#$%^&*SNOW! !! !! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

I knew this was going to happen. For three weeks since Columbus Day Weekend, I have been waiting to get ABISHAG hauled. So today, with what our Commodore calls " a significant storm" hitting the area, I get a call from the boatyard telling me that my boat is at the dock so that they can begin the winterizing and inquiring whether or not they want me to take the sails off the boat. That little task, of course, would be a service that they would do for pay, so I hustled up to Portland to do the job myself.

The trip wasn't too bad until I got above Essex on Route 9 when the snow-rain mix became real SNOW. And it was wet. And it was heavy. And it was sticking. It was also cold!! I haven't seen snow in two years and it was traumatic!

Getting the sails down wasn't difficult but with the deck covered with slush it was slippery work. The cold made turned my fingers numb and with all the little wire ties that had to be cut and the little bolts in the shackles that hard to be removed and then replaced, the job was awful. It is funny how you can loose the feeling in your fingers and have them hurt at the same time. I didn't bother folding the sails. I merely stuffed them down the nearest hatch and let it go at that. Naturally, the yard workers had more sense and were not working in "that type of weather." Can't say that I blame them. Just walking on the slush covered dock was an exercise in focused concentration. One little slip and I would have gotten a first person experience of just how cold the Connecticut River is on the 29th of October! But it all went off without a hitch and sometime in the next few days, ABISHAG will get hauled and washed and placed on poppets for her winter snooze. When she is, I will remove all the gear that needs to go and wrap her up and that will be that. It was in the 70's down in Virginia a year ago today! Maybe I should have gone south again! ! ! ! !