{"id":3248,"date":"2014-08-03T17:52:39","date_gmt":"2014-08-03T17:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=3248"},"modified":"2014-08-04T11:03:05","modified_gmt":"2014-08-04T11:03:05","slug":"pandora-making-tracks-happy-to-be-aboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=3248","title":{"rendered":"Pandora making tracks. Happy to be aboard."},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Sunday morning and we are motoring into a light breeze on our way to Stonington CT and the first night of the Essex Yacht Club cruise. \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s been years since we have joined a club cruise and as relatively new members of EYC, we are looking forward to spending time with everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been hectic getting ready to make this run as we have had non-stop guests for about the last week.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, I love having visitors, especially if it\u2019s family and to have our son Christopher and his friend visit for a few days was a great treat.\u00a0 However, it\u2019s remarkable to see how quickly the fridge empties only to be refilled to bursting and empty again. \u00a0\u00a0And getting everyone on their way and preparing to leave for a few weeks is pretty intense.<\/p>\n

On top that, Brenda hosted a group of lace makers, or \u201ctatters\u201d, twelve of them, for a day of, you guessed it, tatting.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you don\u2019t know what that is, you can always \u201cGoogle that\u201d. \u00a0My contribution for the day was to stay out of the way and to make well timed appearances to do the dishes when required.\u00a0 That, combined with running out between the raindrops to get Pandora ready kept me pretty busy yesterday.\u00a0\u00a0 To see all those women of a certain age sitting around our dining table made me feel pretty estrogen deficient.\u00a0\u00a0 I didn\u2019t quite have the nerve to say it out loud but I was thinking that the group should rename themselves \u201ctits for tat\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps better to keep those thoughts to myself.\u00a0 Actually, Brenda corrected me that they actually did \u201cbobbin lace\u201d.\u00a0 However, the joke wouldn\u2019t work so I prefer tatting.<\/p>\n

Alas, as usual, I digress\u2026<\/p>\n

So, here we are, underway and nearly to Stonington.\u00a0\u00a0 We had to get going very early today as the tide was going to turn against us later in the morning and I didn\u2019t particularly feel like motoring into both the wind and current.<\/p>\n

Over the last few days, as I was struggling to get everything aboard for our two weeks and accepting the reality that we were going to motor the entire way and likely do so in the rain, I couldn\u2019t help but wonder what I was thinking as I signed up for a series of club cruise events, prepaid of course, knowing that I\u2019d have to \u201cget there or else\u201d regardless of the weather.\u00a0 As they say, \u201cthe most dangerous pieces of equipment aboard a boat are the clock and calendar\u201d.\u00a0 When you \u201cjust have to be there\u201d, well, that\u2019s when you get into trouble. \u00a0Add to that the loss of power at our home an hour before we were scheduled to leave for our trip that certainly complicated things.<\/p>\n

So, here we were making last minute preparations, washing dishes and a bit of ironing (yes ironing), when the power shut off. \u00a0Out came the flashlight, digging into the depths of the fridge deciding what to bring. \u00a0Well, we did pretty well and only forgot a few items. \u00a0We’ll see what lurks in the dark recesses of the fridge when we return. \u00a0Perhaps the next time I open the fridge I’ll have to arm myself with a hammer, or worse.<\/p>\n

It will be also be interesting to see what lights are burning after two weeks. \u00a0Who knows what was on, or off, when the power quit.<\/p>\n

However, today, not a lot of trouble as it\u2019s very calm.\u00a0 However, I was stressing about the \u201chave to leave today and be sure and make that first thing or else\u201d deal and wouldn\u2019t you know, it was raining steadily as we shoved off at 07:30 this morning.<\/p>\n

Well, while it\u2019s still overcast, at least it\u2019s not raining.\u00a0 That\u2019s good and the next few days are going to be very nice, if a bit windless.\u00a0\u00a0 However, I am struck by the huge difference in cruising with a schedule verses the sort that we do all winter in the Bahamas, where we don\u2019t go anywhere except when the wind is convenient.\u00a0 Well, almost never.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, there are always exceptions but that\u2019s another story.<\/p>\n

So, we\u2019re off for two weeks and it will be fun to get to know others from Essex Yacht Club as we make our way, probably under power, from place to place.\u00a0 It\u2019s certainly way more organized than the sort of cruising that we are accustomed to but it will be a nice change of pace.<\/p>\n

As I finish up this post, we are on a mooring in Stonington, home quite a few really nice boats.\u00a0\u00a0 Here\u2019s a great little wooden powerboat near us.\u00a0 I\u2019d hate to pay for the varnish work each year.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>And, another great design by Bob Perry, who designed Pandora.\u00a0\u00a0 The Valiant 42 is considered one of the greatest cruising sailboats ever designed.\u00a0 We have met quite a number of folks who own and love this design.\u00a0 I think that they look particularly great in red.\"\"<\/a><\/span>Of course, another classic is the Hinkley Bermuda 40.\u00a0\u00a0 This was, at one time, a best seller for Hinkley Yachts.\u00a0 Alas, they stopped production a while back to focus on boats that were much larger.\u00a0 I understand that this design is still being built, but by another builder that acquired the rights.\"\"<\/a><\/span>Before I break, I should mention that Brenda and I particularly enjoy listening to names of boats that call each other on the radio. It\u2019s pretty funny how often boats traveling together have names that somehow seem to go together.\u00a0 We have heard some great combinations over the years and was reminded of this when I heard a boat on the radio today.\u00a0 It was <\/span>Liberty<\/em> and they were calling <\/span>Get Away<\/em>.\u00a0 How perfect, a boat \u201con liberty\u201d calling one that wants nothing more than to \u201cget away\u201d.\u00a0 Yes, that\u2019s me and I am happy to be \u201cgetting away\u201d for a few weeks. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yup, happy to be back aboard even if I was totally stressed getting ready to go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Sunday morning and we are motoring into a light breeze on our way to Stonington CT and the first night of the Essex Yacht Club cruise. \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s been years since we have joined a club cruise and as relatively new members of EYC, we are looking forward to spending time with everyone. It\u2019s been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3248"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3255,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3248\/revisions\/3255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}