Winter Blues, Constitution Pool, missing blog entries.

Well, it is getting deep into the winter time. A few days ago it went down to the single digits. Seriously considering a Espar.
Exciting things are happening this Sunday. Danielle is cleaning up the cuddies, and I am trying to update some blog entries... yupiiee !

Well...we will be going to the Constitution Marina heated pool in a few minutes. When we come back, I will try to post a few more entries int our blog. It will be time-cyclical, with stories about our trips in August, Danielle's trip to China, our move to Constitution, and our fun winter life !
Have not decided on the format yet. Perhaps, instead of fudging the dates, I will post them as one big entry.
Gotto go to the pool now ...

Worlds End

After the Rainsforth Island cookout, we decided to spend Sunday evening and Monday at Worlds End. It was a quiet day, with very few other boats around. We took the dinghy out to the Marina at the other end of the bay, watch clam diggers, and in general had a great quiet day.

July 4

Danielle's Uncle, Matt, and his better half, Maria and Matt's son Chris came over to visit us for the weekend. We sailed both out on July 4 to watch the USS Constitution to make a turn around at Boston Harbor. Then we sailed out to Graves Lighthouse went across Hypocrite Channel and sailed back to Winthrop past the Boston Harbor Lighthouse.
That night we were treated to a spectacular fireworks show off Winthrop Harbor.
Our guests enjoyed the warm weather to sleep in the cockpit. So much for cleaning up the V-Berth :)

Next morning we decided to have breakfast off Great Brewster Island. So we sailed out bright and early at 9 AM and dropped anchor at off Great Brewster. A while later this huge powerboat pulled up on us. It turned out it was Paul with his girlfriend, parents and son. They dropped anchor a few hundred feet off from us.

Matt cooked an excellent breakfast, after which we set up the hammocks, the shades and had a very lazy day. Later on Bill and his friend joined us and we took the dinghy out to the island.

That evening we had a wonderful sunset sail going out towards Egg Rock and then back into Boston.

All in all it was a perfect weekend, good weather and great sailing. Chris really did get a kick out of sailing the boat. It looks like we found ourselves a new helmsman.

June 21 Lazy Monday

Danielle was away all weekend for the recitals of her dance school. So on Monday, we took off and anchored off Great Brewster Island. The weather was perfect to spend a lazy Monday at anchor.
We did not get to sail a lot, but the idea was just to get out of there



On the way back we encountered one of the largest Tall Ships heading out of Boston. It was the Spanish Schooner Juan Sebastian Delcano. I ended up getting a few nice shots.

Our Annual Birthday and Season Opener Party

Our annual Season opener Party was scheduled for July 5. We had Matt come over as our musician, and many friends from many harbors joined us :)

Buzz and Marcy sailed down with us back from Misery Island. Chris and Erin, Ed and Annie and other friends friends from Constitution came over. Most of the party was held at the Tiki Bar and everybody had a great time.

Misery Island, Salem June 4, 2010

On June 4, 2010, we had a great sail to Salem, where we met up with our friends Buzz and Marcy on S/V Emeraude. They live on a mooring on Emmy in Salem.

We rafted up on the north side of Misery Island, and had a great evening.

It was great to see them again, and Misery Island is one of my favorite spots, especially if it is not that crowded.

One word of caution though. If you drop the hook, or grab a mooring on Misery Island, I would suggest that you stay away from being close to land. The mosquitoes can be quite a bunch. We always carry big Citronella candles with us. They provide great mood light and keep the mosquitoes away in the evenings

Next day, Buzz did have to do his annual "Replacement of the alternator belt in the middle of the Ocean" routine after we towed them out into the clear. Then we sailed back to Boston to celebrate our combined belated birthdays, as well as the beginning of the season.

That party may make it into the blog when I have time. In the meantime, we had the absolutely perfect wind sailing from Salem to Boston. I could not resist doing this video to KD Lang's rendition of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen .

Blowing like a You-Know-What

After a very unsettled day yesterday, May 8, it suddenly calmed down. However, the NWS had posted a gale warning starting after midnight. Danielle just told me that the gale will continue at least until 4 pm. Oh well, not much to do but lie in bed and catch up on the blogs.

Last night, at precisely midnight, the wind started howling. It was getting to be a wild ride. No problem to sleep though, except some occasional wave slapping.

Below is a video that I took this morning. The boat is continuously heeled over by about 5 degrees. We also had to rescue Donnie's boat where a fender had jumped off. Not a good thing.

Winthrop Sunsets

One of the great things of being in Winthrop are the sunsets. I decided to take a sunset picture and publish it on Facebook every time I get a chance. Below are a few taken in May 2010

Move to Wintrhop

On May 1, 2010, we moved to Winthrop. The 3 WYC winter liveaboards, Andrew, Chris and us, packed up our boats and moved over.

It was a great day, and felt good to be back in our summer location.

The club docks are still worked on. We are replacing several big floats, and all docks get painted every year.

Chris and Hillary decided to go sailing for a while since their boat was fully comissioned. I was able to barely get my headsail in, to be able to have some control in case there was a problem with the headsail

Spring happenings

Last night the shrinkwrap came off, and tonight the frame will go. I brought over the powerwasher and cleaned up some of Dinghy Dong (that's one of Danielle's naming conventions)
In other news, we had a great party last Friday, and on I was able to pick a good slip at the Withrop Yacht Club for the following season.
Last sunday, we took our Friend Paui's 51 ft powerboat and went over to Marina Bay to meet up with our old friends Jeff and Cheryl. It was a beautiful pre-season trip.

I have been working on a great Blogging/Cruising Site that I will publish soon, but that has taken a bit of a delay for now since I am facing a deadline for my real customers, Continental Airlines, as well as developing a website for my Dockmasters postion at the yacht club.

I decided that I need a new camera. The IPhone pictures are just lausy quality unless the lightning conditions are ideal. Once I get that, I will be posting more pictures

We are still in Woonsockett, trying to try to try to start cleaning up the house so that we can go back to Constitution Marina.

For those who don't know... Danielle's mother, Nancy, passed away February 8th. She left the rental house and their belongings of 32 years.

It has been very hard for Danielle. She lost her father last year and her mother this.

We are hoping that life will get back on track by late April.