Easter

It was a wonderful day on the water.  A glorious day I might even say.  More about it tomorrow.  Happy Easter.   steve

seasons changing

I saw four snowbirds on the Elizabeth River today, boats heading north after a winter in the south.  There were three at anchor on Crawford Bay and a fine looking black-hulled ketch motoring towards the James.

I listened to baseball on the radio today, the Mets against the Braves.  And I watched a high school baseball game the other evening.  I enjoyed more the high school game more than the pro version.  The high schoolers did not have the urge to step out of box after every pitch, scratch, spit and adjust their gloves.  A fast moving baseball game is a good game.

I put in my order for 20 pounds of live crawfish from Louisiana Crawfish Company for 20 pounds of selects.  They won't be delivered until the morning of our late May crawfish boil, but I wanted to get the order in now to make sure I got the slightly larger "selects" versus the average "field run" mudbugs.

The seasons are changing.  I will be more convinced of this if this cold north wind ever stops blowing.  Outside just a few minutes ago it seemed a little warmer.  Maybe the winds will fall off, as predicted, and the temperatures will go up by tomorrow.  If so, it could be a very nice day on the water.

Above is the new attachments for the anchor bucket, anchor, mushroom anchor and gas can.  The bucket, anchors and gas can are all connected to the to piece of line, which wraps around the mast.  Just the lower part of the anchor bucket is connected to the lower piece of line, keeping the bucket from tipping over or sliding around.  A small, but worthwhile change on Spartina.

Between boat work, baseball and crawfish I also picked up a resupply of 10-year-old Laphroaig Single Malt Scotch Whisky, something I was introduced to by my friend Webb.  Thanks, Webb, for the introduction.

steve

drowning in work

One thing after another.  And then something else comes up, and then again.  The day is done, but not the work.  What happened?

It has been like that for a few days now.

Too busy to think about sailing or even packing for the trip.  Much thanks to "Gizmo" who reminded me I had not even thought about books for the coming walkabout less than four weeks away.  He suggested "We, The Drowned" by Carsten Jensen.

I have food - breakfast bars, cups of fruit, tuna lunches and cous cous to go with fresh caught fish for dinner.  I have batteries - double a's for most devices and triple a's for others.  I have notebooks to fill, gallon jugs of water to empty.  But I have no books to read.

"We, The Drowned" might well be a possibility, save for the fact that it is a new book and not available at those surprisingly low used-book rates that fit my budget so well.  But we will see, once I catch my breath and confirm that I am not really drowning in work.

Thanks for the tip, Gizmo.

steve

not today

There will be no notes from sailing in the notebook today.  The forecast, as of a few days ago, had called for sunny and mid-60's with breeze of 9 or 10 mph.  Instead, I wake to grey skies, periods of heavy rains and blustery winds.

I do have plenty of chores that will keep me busy as I gripe about the bad weather and my bad timing - Why did I have to pick today as my comp day off?

I will catch up on some blog reading as the crew of Mosquito has rested enough so that they can post the last few days of their Florida circumnavigation.  You can read about it here.  Below you see Dawn and Alan at the finish line collecting their awards of shark teeth, a gator took and a whale tail carving - not the usual sort of fare seen in a trophy case, but it was not the usual sort of event.

And Melonseed sailor Mike Wick has posted an article here about sailing with Kevin MacDonald on Kevin's Marshcat, below, from Key West to the Dry Tortugas.  Mike tells me that the park service crew at the Dry Tortugas said that the Marshcat was the smallest sailboat to make the 70 trip from Key West in recent memory.  Good for them.  Someday I would like to make that trip in Spartina.  What do you say, Bruce??

I'm also following Webb Chiles as he readies his new, smaller sailboat Gannett for the coming season of sailing on Lake Michigan.  He sailed the boat, a Moore 24, a little last summer.  I expect he'll be out quite a bit this summer, sailing with the thought of having Gannet on an ocean somewhere soon.

As for myself, bits of supplies are trickling in.  A stack of Rite in the Rain notebooks, no. 393, arrived in the mail.  They are hard to find locally so I ordered these through Amazon, enough blank pages for me to jot down notes, both daysailing and cruising, for the next year or two.

A handful of new batteries arrived for the Pentax Optio W90.  I have a total of six, enough to get me through a good trip.  My preference would be to buy a new, better camera - but I cannot find one that I like.  These batteries will serve as a band aid to get me through the year and hopefully a better camera will emerge by then.  (In the meantime, though, there may be evidence that the Optio W90 is not as bad of a camera as I thought -- more on that later).

steve

Cape Point, the end of the world

Cape Point is the bend in Hatteras Island where the southerly flowing cold water Labrador Current meets the northerly flowing Gulf Stream.  The clashing currents create turbulent waters and a series of shallows known as Diamond Shoals.  Warm water, cold water and shoals on the edge of the ocean make for an interesting place.

One of the fisherman said the point was the end of the world.  I don't know.  Maybe it wasn't the end of the world, but you could see it from there.

steve

Cape Point

Cape Point

shades of grey

Light, glancing off the water on a windy morning, reflected onto the hull of a Navy ship.

weather, Mosquito update

A quick update.....it looks like Alan and Dawn are in, arriving sometime after noon.  Well done, and congratulations.

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I drove to the ramp yesterday morning under skies that, while overcast, looked to be clearing.  But fog on the river kept me from launching.  As I waited and watched the cool north wind seemed to be pushing more fog my way.  There is too much commercial traffic on the Elizabeth River to sail in the fog, I don't want to be a speed bump for a container ship.  

Instead I drove home and made some rigging adjustments to Spartina, taking care of things that I notice but never resolve when I'm out on the water because I'm having too much fun sailing.  Those little jobs, as a friend of mine once said, are like a hole in the roof - you can't fix it when it is raining, don't need to when it's not.  I'm glad I finally took care of those little jobs. 

Mosquito should be completing the circumnavigation of Florida in a matter or hours.  I cannot wait to hear the stories.  It is a little over three weeks, and about 1200 miles, since the adventure began at Fort DeSoto.  They started out with a two day weather hold.  And it seems they sat another day, or at least part of a day, north of Cedar Key to let some storms pass through.  Those are proving to get excellent decisions.  Alan and Dawn sailed/paddled when the weather allowed them to be out on the water, and got their rest and worked on the boat when the weather was less than cooperative.  Below is a photo of Dawn from the most recent weather hold at Spanish Bayonet Island.

I'm sure Paul, Alan and Dawn will be posting soon after they get in, pack up and catch up on their rest.  I'll put some links up when they start posting.  And for another view of the start of the most difficult Everglades Challenge take a look at Kristen's account here.

steve

rounding third

A little after 9:00 this morning Alan and Dawn, after a boat switch I suspect, left the Suwanee and are now back on the Gulf of Mexico.  They have rounded third base and are heading for home.  The most recent SPOT track showed them approaching Cedar Key, leaving a little over 100 miles (as the crow flies) to the finish line.  Pretty cool.

steve