HOT 'NOUGH FOR YA?

     As a very wise person once said, you don't have to shovel hot, humid and hazy. I'll have to admit that it has been a rather uncomfortable few days but we had a nice rain storm last night and another again this morning and hopefully that will take care of the humidity.  I don't know if we will be getting more storms in the days ahead, but we probably will as this type of weather tends to produce them. But who cares, there's no shoveling.

     We've had a couple of world cruising boats stop off at TYC in the last week; 40 Cabo Rico and a 42ft moody. Both werecruised by young couples who were off on 'round the world adventures.They are both using the east coast to cut their teeth and workout the cruising life. Living on a boat is whole different way of living. A 40footer might seem to be a big boat but it can be very small, especially when you get out of sight of land. And you focus and priorities change. A lot. you do a lot more planning, detailed planning because you can't just rush off to the store if you forget something or sun out. You become a lot more attentive to the weather, what it is going to do, and when, and for how long. After all, all that you own is held in place by a 20 foot piece of 3/8 inch chain attached to an anchor and 150 feet of 5/8 nylon anchor rode. I am sure they will work it out, if not it will be  short adventure.

      My "bad knee" is acting up  and it has made that stroll down the dock back and forth to the launch less than fun. It makes me dread next week as I have shifts every day. One of the drivers is off on vacation and since he will be covering me when I'm off on the cruise, I couldn't very well turn him down.  

     I did get out to ABISHAG and check out some sails that I have  not used before as they are too much of me alone to handle. I had to check out how to fly them, putting them up while on the mooring in order to see how the lines had to be led. Actually, after getting them in place, it looks as though they would not be too difficult to fly solo. It is the hoisting and dousing that would be the problem. With friend Fred along on the cruise, I am sure that we will use them. Sailing off the wind, it would be possible to have five (5) sails flying at once:
1.) Genoa; 2.) Cruising Spinnaker; 3.) Main; 4.) Mizzen Staysail; and 5.) the Mizzen. That's a lot of laundry and if we do it well, it will look spectacular.

HAPPY FOURTH! And remember to let go of the fire cracker after lighting the fuse!