Brenda and I are now fully vaccinated and our boys, will soon be as well.  With the summer cruising season up0n us, thoughts turn to staying safe on the water and how one’s “status” will play out when it comes to socializing.

A big part of the cruising lifestyle is spending time together aboard and the ubiquitous “sundowners” at the end of the day with friends.  Sure, most of the time these encounters are outdoors in the cockpit but behind the dodger on Pandora, you might as well be indoors.   With the pandemic still in full swing, especially for those who have not been vaccinated, we will have to decide how we will handle the inevitable question of “have you been vaccinated?” when it comes to having someone come aboard.

Over the years we have hosted countless gatherings without thinking about anyone’s health but now?

For seven years I co-organized an event for cruisers at our local club.  Imagine that now?Jammed under Pandora’s hard dodger these days?  Not so sure about that.The arrival events in Antigua, sans mask?Or, a tot with my favorite club in Antigua, the Antigua and Barbuda Royal Tot Club.  Mask less?  Perhaps after a few stiff tots.  Life used to be so simple.A full house down below?  Perish the thought of sharing both food and viral particles…Even worse, how about Carnival?  Nope, can’t even imagine. I read in the NY Times today that there is a tendency for those who have been vaccinated to have an irrational fear of infection.  Presumably safe or not, they don’t want to even want to be around those who haven’t been vaccinated.  I can relate to that, especially because of the variants that have cropped up and threaten to bypass the work of the current vaccines.

In the EU there is talk about a “vaccine passport” in order to be admitted into the country or to events that will be crowded.  Imagine that in the “US of A, the land where “I can do what I want, when I want.”  Not likely…

To make matters worse, worldwide, the vaccination process is probably years from completion and recently there have been a record number of infections identified every day.   And with more infections there is a  greater likelihood that the virus will mutate in a way that will make it more infectious and more deadly.  Actually, that’s already happened and the “variants” are now the standard here in the US.   Normally, over time, viruses are expected to become less dangerous but COVID-19 seems to be bucking that trend which does not bode well for getting things under control anytime soon.

So, back to my question of the vaccinated spending time with the not-vaccinated.   I am a port officer for Essex for a number of sailing groups, including the Ocean Cruising Club and in an email exchange between other port officers over the weekend, the topic came up of what to do about this issue.

The universal reaction from those that commented was that they would ask about vaccination status and not invite anyone aboard who wasn’t up to date on their shots.  Awkward?  YOU BET!

“Permission to come aboard?”  “Have you been vaccinated?  Nope?  Permission denied.  Next…”

I’ll admit that I am firmly in the “permission denied” camp, partly out of fear but also because I have a problem with those who do not have what I expect of everyone and that is a “strong sense of community responsibility”

The politization of pandemic safety and COVID denial here in the US still annoys me and the idea that “refusenik” minority will somehow set policy for the majority, just pisses me off.

Don’t get me wrong, the idea of being in a situation where I have to ask the question of anyone that wants to visit about their vaccination status is not appealing, but I suppose that is what will have to be the norm for now.

One possible solution suggested by a fellow port officer was to fly a “V” or victor signal flag.

That’s a pretty appealing option but the actual meaning of the Victor flag is “I require assistance”, which is quite ironic, under the circumstances.

Another suggested a club flag “I’ve been vaccinated” as an option and a way for the club’s ships’ store to make some money.

So, want to board Pandora for a sundowner this summer?  That would be great.  No wait, have you been vaccinated?

Yes you say!  Permission to board.

How about a rum punch while we enjoy the sunset together?And in case you are wondering “what do you think about all this Bob?”.   Well, that’s what I really think.

There are plenty of cruising couples where both are equally enthusiastic about spending extended time aboard.  If you are one of these lucky ones, good for you.

However, often and perhaps more often that not, one member is enthusiastic and the other, well, not so much.

Our boys, Rob and Chris, now adults, and witness to Brenda’s and my cruising together, like to say that my efforts to coax her aboard are best described as “40 years of Dad’s desperate moves trying to make Mom like sailing”.  I suppose that is a true statement but so far, it’s gone fairly well as we have been sailing together since the late 70s, well over 40 years now, logging more than 1,500 nights aboard together and months at a time since I retired in 2012.

I won’t say that I have been fully successful in my goal as there continues to be a big difference between the amount of time I want to spend aboard and what she’d prefer to do.

However, so far, so good but the quest continues.

Over the years I have observed that among cruising “wanabees”, more often than not, one partner is generally more enthusiastic than the other.  I’ll go further out on a limb to say that it’s the guys that are inclined to be more enthusiastic.  Ok, sure, there are plenty of the fairer sex that love to be aboard but the are mostly all called for and for us “mere mortal guys” it’s up to us to work hard to coax the reluctant partner aboard.

For the last few months, I have been involved in a series of weekly Zoom meetings with a half dozen couples to talk about the cruising lifestyle and most of them fit the pattern that I have laid out.

That’s not to say that this reluctance is insurmountable but it’s has been my experience, and I understand among many others, that to head out and spend months at a time aboard together, often takes some convincing.

Our Zoom discussions were wide ranging and over the months I kept track of what I was hearing and tried to distill those thoughts into a talk presented recently to a group of cruisers, as part of the Salty Dawg Sailing Association webinar series.

With this talk, about a half hour long, I try to get at the heart of some of the issues that cruising couples face where one partner isn’t as enthusiastic about spending extended time aboard.  Brenda’s and my cruising has taken us from Maine to the Florida Keys, Bahamas, Cuba and most recently the Lesser Antilles, in the eastern Caribbean where we plan to head again next winter.

I’d be interested in what you think.

Aa few days ago earth had a “near miss” with an asteroid when FO32 passed within 2,000,000 kilometers of us.  At about 500 meters wide FO32 would have made quite a mess if it had crashed into earth at a speed of 15 miles a second, instead of passing harmlessly by.

Well, no harm done as we “dodged the bullet” and it won’t pass by us again until 2058. By then I’ll likely be long gone or 103 years old and if I am not, I won’t be aware of much anyway.  I guess my kids and grandkids can worry about that one.

A direct hit?  If you find yourself wondering what a direct hit by a 500 meter piece of rock whizzing along at 15 miles per second, you aren’t alone.  Don’t forget that a big reason we, the billions and billions of people on earth, are here at all is probably because of that asteroid that struck earth and wiped out all those nasty, toothy dinosaurs millions of years ago.

This short, if slightly irreverent, piece suggests what it might be like when, and they do say “when”, the earth is next struck.

Or, more importantly, is there anything that we might do to stop it from wiping us out? I would like to think that if a catastrophe of this magnitude was in the offing, we would unite in finding a way to work together and save all of mankind.

If the worldwide reaction to the risk that Covid-19 is any indication, we are just  F*&%#$ if the worst happens.

As a result of the pandemic, we haven’t been able to enjoy our local yacht club since we returned to the US nearly a year ago.  As our membership begins to be vaccinated, and with the hope of making the club safe for visiting again, the board recently issued a directive that they were setting aside a room in the clubhouse for those who have been vaccinated.  They thought that their plan was reasonable and would allow those who decided to follow the CDC recommendations of being vaccinated to enjoy the club and let others, who took a different position on the subject, do so as well, but in a different area.   Simple right?

Wrong!  Within hours of that announcement, pandemonium erupted with some members threatening to resign “give me my money back!” and even a few calls from lawyers saying that wasn’t legal.

So much for a simple fix to keep everyone happy.   The tempest made me think of this scene from the movie “Oh Brother Where Art Thou”, a hysterical take, by the Cohen Brother’s, of “Homer’s Odyssey”.   I this video clip, think of George Clooney, up in the hay loft, as the board and the guys holding the torches, well, they were the ones that took a “dissenting view”.All of this controversy about how to handle the virus in the US and elsewhere in the world, is making me think about what cruising in the Caribbean will be like next winter.  At this point, we have no idea if proof of vaccination will be required for entry in each country or if that, in addition to a PCR test to prove that you are “clean”, will be required.

If you have been vaccinated, will that offer an opportunity to move to other islands without quarantine?  A required period of quarantine to move from island to island that will have a huge impact on cruising in the islands and I expect that many will opt to skip the season altogether.

So, what will cruising in the Caribbean be like next fall?   I think, and I will admit that I am speculating at this point on this, that it might look something like the following.

There is a good chance that the French islands, Guadeloupe, St Martin and Martinique may follow whatever restrictions are in place for travel within the EU, perhaps requiring “covid passports” for free travel.   The non-French islands, known as CARICOM, from Trinidad north to The Bahamas, tend to work together so as long as vaccination rates are high, easy travel might work out for those who can show that they are vaccinated and “safe”.

Recently, Gaston Brown, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, petitioned the US Government on behalf of CARICOM to get vaccines to their residents.  It will be interesting to see how that goes.

One way or the other, there is little question that the Caribbean will be open for business next winter as the vast bulk of their economies rely on tourism, but the question is how restrictive arrival and travel between islands will be.

With regards to the Salty Dawg Rally to the Caribbean, we are encouraging our members to follow the advice of the CDC and get vaccinated but there is currently no requirement to do so in order to participate in the Rally.

It’s interesting to see how so many people here in the US are beginning to feel that things are back to normal as more and more vaccinations are available.  Last week the Governor of Texas said “Texas is 100% open for business”.  With only a fraction of the population currently vaccinated and virus variants moving into every part of the US, experts don’t agree that anything like “open” is reasonable quite yet and fear that risky behavior will lead to yet another spike in infections.

So, here we are, enjoying the freedom we have here in the US to say, “vaccination, no vaccination, I ain’t afraid a no virus” and something like 25% unwilling to, “take the jab”, it seems that, once again, the vocal minority can, can decide for the majority about what can and cannot be accomplished.

So much for “all for one, and one for all”.  In the US, sadly, it’s “all about me”.

What does our handling of COVID say about how we will do in the event of a Zombie apocalypse or a deadly meteor strike?  Not good I fear in the good old United States of America, where we are united in perhaps only one thing, that  “I”ll do what I want, when I want”.

I expect that there are plenty that, in the event of a Zombie attack would say “Heck, them zombies, they only hurt people that can’t take care of themselves.  Me, I’m safe.  To get to me and mine, they’ll have to get past my trusty Smith & Wesson.”

Or, perhaps a little less subtly.
And, if all else fails, and to close the loop…Yup, we have always been a nation of “do-it-yourselfers.”

Zombie apocalypse, meteor strike?   We’d better not face one any time soon.  If we do, it probably won’t turn out well.

Brenda and me?  We got the jab but we’re still not quite ready to face the Zombie horde., here in town or anywhere else for that matter.

After a long winter that seemed like it will never end, we are beginning to see the first signs of spring.  A few days ago, I was able to take a walk in the woods behind our home, without a jacket, hat or gloves.  It wasn’t warm enough for shorts but it was positively glorious to be outdoors “unbundled” after such a long winter.

And speaking of things that never end, after more than a year of viewing nearly every other human as a possible “contagion”, Brenda and I will receive our second vaccine “jab” tomorrow, surely a sign that our own long Covid winter will soon be over, or at least heading in the right direction.

Sadly, there seems to be many here in the US that are resistant to getting the vaccine and growing evidence that we may face another wave of infection in the Fall, due to the mutating virus, vaccine or not.  It is unsettling to hear recent poll suggesting that a third of Republicans are hesitant to get the vaccine which will only make matters worse.  Who would have ever imagined that staying safe and healthy would become such a political issue?  This does not bode well for the future, or as Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Vaccination or not, the lack of clarity regarding asymptomatic secondary transmission of the virus suggests that we will have to continue to isolate at least until our son Christopher and his partner Melody, who we asked to move in with us last fall, are fully vaccinated, hopefully by mid May.

And speaking of vaccines, from my perspective, it is a miracle that less than a year after the pandemic struck, there is a way out for anyone that chooses to, as Dr Fauci says, get the vaccine, “follow the science” and find their way to safety.

Springtime or not, vaccinated or not, we are not quite out of the woods, or the house quite yet. 

However, spring is showing early signs of coming our way.  The snow is gone save a few piles here and there and some early flower bulbs are beginning to show signs of life in the garden.

Here in the Connecticut I am getting excited about the coming season and hardly a moment goes by without my thoughts turning to my upcoming trip to Maine this summer and run to Antigua in the fall.

And speaking of future plans when life is back to normal, we have been talking to our friends Tom and Sarah, who sailed around the world as part of the Oyster Round the World Rally.  After “seeing the world” they have decided to spend their cruising time for the next few years in the eastern Mediterranean.  They have spent the last three seasons working their way west and have encouraged us to give it a try.

I’ll admit that doing an Atlantic crossing has been a dream of mine for decades but I had not realistically expected that Brenda would ever go for the idea.   I can still remember when my late father said to me “imagine going through Gibraltar aboard Pandora.  Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”  Yes, Dad, it would be awesome and maybe, perhaps maybe, it might happen.

Brenda does love that part of the world and during college, she majored in Greek and Latin and spent semesters in both Italy and Greece.   After our discussions with Tom and Sarah, she seems at least somewhat open to spending some time there aboard Pandora.  Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Will it happen?  I have no idea but at least we are talking about it and that alone is super awesome.

And, not to put the cart before the horse, or as my father would put it “say that another way”, putting the dink before the boat.

The itinerary might look a bit like this.   Head to Antigua this fall and come May, instead of heading back to New England, make a run for the Azores and then on to the Med.  That would be a long trip, nearly 3,500 miles from the Caribbean to Gibraltar and then another 2,000 miles from Gibraltar to Turkey, the most eastern part of the Med.   Of course, we wouldn’t go all the way, as we’d want to spend time in the Western Med.

Heading there directly from the Caribbean makes sense as the best time to cross the Atlantic is between May and June before the hurricane season kicks in.  At least the prevailing winds would be in our favor crossing east.

It’s a big commitment and would require us to cruise the Med for at least several seasons given the complexity and expense of all this, so we will just have to see how it all works out.

Along with everything else, I’d have to learn a whole new set of navigation marks.  So much for “red right returning”. I’ll give credit where it’s due.  I scanned the two images above out of the Imray Mediterranean Cruising Handbook.

Well, a lot to think about but first I have to get Pandora ready to go into the water.  I’ve been spending a lot of time on Salty Dawg rally details, the Down East Rally and the fall Rally to the Caribbean and Antigua recently so now it’s time to begin turning my attention toward her.

Oh yeah, and speaking of “her”, I am making good progress on Brenda’s new dining table.  The table top, leaves and legs are mostly done and I’ve ordered a few tools to finish the job.   I also have to get bids to do some renovation on our kitchen so we can get some much needed, especially by Brenda, upgrades done.

Yes, I’m pretty busy but at least I’m not bored.

Yes, springtime is getting closer every day.  But, as they say, the first warm day, a second vaccination or a single robin, doesn’t make a spring.

 

It’s been a long COVID winter but as I sit here watching the snow, that has been carpeting the ground for the last month, finally melt, I am encouraged that we have left January and February in the rear view mirror.  With multiple snowfalls, my snow blower has had more use this winter than it has for many years.  I am very hopeful that it will be along in “cold storage” for all next winter, snow or not…Next winter I am looking forward to tropical sun warmed “white”, the type you get on a sandy beach.  That’s our friend Maureen enjoying the warm weather in Antigua back in January, a big contrast to our frozen time up north. Here, a glimmer of hope as the spring flower catalogues have begun piling up in our mailbox, knowing that we are all desperate to see something new and green poking up from the ground, bringing the promise of warmer weather.

Brenda and I received our first Moderna vaccination two weeks ago and will soon return for our second.  Hopefully, after that, we will be able to begin resuming something resembling a normal life.  Fingers crossed that research will show that we won’t be at risk of asymptomatically passing the virus to Chris and Melody before they get their vaccinations in mid April.

Once the “coast is clear” we are totally going out for dinner.  I can not wait for that and to hear the words “Welcome.  What can I get you this evening?”

Yes, it’s been a long winter but having our son Christopher and his partner Melody with us, along with their Husky Mila, has done a lot to keep us from going completely stir crazy.   As of this week, they have been with us for 6 months and I can not imagine this winter would have been like without them in our “bubble”.

Here’s my buddy Mila with her own new baby husky.  After a few days of “love” the “baby” is headless and somewhat worse for wear.   “What are you looking at?  I didn’t do anything, nothing…  If you’d only take me for a walk.  Now?”And speaking of afternoon walks, Mila always seeks me out around 3:00 knowing that it’s time to head into the woods for a walk.

Yes, it’s been great to have the three of them with us so the next order of business will be to convince them not to return to San Francisco any time soon.    Hopefully, they will decide to set up house, not that we are trying to get rid of them, somewhere within a reasonable distance.  “I hear that you need to have someone watch Mila.   We’re on it…”

Just how isolated have we been?  Today, I cleaned out old receipts from my wallet and discovered a few from my trip back to Florida in June to bring Pandora north.  With these forlorn slips of paper, I was able to follow my progress up the East Coast, Fort Pierce Florid, a stop in Hampton VA, and on to Annapolis.

Aside from trips to the grocery, and an endless number of Amazon charges on our card, there have been precious few trips out since the weather turned cold.  Totally depressing.  And, I expect that the few $20 bills accompanying those old receipts are probably from an ATM months ago.  Remember cash?  How quaint.

I’ll admit that I am really f0cused on next summer and the coming cruising season and am praying that we will be able to go out in public without too many restrictions.  There’s been a lot of discussion about how masks are here to say that I am not all that unhappy about that possibility as I have become quite used to wearing one.   In particular, with masks, the wildly coughing people on planes and other public places will seem a lot less intimidating.    Remember the flu?  That seems like such a long time ago.

And, speaking of summer cruising, I’ll be leading a rally to Maine from Newport in July for the Salty Dawgs, which should be fun.  This summer will mark by 16th trip “Down East” and I am really looking forward to the trip.  I really don’t need a rally for the one day over-night to Maine but really want to support those who are doing their very first run in the dark.

My friend Bill recently quipped “sailing at night is exactly like sailing during the day except that you can’t see anything”.   Yes Bill, that’s correct but to many it  sounds a lot like “So Mrs. Lincoln, other than that, what did you think of the play?”

It is widely recognized that anxiety about doing “overnights” is one of the top issues with first timers.  Personally, I can attest to that as I vividly recall the first time I headed out of the Cape Cod Canal for my first overnight run to Maine.   It was about 20:00 and I thought “I have no right to be out here in the dark”.   But I made it and over the years I have spent countless nights at sea.

Our friends Tom and Sarah, who sailed around the world as part of the Oyster Around the World Rally, shared that when Sarah first began sailing with Tom said that she WOULD NOT sail overnight and yet went on to sail some 25,000 miles, including many-many overnights.  You never know until you give it a try.

Anyway, sailing in the dark isn’t for everyone but it’s a hurdle that must be overcome in order to do anything other than short local hops.   I am hopeful that we will have good participation in the Maine rally this summer so more can take the important step from coastal to extended cruising.

And, speaking of learning new skills, I have been hosting a series of nearly weekly Zoom meetings since January with some cruisers who want to head out and away, mostly this fall, probably down the ICW and onto the Bahamas.

Brenda and I have enjoyed these sessions and it will be fun to have Tom and Sara as special guests tomorrow evening to provide insight from their own experiences, about what it takes to “cast off the docklines”.

While most of our sessions have been more of a Q&A format, I did a presentation recently about crossing from FL to the Bahamas, strategies for crossing the Stream and the Banks along with some highlights of Bahamas cruising.    Check out the recording here.I am also kicking around the idea of preparing a recorded talk about the plans for the Down East Rally and if that works, I’ll do the same about planned highlights for the upcoming Caribbean Rally to Antigua, yet another opportunity to take advantage of what Zoom Culture has brought to us.  The ability to easily share stories and “see” others, when we can’t, is one positive to come out of the Pandemic.

It is bringing me some solace to be able to think about the coming cruising season but it’s still too cold to begin projects on Pandora to get her ready and in proper cruising shape.

In the meantime, I am trying to build good will with Brenda by building a new kitchen table out of cherry.  I still have a long way to go but I am confident that a new table that will replace the one we purchased when we were first married over 40 years ago, will be a welcome addition to our home.

I began with rough lumber and yesterday joined the boards together for the top.  They were really rough and you can see that much will have to happen to make them “ready for prime time”. ‘

Partially planed rough boards.  They were completely grey when I received them, compliments of a friend who had them in her garden shed for years.  I thought that they were walnut but was thrilled to learn that they were cherry, my favorite, when they emerged from the planer. Some of the board were fairly irregular so it took a number of passes through the planer and I ended up with tons of shavings.   This is only half…Meanwhile, Brenda is weaving away.  This project, her first on a 16 harness loom that we purchased recently, is very complicated and involves 1,000 threads in the warp,  a major undertaking to set up.   Now that all the bugs are worked out, and there was a “bug swarm”, she’s a very happy camper/weaver.So, that’s about it.  Our world has been pretty narrow for the last 6 months, made better with our “brood” here with us.

Soon, very soon, we will be able to once again sit outside and enjoy the springtime weather.

“Did I hear someone say OUTSIDE?  Is it TIME FOR A WALK?”, says Mila.

Oh boy, I sure hope so, and without a jacket…

So much to look forward to and only 18 days till spring.  Yahoo! Yahoo!

YAHOO!