In The Past Few Weeks . . . .

SHIP'S LOG:

    It is sad to say but I have moved from wearing shorts and flip-flops to wearing long pants and shoes. It is sooooooooooooo depressing!  It gets cold enough at night on the boat where two blankets are need to sleep through the night. I hate that.

     Another boat has left TYC and is underway to Miami via the ICW. Right now, it is somewhere in the Chesapeake, having made the run on the inside, getting a bit beat-up in the Delaware Bay, which actually isn't that much of a surprise. Delaware Bay is the home of "square waves" and even at the best of times is simply an awful piece of water. Another boat from the club is due to take off soon for the same run making three  going south for "fun in the sun." I hope that they get there safely and that it is all that they expect.

     I don't have any regrets, at least right now, for not making the trip south. ABISHAG certainly could make it but I am not sure that I would. I just don't have the "umph" necessary for the trip, not so much the one down as the one back. Perhaps next year.  

     This past weekend, five boats left TYC to get hauled for the winter. The exodus has started and will pick up speed in the weeks ahead. I went up to Yankee Boatyard in Portland and made a down payment for winter storage.  TYC is sponsoring its last cruise of the season on Columbus Day weekend. The cruise will be from the club to Essex on the Connecticut River. We will cruise to Hamburg Cove just outside of Essex on that Saturday and moor for the evening. There will be a pot-luck supper and then Sunday, those of us going to Portland to haul will go up river, while those who are still going to milk the sailing season will head back to TYC.

     My little blue P.O.S. is no longer mine. It got sold for part to an auto graveyard and netted me a few, and I emphasize "few", bucks. My new ride is a 1989 Ford Tempo that belonged to the elderly aunt of a friend. She can't drive anymore and just wanted to dump the car, so it became mine. It only had 24,274 miles on it and seems to run fine.  At least it should get me from here to there without the soon-to-be-expensive-due-to-their-number small problems I was facing with the Hyundai. But after 12 years, it owed me nothing.

     The search goes on for "lodgings" for the winter months.  I am sure something will turn up but there will be anxiety until that happens. Til then, I will enjoy the weather here and keep sailing. It is supposed to be a long, cold, bitter winter. Ugh!