The 4th Waterdancer Sunday Brunch 11/06/11

Thank you all for joining us for our 4th traditional Waterdancer Sunday Brunch. We had a great crowd, including the kids, and everybody had a lot of fun.
We went through 17 bottles of Champagne, and 4 pitchers of Bloody Mary.
Thanks to all that joined us to celebrate the beginning of what we hope will be a great winter season.
The party ran on until past 9:30 that night, and several new liveaboards did get a chance to meet the seasoned  ones. Please feel free to add comments or stories you woul like me to add to this blog entry.
Below are some pictures of the party. Click on any to see the full size version.

The Champagne is flowing with personalized cups instead of nametags.

It is nice to have boat kids around, because they know how to handle themselves on a boat

The party spilled to the docks

The Jolly Roger I stole from Captain Woody is up one last time !

Summer 2011

It has been a summer, that was as beautiful as many of the summers, however filled with tragic events and the loss of a very very dear friend.
Additionally, (and insignificant in retrospect) our dachshund Sailor lost the use of his hid legs, which created a very significant handicap for us. We are unable to leave him behind and go on any exteded vacations.
We had several trips, our long vacation interrupted by Hurrican Irene, and I will eventually post about that.

 Currently I am unable to post about the good times. I just do not feel it.
So I will leave this section blank until some time later, and jump into our winter 2011-2012 living at Constitution Marina

Impromptu Trip

It was the day after Danielle's recital. I have, as I have done almost every year, taken the day off to enjoy the first real days of the summer together. This time I took both Monday and Tuesday off. After doing some errands and shopping, we decided to go out for a quick sail.
As it happens often, there was no real win in Boston Harbor. As soon as we got out into Cape Cod Bay, we had a great easterly wind. So we decided to do some lazy sailing. I pulled out the Yankee Jib, put on the Autopilot to 60 degrees, and let everything else happen by itself.

Leaving Boston Behind

At one point, we would have to turn back. Wait .. Why ??? I have tomorrow off, we are like turtles, we have our home, our dogs with us. So let's just go. So we decided to sail up to Salem.
Eventually I decided to move and pulled up the main. We had a wonderful lazy sail at 5.5 knots up to Salem. Once we got close we had to go into a run (wind behind) so we pulled in the jib and started the iron genny. We had talked to Hawthorne Cove and secured a mooring.

Relaxed sail

Buzz met us, and after hanging out on Waterdancer for a while, we went ashore on Buzz's dinghy to Victoria Station. There we met with our friends Jeff and his father-in-law (and friend) George. Jeff and Kristi are fellow liveaboards who made the jump and moved down to the Carribbean on their Irwin 43. Now they are living there in the winters, occasionaly chartering their boat and up in New Hampshire with Krist's parents George and Sandy.

Danielle encountering my Lobser claw

After a great night with friends, Buzz dropped us back on Waterdancer, and we are enjoying a wonderful night under the stars in Salem harbor as I type into this blog.

First Sail of the Year

Well it was recital day, so like every year, Danielle got dressed up and left early in the morning. I decided to take Monday and Tuesday off from work, since she usually is off the days after recital. We hope to get some sailing time in.

In the meantime, I decided to get some sailing done. So I hooked up with Alla and another member of MassBaySailors and showed them around Boston Harbor. We took out an Albin 28 which is a solid little boat and did some good sailing. It is nice to be able to bury the rail and not worry about the dogs, frogs, ovens kitchen and books flying all over the cabin.



Although I love our little Whaler, which we use often to put around in the harbor, sometimes I am tempted to get a little 20 ft keelboat on the mooring and sail her around at sunsets.

Summer is here

Well, Summer is here, and we moved into Winthrop. We have a great location for our slip this year, and are preparing Waterdancer to go out cruising. Meanwhile we enjoy small local trips on Tapalong, our 13 Whaler Dauntless.

Chris up on the mast of French Lessions

Our dock neighbor fellow liveaboard Chris is hanging out on his mast quite often these days. So he took this great picture of Waterdancer, that I made my desktop and also the image for this blog. 

S/V Waterdancer

Below are a few pictures taken from our cockpit. I promise I will add to this blog as things move on. Currently we are busy stripping the toerail to bare wood and re-varnishing.

And of course, my never-ending quest to find an organization for my tools is still continuing. I think I found a workable solution. 

Sailing in Winthrop Harbor

 I am still volunteering as the Dockmaster at the WInthrop Yacht Club. We did a significant amount of  work on the docks and replaced the hardware. The main I am at, A dock, has all brand new brackets which make me feel somewhat safer. Although it is a great location, we are exposed to Southwesterlies, and things can get bumpy.

A view from our deck

Starting to get ready for summer

Danielle is of to a dance competition, so I am using the time to start cleaning up Waterdancer. I tool the dinghy out for a ride. The little 2hp Honda seems to be acting reliably. Cleaned up some of the ugly watermarks, opened up some parts of the wrap.
Through the winter I had put layers of foam and reflectix on the cabintop. Those are now removed.
Friday, April 15 will be the day to take the shrinkwrap off and move Waterdancer to G-dock!

Complications in life

How can I create a blog of our life without being truthful about all that is happening. I love our life. It has been wonderful in the past 6 years, and we are living it out, still both of us working, committed to stay around for years to come, and live on Waterdancer in a less ordinary way.

However, one of the factors that made us move onto Waterdancer, has been my Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, which I have been living with since 2003. As expected, there has been a recurrence this last 6 months and the growing lymph nodes are to the point where I will have to go through treatment again.

I have an appointment with my doctors at Dana Farber today, and we will decide on the status and treatments. I am having my hopes up that things are fairly uncomplicated (benign is not the right word, because it is not) and that the lymph nodes respond to the treatments easily. 

I don't want to concentrate on that part of my life on this blog, because it is about our adventures, and our happiness, but  It would be unfair of me to hide these parts of my life, especially if I show up all bald again as I was 7 years ago :)

I will post the progress on that front in the comment pages of this blog.

SarahJ's Wedding

Daniele's best friend, dancing partner from childhood, is living and working in Cincinnati. So we flew over on Friday morning, got ourselves a hotel right on the river and enjoyed a weekend in Cincinnati. The weather was exceptionally warm, so we were able to walk around.

View from our room

Joe's Crab Shack

The crab legs at Joe's Crab shack were absolutely scrumptious. It was nice to have the weekend to ourselves. We did some walking around and ate at several different restaurants. On Friday night we went to the Hofbrauhaus to meet up with SarahJ and some of her wedding party.

The wedding was very nicely organized and cute. It was a relatively small wedding with about 80 guests at a converted movie theater with their names on the marquee.  They got married on the stage, which is exactly what Danielle would have expected from SarahJ.

CakeBalls !

SCATMAN

Paul's Mountain Cabin



Off we go to New Hampshire

Paul and Elisabeth invited us up to their Paul's mountain cabin. It is up in New Hampshire, behind Mt Washington. This season, the access road is completely covered with snow and the only way to make it up is via Snowmobile.



Fixing the sled



Danielle making Snow Angels



So we followed them up to New Hampshire. Paul had the snowmobile parked at the bottom of the trail.  We had to attach some old skis to the bottom of the pill sled so that we could move our stuff up.



Danielle helping to resupply the wood



Eventually, we made it up to the cabin. It was a beautiful view, a great cabin heated only by firewood, no electricity, and no water.



We really enjoyed the cabin. Danielle helped Paul lug some firewood from the shed, and the woodstove created a really cozy athmosphere.



Jeff playing the Piano while Cheryl is singing

 

Cheryl and Danielle



For the evening, we went over and visit Jeff and Cheryl at their mountain cabin that was a few miles away.

As usual, they were great hosts, and we met a bunch of other fun people, mostly from Marina bay, and a friend who is a patient of Cheryls.

 After a great night, and a few little adventures with the 2-wheep drive Honda on these mountain roads, we made it back to the cabin.

Next morning we had Mimosas and a great breakfeast. We left around 6 pm and made it back to Waterdancer around 8.

Another Wild Winter Weekend





It is probably due to the fact that we spend a lot of time in limited spaces, that the weekends end up as times where things are being let out, at times in a manner reminiscent to some of our College times. Friday night we had a pool party. It lasts between 6pm and 8pm. It is very difficult for me to make it in time because of traffic coming back from Waltham. Usually I leave work sometime after 7pm, but Fridays I leave earlier to make the party.



So I invited friends over to Waterdancer. We watched some cruising movies and had a good time. When Danielle came back we decided to let her sleep since she had competition next day and moved over to Kevin and Linda's boat. Walter joined Kevin, Linda, Susan, Arvind, Jeff and me, and for some totally unexplained reason, the shotglasses came out.

I actually took some movies of the rest of the party, but will not publish them to protect the guilty. As I left around 1 am the party was still going.

Saturday was fairly quiet. Christian and I had to dig onto a slip in order to recover the heat gun, so that he could fix his shrinkwrap.

The wraps have taken their toll in the snow, including at least one partially collapsed one.



Sunning in the cockpit

 I finally got myself around to fix my own shrinkwrap holes which were caused by falling icicles.

Sunday we decided to take a little vacation. Together we went to the pool, and enjoyed a relaxing hour. At 100 degrees, it is the largest hot tub in Boston.

The sun was out, and it was 84 degrees inside the shrinkwrap. So I took the opportunity, and lay down in the cockpit with shirt and t-shirt. Ahh ... the simple pleasures of life we have to grab onto in order to survive this winter.



Snow Mountain in the parking lot



In the Meantime, the snow banks in the area are growing. The field behind Danielle is about 10 ft tall and 100 square feet. That is a lot of snow, and it is dirty, very dirty.

  I don't think that I remember this much continuous snow in the Boston Area before. Since it is illegal to dump the snow into the ocean, the mountains are growing, And we hardly get any temperatures over 32 degrees to help the snow melt. 

Walking on the streets, especially in the city is becoming dangerous because there is not much sidewalk area left, and many streets are narrower because of the extra snow. 

Eggs Benedict and Canadian Bacon Burger !



Mimosas and Beer at Warren Tavern



 Afterwards we walked over to the Warren Tavern, and splurged. I have cut down on beer significantly, so this was my beer day. We had a scrumptious late breakfast. Warren Tavern has good food and atmosphere. They have a fireplace, which was not lit today.

Sullivan's Bar

Finished with our late brunch, we ventured over to Sullivan's Bar, next door which is a very typical Irish bar. We had a some Bloody Mary's with the pre-Superbowl crowd and then stumbled over to Tangerinos, where I enjoyed a Chimay Ale and 2 Drunken Camels. (Don't even ask) while Danielle continued with her mimosas.

After the Superbowl started, we went over to Paul's boat Venesaur, and hang out with Paul and Elizabeth, where the 2 bottles of Champagne Danielle had bought from the liquor store bit the dust. So did the Steelers !



After a brief stop over at Kevin and Linda's boat, reminiscing Friday night, we finally made it back to Waterdancer. Things get a bit fuzzy at this point

 As to make a point of this winter. If the three Mariachis in fromt of the Mexican restaurant have a foot of snow on their hats, we definitely had too much of old man winter

Snow .. way too much snow !

Wrath of winter

Accuweather image

We are being hit by one snowstorm after another. This week, after receiving already over 50 inches of snow, we had a double snowstorm hit us. Tuesday was a wash as far as work is concerned. Wednesday I went to my office, and only one other person was here.

Tuesday evening we went to the parking lot and cleared the cars, padded off the snow from the shrinkwrap. I also added some reinforcing tape to the roof area over the door. Next year I am planning to create a dome with an additional conduit so that the snow can fall off.
The shrinkwrap is holding for now (no jinx... no jinx). I have a few small holes from falling ice, and the area around the starboard shroud opened up, again, from falling ice I presume.

Dingy is completely covered with snow. It will be some time before it is accessible again !

Below is a picture of Constitution Marina, with Danielle and the dogs, before the big storm hit !

Danielle, Sailor and Sammy walking to the Constitution Marina Parking Lot

There is a dinghy there

And here is the poor dinghy. Again, this picture was taken before the big storm hit, and there was no melting in between.

Weekend with Friends

This weekend definitely was one of the more fun weekends. Walter and Jeff invited us over to Imagine, their 49 ft Gulfstar Motor yacht, and we spend a great evening on Friday chatting with friends. Kevin and Linda,  who are next boat to them, and Cia, Jeff's long-time friend also joined us.

Cia making sure we have enough wine

That night we decided to go visit Cia at the place she is temporary residing. It is a farm in the suburbs, complete with it's own sledding hill. We drank, had absolutely great food and went sledding in the middle of the night

Walter and Jeff, after Walter busted his sled



Danielle and Cia with their sleds



A Sunday at the Marina watching the Patriots



A view of the outside docks



It was a beautiful sunny day, so we took a walk on the docks to see what the extend of the snow was, and just to stretch our legs. In the wintertime, one becomes really inactive sitting on the boat all the time. I am resolved to change that, perhaps at least join the sports club that is down the road from our office.



The Patriots getting crushed



.

Danielle and Annie

 

After tour walk, we went to our friends and nighbors Ed and Annie's boat. They are living a much more minimalistic lifestyle than us, but are perfectly well and happy with their camping stove, TV and propane heater. They are probably spending one-fith of what we are spending on electricity and propane. Dave was ther too, and I am looking forward for him becoming a WYC member, most likely this summer.

There we watched the Patriots getting crushed, while having good times and dinner with friends

Summer plans

Buzz came to visit yesterday. The swimming pool was open like it is every Friday. So we hang out in the largest hot-tub in Boston, then went back to Waterdancer where Andrew, Buzz and Danielle continued till 4 am, while I happily snored away on the couch in front of the fireplace.

Danielle is into her book reading phase, and she wants to go to Nantucket. Interestingly, the picture below is actually a php script that will load a different picture every time you look at it :) enjoy !

Well, we started to make travel plans. We'll sail to Red Brook harbor, stay there for a few days, then go to Nantucket, and stay there for a week. After that we will probably continue to Cuttyhunk. I am not sure yet what exactly our summer plans are, but it is fun to start planning on a cold winter night !

Snow Storm

The huge storm sweeping across the country has finally reached us. Both Danielle and I are off from work.
It has been blowing pretty good last night, but the marina is very protected.
Last night, we went out to Ironsides last night with Andrew and  Susan.

Hanging out on Waterdancer

Walking the dogs

We Then we hang out on Waterdancer, walked the dogs, and enjoyed the cockpit. It was cozy to enjoy a glass of champagne while the snow started coming down. The  20,000 BTU propane heater made it actually a pretty cozy to be under the shrinkwrap n the cockpit. Next year I should build more windows.

Enjoying a champagne in the cockpit

With the 20,000 BTU heater

Waterdancer's shrink wrap is holding

The ramp did not fare as well

 We spent the night rocking and rolling with the 40 knot gusts.
The snow really started coming down after midnight. It is still snowing as I post this. The shrinkwrap is holding, faring much better that the shrinkwrap over the ramp.  I actually love these snow days. One of the good things about living aboard is that you don't have to shovel any snow.

A Catalina under snow

I took a walk over to D dock to check on Jose's boat. He has a remote thermometer on his stern, so it is easy to check if the heater in his engine compartment is working. We are planning to take a walk with the dogs and then go up to Max and Dylan's to see what is up there.

 At the end we went to Mark's boat, had some sangria and chatted the night away.