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It’s Wednesday morning at 07:30 and today is the day.  It’s the day that my crew arrives and we depart for our run to Annapolis.  With unfavorable winds scheduled to hit Cape May on Friday it is important that we get out of Dodge today, and as early as possible.

That will be a bit tough for me as I lost all of yesterday to last minute mechanical issues on Pandora.  After tense and awkward discussions with the yard manager, we finally agreed on the “who pays what” details (I find out exactly what I owe today) and a mechanic, or two, attended to Pandora off and on all day.  The problem is that there was a miss-communication about some vibration issues in the engine early on so they were never adequately addressed.  As a result, when Pandora went back in the water there was a moderate vibration in the engine and shaft and it had to be fixed.

After much discussion we decided to pull Pandora out of the water again and have the shaft straightened.  As I had to take the $%^& Max Prop (I am not loving that prop right now) off AGAIN and then remove the shaft to have it straightened at the machine shop.

After the prop was removed, the shaft was pulled out.  They used a neat slide weight to pull it from the coupling and out of the boat.   Now the clock was really running!  Let the payments resume!Luckily, Paul, at the machine shop, who had done some work for me while Pandora was on the hard, was very accommodating and dealt with it right away. Interestingly, when he saw the shaft he recognized it immediately as a shaft that he had made years ago.  I had this shaft installed in Bridgeport at Captain’s Cove.

It’s a small world.  While he doesn’t normally allow folks to watch him work, he let me observe as he worked his magic.  These massive pieces of equipment are really impressive.  To watch him put the shaft in a press and twist it was fascinating. This lathe was a monster.  I won’t go into nauseating detail about the process but it looked like art as he bent the shaft this way and that, finally declaring it true and ready for the high seas.   

However, big equipment and all, the real bills started piling up as the mechanic messed around in the aft cabin tweaking this and that to get the shaft out and back in again.  I don’t know how many times he ran back and forth to his shop to find just the perfect bolt, or two, several times.  While he looks uncomfortable squirming around I can assure you that I was squirming more, not knowing how it would all end up or how much it would cost.  So, when all was said and done, and plenty was said and done, I can assure you. Much of the vibration was gone and Pandora declared fit to head out to see.   Actually, the yard never said that as they won’t take on the liability.  Such is life. 

So, now what?  The plan is for crew to arrive in New London just before noon today.  My good friend Rodney agreed to pick them up and deposit them and me at the marina for our departure early afternoon so I can clean up Pandora and do some last minute shopping. 

As I don’t want to leave my car sitting at the marina for a month till I return from Florida, I have to have someone deposit us at the boat so my car can stay in the garage at home, but I still have to contact door opener experts like A-Dependable Overhead Door Company since it’s currently stuck. Back to the land home for an errand I guess.

It’s about a 36 hour run to the Delaware River entrance from Essex, so let’s hope that the weather holds till we get to Cape May and head up the river and into sheltered waters.  Yesterday was long enough, so I hope that all runs smoothly from now on.  I don’t need too many more vibrations, engine or otherwise, in my life.

I had better wrap this up as I still have to secure groceries and a few last minute items to prepare for our departure.

Don’t forget to watch on “where’s Pandora” if you are interested in where and when we are.   For inquiring minds…

When Brenda and I took Pandora to Newport a few weeks ago for a shake down cruise after all of the work I had done and had done this summer, we wanted to be sure that everything was in perfect order prior to heading south for the winter.

When we left the marina, bound for Newport, I noticed a vibration in the prop shaft at cruising speed.  Now that Pandora is back in Deep River, I had the yard check into the problem.  After several hours of messing around with things, about everything was ruled out except for a bent prop shaft.  Unfortunately, the only way to really determine what the problem is is to haul Pandora out of the water again.  Ugh… No make that double ugh…

Well, on Tuesday morning Pandora will yet again be on the hard.  Paul, from the local machine shop will come down and do a rough check while the shaft is in the boat and then, if he thinks that the shaft is bent, I will remove the Max Prop, AGAIN, and the yard will take the shaft over to the shop for review.   Fortunately, Paul at the machine shop, has agreed to work on it right away to identify what he thinks the problem is.

I really hope that it’s the shaft as just about everything else has been ruled out with the exception of the Max Prop, which I would hate to think was a problem yet again.  Recall that I had the prop completely reworked in July by the manufacturer.

Fingers crossed.  To make the pressure worse, if I am delayed more than a day or so I will miss the weather window to make it to Annapolis in time for the boat show.  With all the plans we have for that event, I’d hate to miss it.

I am still hopeful that I will get going as planned on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning at the latest.  If not, I risk loosing my crew as their own deadlines conflict with being underway later than planned.   Double fingers crossed…

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Brenda and I have been shopping for provisions as putting them aboard now will be easier than when we are in Annapolis or Miami. Here’s a shot of what we put on board on Sunday.   The pile looks a lot smaller than it is.  That’s about 400 items.  Each item had to be categorized in a spreadsheet so we can find them again when we need to.  You’d be amazed how deeply buried things get on board.  I think that the computer cataloging work took a lot longer than stowing things.  Today we shopped for meat and yet more stuff.  I vacuum packed about 30lbs of chicken, pork and some lovely steak fillets to take us through the winter.   Funny how little the pile looked when I put it on the counter in the galley.  And, it didn’t even fill the freezer.  My routine is to pack everything into the freezer unfrozen so I can really pack it tight.  Then everything freezes into a big block.  And, you can’t get anything out without eating the top most food first.  If you try and dig, everything gets “fluffed up” and won’t go back in.   Not good.  

The freezer still has room for more and the size of the bill for all of it made me think that it should have been 60lbs, not 30lbs.  Alas, such is the nature of inflation…or deflation, as it were, with the vacuum shrink wrap machine.  Perhaps I should have used my compressor to fluff them up so they would seem like enough to justify the $$$.  Never mind…
Here’s hoping that Tuesday’s re-haul won’t prove to cost me mucho bacon as there’s already plenty in the freezer, three pounds, actually.

Yes, double crossed on my fingers, and toes.   All I want to do is to go sailing.  IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?  

I guess that it’s true, bigger boats means bigger trouble.  I sure hope that Pandora is “little” tomorrow.

It’s Friday around noon, sailing along in Block Island Sound and I am entering Watch Hill Passage and Fisher’s Island Sound, the eastern most part of Long Island Sound.

In a way it seems like just yesterday that I arrived in Essex from the Abacos but in other ways it seems like May was a long time ago.   However, when I think about the number of projects that I did on Pandora this summer along with the long “honey do” list of home chores from Brenda, I guess it’s been a long time since May.

I have been a bit stressed out about the weather for getting to Annapolis next week and for a while I thought that I was going to have to shove off on Tuesday at the latest which would be pretty tough to be ready for.  However, I spoke with Chris Parker, our weather router, a bit ago and he told me that while there won’t be much wind next week, it looks like the favorable wind window will stay open for much of the week.  It is my hope that we will be able to sail but at the very least, I’d prefer not to motor into the wind.  At this point, it is looking good.  Fingers crossed.   I’ll check with him on Monday to see how things are progressing.

I am making today’s run alone as my friend who was going to come with me came down with a 24hr bug.  While I’d prefer to have company when I am aboard, it’s plenty easy to run Pandora alone.  Actually, while I am typing away, the autopilot is happily steering away.  As long as the wind doesn’t pick up too much, the laptop should be secure on the cockpit table.  Having the laptop smash onto the cockpit sole would not be good.  Fortunately, it’s not too gusty.    Here’s a shot of my “office” for today.   Not too shabby.I had to set the computer down on the sole as I passed Watch Hill.  Lots of hard stuff to bump into and I needed to pay attention.  Also, loads of fishing boats out hoping to get lucky.   I like the Watch Hill Light.  It does look better on a sunny day though. I hope to get to Deep River early enough to catch the mechanic before he leaves for the weekend so any parts that he has to order to fix the alternator can be arranged before the weekend.  There is a problem with charging and I expect that it was something done while the mechanic was working on the engine.

I guess I had better cut this short as the wind is dying and there are plenty of rocks to watch out for in Fisher’s Island Sound.  It would ruin my day if I bumped into one of them.  Trust me, I know about such things.

Besides, it’s lunchtime and I am getting hungry.  Oh yeah, the sun is coming out too.  Perhaps that’s a metaphor for the coming months.  Yes, I’ll go for that.

It’s Thursday afternoon and a beautiful day here in Essex.   I have worked out many of the details regarding crew and dates to prepare Pandora for the trip to FL. As of now, my plan is to return to Essex for a few days to provision Pandora with non-perishables, enough to last for the trip south and our three months in the Bahamas.

My friend David and I will bring Pandora back to Deep River for a few last minute maintenance items and some major provisioning prior to leaving for Annapolis later in the month.  As of today, I confirmed that my friend Barry will help me bring Pandora to Annapolis at the end of the month.  That should be fun as I have known Barry for years and yet have not had the pleasure of having him aboard. Barry has considerable offshore experience, having sailed from the Caribbean many times over the years.   That’s a trip that I’d love to do over the winter of 2014/15 so it will be fun to talk to him about this on the trip to Annapolis.

If Brenda and I were to take Pandora through the Caribbean, the plan would be for me to do the Salty Dawg Rally, that leaves from Hampton VA for Tortola in November each year.  This rally is relatively new and had quickly grown to be a major force within the sailing community.  The fact that it is free didn’t hurt, that’s for sure.

More to come on that.   Of course, Brenda and I would have to commit to two seasons in the Caribbean as we would leave Pandora for the summer in Granada and fly home for the summer.  After that, we’d fly back the following December or so and begin bringing Pandora home through the Bahamas.  It would be a really fun trip.   Fortunately, we know plenty of cruisers who have done this trip so getting good information about what to expect will be easy to find from folks who have been there, done that.

After the Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Brenda and I will spend a few weeks south to VA and on to Beaufort NC.  From there I will meet up with crew for the run to Ft Pierce where Pandora will be hauled for the three months prior to heading back in late January.

Last evening our good friends Loreen and Miles aboard Ariel, came to Essex and took a mooring at the Essex Yacht Club for the night and joined us at our home for dinner.  It was great fun to see them again after a few months ashore.   They had spent the summer in Maine and were headed back to Annapolis on their way to Florida.  They own a slip in South Beach FL near Miami where they spend a few months each season.  We hope to visit with them for a week or so prior to our trip to the Bahamas.  The shopping for provisioning the boat from their marina will be pretty simple although we hope to have a good amount of the food on board in advance of leaving CT later this month.

Seeing them for dinner brought back plenty of memories from our trip last winter and talking about the coming season was fun.  Having a few glasses of wine with them made it all the more enjoyable.  Funny how that is.

Speaking of fun in the sun, this is a fun shot of them hamming it up when we were together last winter.  Pretty sure that the star fish weren’t amused.  Of course, we tortured the little guys too.  Not Loreen and Miles, the star fish.    It will be fun to do it again, soon. After hanging around the murky water of New England for months, it’s hard to imagine water this clear will be soon coming our way.   Bring it on. First, I have to get to Florida.  Let’s hope that the weather cooperates.  Fingers crossed.

Oh yeah, how many tubes of toothpaste did we use last winter?  Let me check my notes. Time to get (really) serious about provisioning.

After long last Pandora’s back in the water.   We moved her to RI last week and enjoyed a visit to Newport to see the sights and to enjoy a visit to the Boat Show.

Having been to many boat shows over the years, it was fun to include the Newport Show on our list this year.   Actually, we haven’t visited that show in a long time as the one in Annapolis is so much better.  As a point of historical interest, the first time we went to the show in Newport was to tie the knot on our very first boat, a little 20′ cape cod catboat way back in 1979.   Yikes, that’s a long time ago.  I wonder how many “boat dollars” have washed through my fingers since that very first boat.  Better not think about that.  And, double better that Brenda not think about it either.

Compared to the guy that owns this little wonder, no make that a major wonder, all of the dollars that we have spent on boating wouldn’t even pay for the operating expenses for a single season, I’ll bet.  Pretty amazing craft.    If the photo doesn’t make it clear, this boat, er ship, is over 100′ long.   The mast is so high they have to display a red light, like a radio tower, to warn off planes at night.  This sweet little Stone Horse cutter is about the same size as our first boat, larger actually.  You can see how little she is as she passes one of the “big boys”.  And, there are no shortage of massive yachts in Newport. While we were there the New York Yacht Club was hosting races of their NY40s, a class of one-designs, all identical in design and outfitting.   These boats, as they prepared to race, paraded around the harbor in numerical order with flags flying.   Each boat has a number from one to twenty and they lined up in exact numerical order.   I’ll bet that there is a bit of politics in the order of the boats.  It’s probably better to be #1 than #20.   However, there must be a ton of pressure on #1 to perform.   They passed right by Pandora.  Each of the boats had crew lined up on the port rail in matching uniforms.  It was quite a show.  In spite of the fact that these boats are a bit smaller than Pandora, they are considerably more expensive.  I understand that to have one of these takes an investment of $1,000,000 or more.  And that doesn’t even take into account the many suits of sails needed to be competitive, year after year.   Playing this game clearly isn’t for the 99%.

It is often the case that owners of these boats own something else, a boat for a different purpose.   And, for the purposes of a harbor cruise with a G&T, nothing beats a Trumpy.  This is a sister ship, to Sequoia, that was once the presidential yacht.
There’s a boat design for every occasion.  How about this one that I saw at the boat show.  This photo was taken in Wickford, where Pandora is now, after the show closed.  It’s an HBI (hard bottom inflatable) with a twist.  While it has an outboard to use when on the water, it also has a built in generator and hydraulics that power the wheels when it’s coming up the beach and on the roads. I wonder where the license plates go?  Looks pretty complex to me.  I’ll bet that they won’t have a big market.   This baby has to be pretty pricey.  Look at the complex gear that raises and lowers the wheels.  Can you say “lifetime warranty”?  The manufacturer probably can’t either. The show, while not as good as the Annapolis Sailboat show, was fun.  I won’t bore you with the details except this neat new product.  It’s a remote controlled underwater camera by a company Aquabotix.  With 200 feet of cable, you could do a lot of exploring.   This guy, at a nearby booth, was not very impressed with all of the activity.  In spite of my best efforts, I was unable to get him to smile for the camera.  If there was ever a face that says more clearly “I am not impressed with you”, I haven’t seen it. However, I expect that he would have been pleased to join us for our dinner at the lovely White Horse Tavern, billed as the oldest tavern in the US from the 1600s.  The food was quite good and the atmosphere very quaint.   Perhaps he would have come along but I doubt would have been good for much conversation.   “What part of, no, I don’t want to talk to you while I eating, do you not understand?”
One of the oddest things to me about FaceBook is the tendency for folks to photograph their meals before they eat them.   Well, here goes, odd or not.  The salad we had was so nice looking I had to record it.  How about heirloom tomatoes with watermelon radishes?  I never had a watermelon radish.  Have you?I’ll bet that they owners of the estate, the Elms, that we toured while we were in town, had salads as nice, or nicer in this sun room.  We were told that parties for 400 were held in this home.  That’s a lot of lettuce.  Amazing.

I didn’t take a photo of the house itself, but this “out building” is pretty opulent and gives you a good feel for the main house.  I doubt that today’s 1% could come lose to affording this.  We had not taken a tour of one of the mansions in many years and I have to say that the self guided audio tour was very well done.  We could go at our own pace and enjoy the sections that we wished to dwell on .  I recommend it.  The Newport Preservation Society has quite a few mansions under their care and it would take a week to look at all of them. It was fun to be in Newport but it was a bit chilly as it’s so late in the season.  We had better head south soon…