the office

Hatteras

I've run into some unexpected problems with logistics on the spring trip, which I'll explain soon.

In the meantime it is a quick trip to Hatteras Island to take my mind off of things.

a kiss, uncaught

We get a lot of waves from the people at Town Point Park.  A glass of wine in one hand - it is a wine festival after all - and a wave with the other hand as Spartina sails about 30 yards off the seawall.  I can hear music from the man on the stage near the Schooner Virginia.  Brightly colored spring clothes, women wearing broad-brimmed hats as if it is derby day.  It must be this year's fashion.  Everyone is smiling and having fun.  People take photographs of us, and they gather in groups to take photographs of themselves.  Three young women sit on the edge of the water.  One points to Spartina, they all wave.  I wave back.  The girl in the middle puts her hand to her lips and throws a kiss across the water.  And I don't know what to do. 

Should I reach out with my arms to catch it?  Should I throw a kiss back to the woman, not much older than my daughters, that I do not know?

I smile at her, look away and push the tiller over. 

Virginia

...tied up at Mercury Landing for the wine fest!!!

a forecast

Evening sunlight catches the new image on the living room wall, "A Wall, Nassau, 1898" by Winslow Homer.

A forecast of light winds for tomorrow.  A forecast for an overcast morning, afternoon clearing.  A forecast of no work, no worries.  A forecast to relax, maybe sleep on a boat anchored in the bay.

serendipity

The catamaran's yellow hull and wooden masts in the far corner of Craford Bay caught my eye as I raised Spartina's sailsl in a northeasterly breeze Sunday morning.  A quick look through the binoculars confirmed that it was a Wharram, a boat well worth visiting.  Across the river and into the bay past the snowbirds from New York and New Hampshire and soon I was circling "Mon Tiki" for a few photographs.  I enjoyed the classic looks of the polynesian design.  Seeing no one aboard we were soon headed down Towne Point Reach to Lamberts Bend before doubling back to downtown. 

Sailing through the snowbirds of Craford Bay late morning for another look I saw a man waving from Mon Tiki.  Not just waving, he was beckoning Spartina to come closer.  Within calling distance he was complimenting Spartina as I was complimenting his boat.  With camera in hand he motioned for a closer pass.  As I turned back I asked if he would like to hop on board for a brief sail.  He ducked down into the cabin, emerged with a life jacket and stepped on board.

It was David Ryan, shown above in a self-portrait from his Facebook page.  Mon Tiki is his 38 foot Wharram design, built by "East End" craftsman near her home port of Montauk on Long Island.  Designed and built as a charter boat, David was returning from an off-season trip to Florida Keys.  The charter season was coming up fast, he has bookings lined up for May.

With a well-tanned and relaxed look that comes with a few months in the Keys, he told me about Mon Tiki, plus the five others boats he has built of the years.  He had questions and compliments for the Pathfinder design, telling me Spartina looked beautiful cutting through the water.  I think he enjoyed the sail.  He told me as he climbed back aboard Mon Tiki that it was the first time in three years he had sailed on a boat that heeled. (Wharrams apparently don't heel.)

It was a couple of days later, when I came across David's biography, that I realized we had missed a chance for a great discussion.  It turns out he was born and raised in La Jolla not too far from Wind'n'Sea Beach, one of my favorite old haunts.  I was born close by on Coronado, and spent my teen years in Pacific Beach and La Jolla.  My first job was at the old Diving Locker on Grand Ave, where I used to take breaks and get fried fish, french fries and cole slaw from Ocean Fresh Seafood, carrying it down to Wind'n'Sea Beach for relaxing lunches that I remember to this day. (And Ocean Fresh it was - I one time pulled into the parking lot in my '64 VW bus next to a fishing dory filled with a pile of fishing nets and a hammerhead shark.)  David and I, I realized, had body-surfed, scuba dived and sailed in the same places.  Wouldn't it have been fun to compare notes?

When I emailed David about this, he described the encounter as serendipity.  Yes, it was.

A few hours later, making my last few tacks on the river, I saw Mon Tiki raise sail, disappearing out of sight rounding Hospital Point.  I doubt we will ever have that discussion about growing up on the beaches of La Jolla.  But I will remember, and enjoy, a brief bit of serendipity that connected me back to a lot of fun times I had a few too many decades ago.  

it's time

...to go to Walmart and buy a new watch to hang under the aft deck of Spartina.  The old one, a $20 gem from the same store, lasted about three years.  I don't need a watch when day sailing, but I like to have one on cruises so I can note the time when I jot down my notes.

....to email my friend Maria in Onancock, owner of the Charlotte E. Foster, to see, should the spring trip start in Onancock, if she can suggest a place where I can leave the jeep and trailer during the sail. And, should the spring trip start in Chincoteague, if I can raft up with the Charlotte when I finish the trip in Onancock.

...to update my Virginia salt water fishing license, which is recognized in both Virginia and Maryland waters.  Bluefish should be around, as should some stripers.

...to check out my camera batteries.  I'm good with the X-20 batteries, but probably need a couple of new ones for the Pentax Optio W-90.  I probably ought to do a recharge with the solar system too.

...to start thinking about soft shell crabs on Tangier Island.  Despite the polar vortex and cold, cold winter, my crabber friends tell me soft shell season is more closely tied with the moon phases and should be right on schedule for the spring trip.

...to refresh my memory on how to boil crawfish for our backyard boil which is coming up quicker than I had imagined.  Invites went out last week.  If you did not receive one, my apologies.  "Bring to a boil, lower to simmer, 15 minutes and then put them steaming hot into the cooler to season."

...to have dinner, my wife (who says she does not know how to cook), tells me.  Salmon with brown sugar and citrus over a bed of sautéed spinach and sun dried tomatoes with pasta.  I think she does know how to cook.  Yes, time to eat.  Catch you later.....

the season

A cool north wind blowing on the Elizabeth River.  Boats, after a winter down south, are making their way back home.

At Waterside Marina there was a boat named "Justice."  Double planked mahogany over pine.

Designed by John H. Wells, built in 1930 by Consolidated Shipbuilding.

Length of 75' 6", beam 13' and a draft of 4', displacement 31 tons.

Cruising speed 25 knots, max speed 33 knots.  I bet she takes her time heading north.

May, the month for sailing

It is in the low 50s with grey clouds, with winds gusting in 35 mph or better.  Not a good day for sailing.  I'm glad to have gotten out on the water twice in April, and will be thankful is I get out a third time next weekend.  But it is May, I'm hearing, that will be the month for sailing.

For years I've been on a batch email list for an annual Chesapeake Float, which takes place in May.  I have never taken part in the float, but I do appreciate reading all the planning and organizing that goes on with it.  There is talk of ramps and boats, parking spots for trailers and early arrivals and who needs work anyway.

It surprises to realize how many of these sailors I have met over the years - Kevin with his Navigator Slip Jig, Barry with his Melonseed skiffs, Curt with his wooden Drascombe Coaster Thin Water Annie (that's Curt in the photo at the top of the post, from when we met on Swan Creek off of Pamlico Sound a few years ago) and Mike with who tells me he is sailing a Haven 12 1/2.  I may have met a few more in the crowd at the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival a few years ago, but I've never been good at recalling names.  (I am better at recalling boats.)  

My friend Webb Chiles will also do some sailing in May.....and June, July, August, September, October and November as he sets off for Hawaii and New Zealand aboard Gannet, his Moore 24.  When I've mentioned Webb in the past I have gone to his website to steal photographs.  I still do so sometimes now, but I'm pleased to say - since he invited me aboard for a sail in February - that some of the photographs I'm stealing are mine.

Webb has a nice breakdown of the food (and drink) in his journal for the five months of planned sailing.  I'm a recent convert to Webb's strategy of using freeze-dried meals for dinner.  Quick and easy to cook, it is just a matter of heating water on a jet boil and pouring it into the pouch.  Cleanup is nothing more than washing a spoon.

Since sailing is out this weekend with rain yesterday and high winds today, I've been doing some food shopping for my own May cruise.  I've got all my tuna fish and cracker lunches, granola bar breakfasts and freeze dried dinners, plus a cup of fruit to go with each meal.  Here is a list of dinners I will have on board, most of which I have tried and some I have not...

Mountain House - New Orleans Style Rick with Shrimp and Ham, Beef Stew (2), Sweet and Sour Pork with Rice, Beef Stroganoff with Noodles (2) (a definite fav) and Breakfast Skillet with Hash Browns, Eggs and Pork Sausage.

Backpackers Pantry - Potatoes with Gravy and Beef, Louisiana Red Beans and Rice, Chicken Cashew Curry with Rice and Hawaiian Style Rice with Chicken.

AlpineAire Foods - Pepper Steak with Rice.

Discussing healthy snacks with my oldest daughter this weekend I was reminded of medjool dates, above, which are not the most attractive snacks but taste to me like candy.  At one time dried dates and dried figs were regular snacks for me, a good habit which I have unfortunately lost.  I think I will devote a container on Spartina to dates and figs for mid-morning and late afternoon snacks.

Above is the reason I'm not sailing.  Let's hope for better weather in May.

before and after

Daughters in town for the weekend, dinner at Hanaki Sushi.  Great stuff!