{"id":11657,"date":"2021-03-02T08:44:55","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T13:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=11657"},"modified":"2021-03-02T08:45:33","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T13:45:33","slug":"only-18-days-till-spring-yahoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=11657","title":{"rendered":"Only 18 days till spring… Yahoo!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0 With multiple snowfalls, my snow blower has had more use this winter than it has for many years.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Brenda and I received our first Moderna vaccination two weeks ago and will soon return for our second.\u00a0 Hopefully, after that, we will be able to begin resuming something resembling a normal life.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Once the “coast is clear” we are totally going out for dinner.\u00a0 I can not wait for that and to hear the words “Welcome.\u00a0 What can I get you this evening?”<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 \u00a0As 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”.<\/p>\n

Here’s my buddy Mila with her own new baby husky.\u00a0 After a few days of “love” the “baby” is headless and somewhat worse for wear.\u00a0 \u00a0“What are you looking at?\u00a0 I didn’t do anything, nothing…\u00a0 If you’d only take me for a walk.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 \u00a0 Hopefully, they will decide to set up house, not that we are trying to get rid of them, somewhere within a reasonable distance.\u00a0 “I hear that you need to have someone watch Mila.\u00a0 \u00a0We’re on it…”<\/p>\n

Just how isolated have we been?\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Totally depressing.\u00a0 And, I expect that the few $20 bills accompanying those old receipts are probably from an ATM months ago.\u00a0 Remember cash?\u00a0 How quaint.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 \u00a0In particular, with masks, the wildly coughing people on planes and other public places will seem a lot less intimidating.\u00a0 \u00a0 Remember the flu?\u00a0 That seems like such a long time ago.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 This summer will mark by 16th trip “Down East” and I am really looking forward to the trip.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

My friend Bill recently quipped “sailing at night is exactly like sailing during the day except that you can’t see anything”.\u00a0 \u00a0Yes Bill, that’s correct but to many it\u00a0 sounds a lot like “So Mrs. Lincoln, other than that, what did you think of the play?”<\/p>\n

It is widely recognized that anxiety about doing “overnights” is one of the top issues with first timers.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 \u00a0It was about 20:00 and I thought “I have no right to be out here in the dark”.\u00a0 \u00a0But I made it and over the years I have spent countless nights at sea.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 You never know until you give it a try.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 \u00a0I 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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”.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 \u00a0 Check out the recording here.