, October 19-23 Hauling Ramblynn

Saturday, October 23

Hurrah, Ramblynn's back in the water with a nice coat of black antifouling paint on her bottom. She'll probably break all speed records now! Winds today 15 - 20 - should make Florida in record time - keep your fingers crossed.

Prop with shiny new zinc on it.

Friday October 22

This morning Ramblynn was washed and primed. Antifouling paint this afternoon and we can finally leave on Saturday!!

Washed

Primed

Thursday October 21

So this is what was found - blisters and holes.  The next day they were busy patching and then the day after, sanding - I wouldn't want that job!

Sanding

 So now she sits so forlorn in the boat yard, waiting, waiting to go back into the water.

 

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - Death of a floating reef

On our way to the boatyard, into the hands of the infamous Charleton. Ramblynn has become a floating reef and unbeknowst to her we're taking her to get cleaned and painted.

hmmm, did she know something was up? Why else would she have run aground within sight of the boatyard.

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 Call me crazy but I swear I could feel Ramblynn start to panic when she realized she was coming out of the water.

getting slings under

Looks pretty grungy

 

 

 

No wonder she's so slow!

After power washing

 

Monday, Thanksgiving/Discovery Day

Thankfully it was a holiday and Roy could take us back to the jeep, with proper tools. He had that lug nut off in under 30 seconds, and the guys changed the tire in record time - check out the flat - we should ask the garage to patch it LOL. Despite not having a spare and being hours away from home off we went, getting even further away, to McLeans Town and the conch fest. Alas we were there too early most of the festivities hadn't started yet but there was food - had cold lobster salad and hot conch fritters. We bought some seagrape jam and hot pepper jelly and started for home.

I do believe I said it wouldn't be a good time to go off the main highway - something would happen and seeing 2 vultures sitting in a tree wasn't a good omen. But since we had most of the afternoon left Gerry thought a trip to the beach would be a good idea, so, off the highway onto the old Freetown road we go.


We passed under a huge spider web hanging just inches above the roof of the jeep. Unfortunately further down the road, an overhanging branch was not hanging high enough and - you guessed it - tore the roof off the jeep! Gerry's comment, "Well, it's a nice day for a drive with the roof down." Fortunately it didn't rip the canvas, just tore off the plastic piece that holds it down which we couldn't find.

Sunday, October 10 Fishing North Riding Point

Discovery Day in Bahamas. What better way to spend a beautiful Sunday than fishing - yep you heard me - fishing - something neither Gerry nor I do, normally. Reena invited us along and since it was a part of the island Gerry has never been to (hard to believe) we went along for the ride - well, we took the jeep so if (when) fishing got boring we could leave. Kara (Gerry's 6 yr old goddaughter) wanted to ride with us and we were such great company she promptly fell asleep. North Riding Point (an abandoned harbour) is at least an hour and a half drive and the last 5 miles are on an abandoned road, very very rough. Once we hit that road Kara came to life - how can one sleep being thrown around in the back of a jeep?

The ride was worth it - the place was serene, peaceful, completely deserted, not another soul for miles and so amazingly quiet. Reena showed us one spot they always catch fish and sure enough you could see tons of them, but they started out in another spot, trying to catch sharks! By the time they got back to the first spot the fish had gone out deeper and weren't the least bit interested in being caught. There were lots of other places where you could see the fish and even when you cast the bait right in the middle, they didn't bite (see trio photo).
Gerry, Kara and I caught nothing, Reena and Roy about 3 or 4 each. Good thing we brought chicken for lunch - only 3 fish were caught before lunch and there were 6 adults and 2 kids to feed.

About 6 we decided to head back. We joked that if they ran into trouble Gerry's cell phone was dead so we couldn't come back to help. That'll teach us to tempt fate,  just a short way down the road I heard a very strange whooshing sound - it was a flat! Great place for that to happen, no CAA here. We tried to get the wheel off but one lug nut refused to budge - even after I jumped on the tire iron. I don't recommend doing that unless you're wearing steel toed boots. The stupid thing flew off and landed squarely on my big toe, words were said.

So there we were, stranded, and we weren't even sure if they were going back to town - they've been known to spend the night out here. So off we trudge, all the way back, limping, getting eaten alive by no-see-ums. 
Roy (a mechanic) also could not get the tire off (nut had a cap on it and when the cap broke off our tools would no longer fit), and recommended that we drive it all the way to the highway in hopes of it breaking off - of course it didn't. Would you believe on this deserted road we ran into 2 fishermen and when we asked if they had a tire iron that might fit they discovered they didn't have one at all!
After a lovely, who knows how long a ride on a flat tire, and a full bladder, we reached the highway, removed the battery from the jeep along with our other possessions, and made a silent, sleepy ride back home. If you want to check out where this place is on Google Earth, here's the lat and long: lat 26 degrees 43'48" long 78 degrees 9'36"

Back to Bahamas October 7, 2010

For a change we took the day cruise ship Discovery over to Freeport. You get a buffet breakfast and free drinks (no lunch). The free drinks didn't impress me - how many people drink in the morning? And Gerry, being a little hung over (Lerry's fault I hear) didn't imbibe either - I'm sure he won't like this photo LOL. 

Richard and Betty picked us up in Richard's fancy new (to him) car, complete with AC and the steering wheel on the right side! Wonder if the fancy car had anything to do with the police, instead of giving him a ticket for DUI and no seatbelt, not only let him off but actually drove him home the other night!!

Things are much the same here, Betty has kept the property looking great. A number of restaurant/bars have closed but 2 new grocery stores are opening soon. Ricky has gotten bigger, Brent has expanded his garden.

Before we left Gerry arranged a dock with Frank in Fort Lauderdale so we have a place end of October.

End of this sailing season and heading south

You Can't Get There From Here

No honestly you can't. Left on the 29th, spent the first night at Gerry's sister's (thanks Jill!) and the 2nd in Annapolis with Carl & Sandy. Carl needed a ride south so we dropped him off at a marina and then tried our darnedest to get to Washington NC. They say no good deed goes unpunished so our good deed of giving Carl a ride ends in our taking detour after detour after detour because so many roads were closed due to flooding. The radio could have been of better service had they not only said which roads were closed but also which ones were open instead of simply saying “plan your route carefully.” Spent the night in NC (thanks for the hospitality Barbara, and the bed John), had breakfast and hit the road again. Overnight somewhere in north Florida and finally made it to Hollywood. Ponytail Richard was over from the Bahamas so we met up with him and friend Susan, had a meal at Lerry's favourite bar, walked the boardwalk and now I'm collapsing into bed, leaving Lerry and Gerry to spend some quality man time together watching TV!

October 3 is my Granddaughter's 3rd birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABRIELLE wish I was there to help celebrate!


Dock Pull

You know it's time to head south when they pull the docks at the sailing club - sad day .......This photo of Carol on the partly disassembled dock says it all. Another sailing season has come and gone.

We pulled Blazing Matilda out last week – a day not fit to sail or pull a boat out but the guys needed to sail just one more time. Chris and I weren't stupid enough to go out in gale force winds so we retreated to the trailer and took it easy while the cowboys were whooping it up on the lake – at least we assume that's what they were doing. They weren't answering their cell phone and after a few hours we were feeling peckish and headed into town, leaving the boys to their own devices, perhaps drowned, perhaps starving. At least that was the plan but the foolish nurturing side of us kicked in and we drove to the sailing club instead. There they were – not drowned after all but hadn't got the boat out of the water either. Les was at the ramp waiting for Gerry to come around with the boat. The wind was still howling and Gerry had difficulty getting it lined up with the trailer – in other words it landed sideways. Some how I got volunteered to shove it off which meant I had to hike up my skirt and get wet! Able bodied men around and they send me in to do the heavy lifting. So I crawled through the SUV, off the tailgate and onto the submerged trailer. Les was very encouraging “hey it's not deep, just stand on those boards that are in front of you.” He didn't mention the boards weren't fastened and were just floating there waiting to dump me in the cold lake.

So there I am precariously balanced on the boards in front of the winch and of course cannot reach the boat. Once again Les 'helps' by pointing out that a large piece of plywood runs down the center of the trailer, just perfect for standing on. Of course the water is deeper, the skirt has to go up higher. I gingerly wade out further until I can reach the boat but of course I'm not strong enough to push this behemoth back. Les helps again "Gerry move to the back of the boat so Sophie can push it off." I manage to move it off the trailer, miraculously not falling in as there is no place to hang on to once the boat is out of my grasp. I quickly retreat to the safety ?? of the floating boards on the other side of the winch. Meanwhile my wee brain was wondering why no one had a rope on this boat to help pull it into position. Wouldn't you know at that exact time Les asks for a rope so he can help (instead of just sitting on the tailgate). So a rope is delivered into his hands, Gerry takes another run at it and voila – dead centre on the trailer. Once again Les helps "just move ahead a wee bit and put the hook on." A wee bit my **s. Once again I step on the slippery plywood, hook in hand, lean way over and get the hook in. Les helps once again "now just winch it in." Yeah right – this boat is heavy!

So I ask – "Gerry why don't you get in the water and winch the boat?" Answer "I have to stay with the boat." Like the boat's going anywhere. So I start winching and winching and winching with Les offering encouragement "just a little more, just a little more, oh just put your back in it!" After what seemed like an eternity the boat was on the trailer – my shoulders hurt for 4 days. At least I didn't have to help get the mast down. Since we were all starving I got to run into town to fetch pizza while the others de-rigged (I'm sure that's a nautical term). Seems I'm always the DD.

Still tons of work, emptying, winterizing and tarping the boats and then the trailer.

Where did the summer go?

It's September already and the weather has turned cold and dreary to give everyone a taste of what is to come. I'm a fair weather sailor so I'm not on the water in this miserable weather. Is it time to go south yet?

Here are some pictures taken in my "yard" a few days ago. The kingfisher was in the closest tree but without a telephoto lens this is the best I could do. He has a small fish in his beak that he beat to death on the branch before devouring.

I'm wondering if the young swans will be big enough to fly south when the time comes.