Good post on clothing for sailing

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/good-old-boat/31435-safer-sleeping-your-cruising-wardrobe.html

Fair winds and following seas :)

AWOL Like a Sailor

I'm Coming for YOU!

XO decided to get off Reboot this morning. Since the companionway stairs are on the dock being varnished I didn't think he could get off, but he did. Apparently he managed to go all the way down the dock (a good 100 yards) and on to land. At that point he noticed some goslings. The DNA kicked in and he got into attack mode. He got about 5 feet from the geese and mama took big issue. She first started to flap her wings, then went after XO and grabbed his ear. Chip (the marina manager) heard the commotion and went out and broke things up. XO exited to under the marina office and Chip came and found me. When XO heard my voice he came out from under the office. He cried all the way back to the boat. It was my fault he got in trouble!!!

Just like a sailor - sneaks out for a night on the town and the Shore Patrol has to bring him back in chains.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Varnish Time

After a few months at sea all of the exterior wood gets quite beaten up. The last few days have been mild with sunshine so i took the opportunity to clean up the wash boards and put on a new coat of varnish (actually 3 coats.) Here are the pieces drying in the sun.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Alligator Pungo Canal

One of the most boring stretches of the ICW from Morehead City to the Norfolk is the Alligator - Pungo Canal. Long, straight, fairly wide (so its hard to pay attention) and reasonably deep it is just a long motor slog from one end to the other.

The only thing that makes it intersting is that there are a good number of eagles that hunt along the canal. They come over the boat, circle around a few times, and then look for smaller prey.  Here is a shot of one of them.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Norfolk VA Arts Scene

Went to the Parlor on Granby to find some friends that used to work at the Lagoon of Baypoint Marina at Little Creek that now work at the Parlor. Of they were not there but I did have a nice conversation with a couple of the staff and guests. On the way from the car to the resturant I passed Work|Release. This is an exhibit - restaurant - bar - artist work space in the Norfolk NEON district. ("The New Energy of Norfolk".) There was an event going on so on the way back from the Parlor I stopped in. It turned out to be an exhibit of two students from the Governor's School.for the Arts. This is the High School of the Arts for Norfolk. The exhibit was fun. I had two reactions:

1. The work was very dark. This from two young (17ish) women. Took me back a little.
2. As a veteran of many New York City art shows it was fun to see a number of the young female students in their :"little black dresses with pearls." Wow, it was a long time ago when I was that young.

Fair winds and following seas :).

Night Out

One of the nice things about cruising is the impromptu evenings spent with other cruisers. I am at the North Carolina Welcome Center on Route 17. This is a shared facility with a dock that services the Dismal Swamp Canal. Last night we had six boats:

·         s/v Moxie (Gerry and Debbie Connolly)

·         s/v Suenos (Shawn and Leanne Hamill)

·         s/v Daruma (Mark Whitson and Joelle Williams)

·         s/v First Love (Gill and Sharlene)

·         “Gin Palace” Carried Away (Bill and Joyce Craig)

and of course Reboot. With six boats we had to raft up (the boats get bigger but the docks remain the same length!) This is always an ice breaker as you get to know the people who are crossing over your boat to get to land. In the late afternoon everyone had gathered on the dock with their beverage of choice. Gill invited me to barbeque with them. I was a bit concerned as I had almost nothing in the way of food to contribute. The grill got fired up (charcoal, not the normal propane on the boat) and the next thing I know everyone is bringing out snacks. Feeling very guilty I tried to retreat to Reboot but was stopped by everyone. I was invited to join and was even given some very nice steak. Desperate to do something I realized I had a large number of “snack pack” puddings and Jello so off I went to bring them over. I felt much better as people dug in. We are all headed north so tomorrow we will convoy up to Deep Creek lock. A lovely evening with new friends.

Fair winds and following seas J

A shift in focus

As I get ready to depart Sailcraft my focus has shifted from projects to weather. I had looked at Weather Underground and noticed that this weekend's weather was quite nice. I was all set to leave tomorrow morning. Then I looked up NOAA marine weather. Surprise surprise. The Eastern section of the Pamlico (the Sound) has gale warnings until Saturday night. The weather Saturday and Sunday isn't all that pretty either. Since I am in no hurry to go anywhere I think I will just muck around here a bit more.

Fair winds and following seas :)