Sunday, August 29, 2010

The Grand Finale with Some Sewing Yet to Come!

Our sailing trip this summer started with problems, ended with problems, and for some reason, beautiful, peaceful, and lovely St. Michael's, Maryland played a starring role each time. Come to think of it, two years ago St. Michael's was the scene of a very nasty confrontation between our sturdy Knotty Cat and a slutty french catamaran who dared to anchor within smacking distance of us, and even though our girl was victorious, I don't want to think about that right now.

On our last day, after anchoring, we took Wilbur ashore and had a wonderful (since Wilbur was permitted on the restaurant's outside dock)(yet horribly expensive) dinner at The Crab Claw.



Hans is happy to have survived two months on a boat with me.











I'm happy that we finally found a restaurant that allowed dogs (even if it was outside).



I'm wearing my silk Burda dress yet once again (I make very few of my clothes but when I do, I wear the hell out of them!). I'm just thankful that the record setting heat broke long enough to allow me to wear it. I'm not kidding when I tell you that I didn't even wear my watch this summer. It was just too hot!







When we left the next morning we saw tons of these boats. They were preparing for a race and even though there was virtually no wind they were still moving along as they are so light and have tons of exposed sail.
I'd just put down my binoculars when Hans informed me that one of them had dumped! I would have liked to see it (just because) but I felt very sorry for the crew because even though it wasn't a dangerous situation, there were tons of jelly fish in the water, and there's no way a lot of stinging wasn't going on.

As I mentioned previously, there was very little wind that day so Hans thought our final sail should involve the gennaker.
Being the lazy soul that I am; I didn't. And maybe the day will come when Hans listens to me.

In the end, getting the gennaker up turned into a bigger job than it should have, and when Captain Hans yelled back to me where I stood at the helm, to rev up the engines, I did.
Maybe one (or both) of us should have given some thought to the fact that our Knotty Cat had been at a virtual standstill for quite some time and our dinghy might want to cozy up to us (thus allowing its painter to slide under our boat).

By the time we limped into Kent Narrows on one engine Hans had been in the jelly fish infested water twice. The first time was to free our dinghy's painter from The Knotty Cat's rudder (oops!), and very soon after that to rescue our dinghy when we realized the painter had been cut by the starboard propeller. From the sound of the awful thumping noises issuing from said propeller, a huge chunk of painter was obviously hanging on, and we made the rest of the trip with only our port engine.

Luckily for Hans, I believe the jelly fish were so astonished at seeing him jump into the water two times that they were too stunned to sting!

We just had to shake our heads and laugh that last day on board when we realized we'd pretty much gone full circle. Our water pump was giving us problems yet once again and believe me when I say that little stinker will be ripped out and replaced before we set foot aboard the Knotty Cat again.

For now our girl is on the hard and anxiously awaiting the installation of solar panels, and rumor has it her stuffing boxes will be - well - they'll be restuffed (she leaks on her port side and it makes her blush so please keep this just between us!).

Some time at the end of October we're going to sail her to Florida where she'll bask in the sun until we get back there in January in order to take her to the Bahamas.

But in the meantime I've taken on an interesting task. I'm going to attempt to sew a crib that will fit into the bunk/berth of a monohull sail boat. A young cruising couple (they've already sailed around the world) had a baby earlier this year and want to head out to sea again. They need to make sure their little one will be secure in her bed, and I've gotta say, I'm thrilled to death to be a part of this whole alternative lifestyle of living aboard a boat.
It sure beats suburbia!

7 comments:

Two Pitties in the City said...

I love hearing about your boating adventures. And a boat crib isn't something one would expect to sew. Show us how it turns out!

McVal said...

Love the dress! and love to hear about your adventures

BeeBee said...

Welcome back ashore, ye land lubber. Time to sew and watch TV, maybe find a new kitty....

laura said...

Two Pitties, I bought the crib fabric today and should start the sewing process tomorrow! Believe me, there will be pictures.

McVal, adventures are always fun to read about, but when you're living them... oh my! it's a whole different story!

BeeBee, I'm finally getting some sewing done and very much enjoying TV (old movies and Andy Griffith!) but I just can't allow myself to get a kitty. We're heading to the Bahamas in January and I don't want another 'overboard' issue!

Ken n Cheryl said...

Love the silk dress! Looking forward to visiting the Bahamas through you!

Marji said...

Great to catch up with you. One of our biggest challenges this summer cruising through the Great Lakes and then the canal system has been gaining internet access. I can't tell you how many marina's promise but don't deliver on services. Anyway...I'm coming to the conclusion that cruising as a lifestyle involves all sorts of mishaps and breakdowns.
We were told by a couple we met on Beef Island (they'd been out 10 years, originating in S Africa) to expect one repair a week. If you manage to go cruising for two weeks without any repairs or problems then expect something major on the third. and they had started with a brand new boat commissioned for them.
We had our generator break down the first night out after leaving out home port, and ended up in Charlevoix for 3 weeks first trying to fix the old one, then waiting on a new one and having it installed.
Most of our breakdowns since then have involved me - my body is racked, battered and bruised right now after the locks - and we are within a days sail of reaching the east coast and salt water.

laura said...

Marji, I decided if things didn't break on our boat on a daily basis, then life became boring!
And during our first two weeks aboard, Hans and I were covered in bruises!