Monday, June 20, 2011

A Happy Father's Day

SHIP'S LOG:

Well, NOAA got it right. It was a fine day. A nice, easy breeze. A nice, partly sunny sky, with just enough cloud cover. Not much in the way of waves. Just a nice day for a sail. Not that I really went anywhere, certainly not like the last few months anyway. I did got to New York but then again, New your is but four miles away . . .Fishers Island, New York. Closer actually than Rhode Island! It is one of the great things about New London where resides TYC, In an easy day's sailing, you can hit three, even four states' waters and still be home for dinner. And if you are adventurous, a short sail can take you through the Race into the open Atlantic!

There were a fair amount of sailboats out, a number involved in Father's Day Races and/or regular Sunday set-to's and a larger number just out there enjoying the day, and I was certainly among the latter!

The projects list for ABISHAG keeps growing and I am going to have to start to whittle it down some, though I am not sure that I have the items and/or parts to do all that needs to be done. Somethings are simply a re-arrangement of things. I have had a problem with the Mizzen sail that I had re-cut just before I left on the trip. I really couldn't get it to run all the way to the top of the mast. The problem was easily corrected by simply re-positioning the gooseneck (where the boom attaches to the mast) a few positions higher on its track. A simple fix yet it actually took all of an hour of trying all sorts of different things until I stumbled on it. I had dismissed it out of hand as it just didn't seem to make sense but I guess it did have to in order for it to work which it now does.

I know longer have to store all the two back-up anchors on deck. In fact, I gave the smallest to the TYC launch drive to see if he could find a use for it. The other is now temporarily residing in the forepeak but I will have to find another spot. The forepeak is getting too crowded and I will need the space for Russ if we take a trip this summer.I am also going to have to dispose of my "trip library." I have a couple of dozen novels that I used to pass the time on the trip and, having gone through them several times, including the ones I swapped out on the way, it is a good time to send them ashore. TYC doesn't "technically" have a Book Swap as we don't get a lot of transient cruisers during the season, but the members go tripping often enough that the books will find good, though probably temporary, homes aboard other craft.

Tomorrow, Tom the Launch Driver and I will will go over maps and charts of the ICW as he is planning a trip south this fall. Right now he is thinking of scooting down to Morehead City and out into the Atlantic to the Bahamas, probably to the Abacos. As his wife will be going along,fe havens along the ICW as she probably won't like being on the boat and tripping for more than 5 days at a stretch. It will be fun to go over the charts and guides and share"my experience" with someone else. I am still not up for making the trip again . . . right now, but if someone needs crew on a 50+ foot motor yacht, I just might consider it. Ah, the luxury!