{"id":3225,"date":"2014-07-10T12:52:47","date_gmt":"2014-07-10T12:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=3225"},"modified":"2014-07-10T12:54:41","modified_gmt":"2014-07-10T12:54:41","slug":"sailing-vicariously-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=3225","title":{"rendered":"Sailing vicariously… for now."},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Thursday morning and I feel compelled to write something. \u00a0 Especially since I woke up at 4:45. \u00a0Why, why, did I have to wake up that early? \u00a0It wasn’t even light yet. \u00a0Not a bird chirping.<\/p>\n

Oh well, I am awake and I haven’t been aboard Pandora for a week. \u00a0And it will be at least another week till I return to New Bedford to head out again so anything I post will have to be about OPB (Other people’s boats).<\/p>\n

So, what’s there to write about when I am just an “armchair sailor” for a few weeks? \u00a0I have to say that still feels a bit odd to me to be mostly landlocked during the summer these days after so many years of summer sailing with the boat “on the hard” for the winter. \u00a0However, life’s not too bad as I do spend nearly 6 months on Pandora these days, just not the summer part.<\/p>\n

However, being aboard full time when the weather turns nasty here in CT (That would be ALL winter in my book.) is great and I am already thinking about moving Pandora south this fall.<\/p>\n

Speaking of south, it looks like I will be running Pandora to Georgia in late September after the fall Annapolis SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association) gam. \u00a0And, I’ll likely leave Pandora in Brunswick for a few months till I return to her in early January to run her down to Miami. \u00a0 I say GA because we can’t put her south of the FL\/GA border prior to November 1st due to insurance requirements. \u00a0The rub is that we are planning some travel from mid October to mid November so Pandora will have to be settled prior to the time that it’s ok to move her to FL. \u00a0Anyway, in GA she’ll be until I return in January to take her the rest of the way to Miami. \u00a0I\u00a0\u00a0expect that the temps in GA in January will be a bit on the chilly side compared to south FL. \u00a0 \u00a0However, it should be better there than here in CT by that point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For now, I’ll just have to think about those folks that are sailing this summer while Pandora sits patiently on her mooring up in New Bedford. \u00a0Happy to have access to my friend Patty’s mooring there. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I guess that I will have to satisfy my sailing needs vicariously for the moment and I know of no better way to do that then to do a bit of perusing of videos on YouTube. \u00a0 \u00a0Yes, that site has something for everybody. \u00a0No, make that thousands of somethings for everybody. \u00a0Well, at least for me.<\/p>\n

So, what’s interesting? \u00a0How about mast walking? \u00a0Now there’s an idea. \u00a0I have been up Pandora’s mast plenty of times, most recently to check out a problem with the VHF radio antenna which needed to be replaced. \u00a0And I did it the old fashioned way, in a bosun’s chair. \u00a0Brenda pulled me up using the power winch. \u00a0I can tell you I was gripping the mast with my legs, plenty hard.\u00a0Here’s what it looked like from deck. \u00a0 \"\"<\/a>However, it seems that there are other ways to get to the top of the mast, especially if you have a thirst for adventure. \u00a0 How about this as a way to the top?