Clambake at Rainsforth Island

We decided to get a group of us together and have a clambake at Rainsforth Island. Ransforth is a small island that has a few moorings and reasonable anchorage available. There are 2 beaches that allow for a fire below the high water mark.

We bought about 60 lobsters from a local lobsterman, and brought plenty of clams and beer :)

It was a great evening. Especially Danielle loved it. Many friends were there. We decided to erect the pot over the bonfire, since the propane heater was not hot enough in the winds.

Scituate Trip

We had a weekend trip to Scituate scheduled. Danielle was away at dance competition. Do Bill, Christian, Joe and I sailed down on July 11 and returned July 12.

The weather was raugh and on the nose going down, but Waterdancer punched through it easily with the Yanmar Turbo, motorsailing.

It was the first trip with WD. We did the typical O'Malley stuff, hang out at the bar.

Then we went back to the boat and had a lovely evening chatting about things.

The return trip was uneventful.

After dropping my crew off, I took the whaler and went over to Spectacle Island where some friends who were not able to punch into the wind ended up.

Back In the Water

Well, after an adventerous 10 days, we finally made it back to the water. Among other things, we were hit with the worst storm of the season which made repair work to be quite adventerous.
I will post a separate blog describing allthe repair work performed.

We were launched today, Monday, and made it to Pickering Warf for refuge from the storm.

We will be going back to the mooring here in salem and await the arrival of the Winthrop fleet,
and eventually returning with them on Sunday

Life on the Hard Days 1,2,3

I finally found my camera, and the cell phone connector, so I could start posting again. I find posts with no pictures boring.

Well, on Thursday, 6/11 Buzz came over to Winthrop and we moved Waterdancer to Salem. It was a rolly trip. Rain was predicted, and we had the bimini top on. My expectations of a miserable, wey, rainy trip were not fulfilled though. Except of the rolling, th trip was fine. The wind was about 15 degrees off, so we could not sail.

I should have raised the main to stop the rolling but I was too lazy.

Now, I am sitting on the hard, Danielle is staying with her mother, and has the year end recital. I did not much besides making a big mess inside and out, and waiting to talk to my friend Dmitry and Keith, the yard manager.

There is good amount of work to be done on the keel, I need a new cutlass bearing, and have the autopilot checked out.

Salem Hawthorne Cove, Misery Island

I feel guilty of not updating our blogs as frequently as I should. It is just pure procrastination. When we are cruising, I just don't feel like sitting at the computer and typing away if I can watch a sunset from my foredeck.

Friday, May 23, 2009

We motored over to Salem, Hawthorne Cove Marina to grab a mooring next to our friends Buzz and Marcy on Emeraude, and Jeff and Kristi on As You Wish . It was impressive that we left at 12:50 and arrived at 15:30. That is a little bit over 2.5 hours. We had the tide with us too, and were able to do over 7 knots without pushing the engine.

The weather was beautiful, late spring, and sunny.
That night the crew from the Marina, Marcy, Buzz, Jeff, Kristi Danielle and I spend the night on Waterdancer, had a great cookout, and just hung out and had fun.

Saturday, May 24, 2009

We went to Breakfast at Jaho's Danielle walked the town while I did the never ending boat errants. Our friends Jeff and Cheryl came over, they were in Salem for the weekend too.

We took a work dinghy that Buzz commandeered and went to the Salem River Bridge. From there we walked over to the Shanti to have a few drinks, had some late night pizza and then eventually stumbled back to the dinghy to spend the late hours on Emeraude.

Without going into details, I will state that it was sheer luck that we did not get into trouble, even though I was not drinking !

Sunday , May 25 2009

We walked to breakfast at Reds. Danielle and Marcy went grocery shopping

In the afternoon, we set sail for Misery Island. There is a beautiful cove with good holding, and several moorings. We tried to sail a bit, but eventually ended up motoring to the anchorage.

Although we were going to anchor separately, it turned out that we ended up rafting together, with both anchors down... not a smart thing, but for one overnight on a calm day it was o.k

We had brought a lot of great food. Another perfect day for a cookout. Being rafted together, we were able to mass-produce the food by running both grills simultaneously.

Hence we were enjoying a beautiful sunset and great food with good friends. How better can life be ?

That night they threw a surprise Birthday Party for me. It was fun to be rafted up at the island. Even though my cold came back and I started coughing like there is no tomorrow, I very much enjoyed the party with Jeff, Kristi, George, Sandy (Kristi's parents) Marcy, and Buzz.

The girls then decided to have their own private dance room in the cabin of Emeraude. So by midnight, the guys were passed out in the cockpit, while the girls were dancing away downstairs.

It was funny, because Buzz had the remote control for the music and was changing the tunes without them knowing it. hey did not seem to mind, whatever was playing was good dance tunes for them.

Monday, May 26, 2009

We took the dinghies ashore and walked with the dogs all around the island. I had my cold/flu at full force, so the walk was a bit strenuous, fortunately, I was not alone in my misery since we definitely had a few leftover victims from last night's party.

In the afternoon, all went their own way. Buzz and I had to deal with a little bit of anchor line entanglement, which was to be expected, and my anchor switch broke. But I was able to haul my anchor out by hot-wiring the relay )

We sailed out east from Misery Island, then tacked south towards Boston. The winds were not that well, so we were doing about 3 knots. Eventually we pulled in the headsail and motorsailed in, because Danielle did not want to be in too late.

We grabbed my mooring off the Winthrop Yacht Club at 18:30
It was our first real cruise with Waterdancer, everything worked well.

We still need to get the boat into cruise mode and secure things. We will be staying on the mooring for a while to give the generator a workout, and enjoy the piece and quiet.

Danielle's 30th Birthday

May 16, 2009 is Danielle's 30th Birthday.

This was a big day, since she gave up smoking. We had an entire weekend of Birthday Celebrations. After watching the VOR boats leave, we drove over to Salem and met with Buzz and Marcy. We had a cookout on the docks, celebrated on Emeraude. Jeff, Kristi, George and Sandy joined us and we went barhopping in Salem.

Next day we returned to the Winthrop Yacht club, and had another party. This time the rest of the Constitution crew (Paul, Jeff and Cheryl and Walter) joined us. As usual, Paul generously offered his boat, Venesaur, and the Winthrop Crew, (Bill, Andrea, Andrew, Dennis, Rita and many others joined us. Danielle's old friends James and Amanada came all the way from Connecticut, so did her cousins and their entourage, Missy, Lindsey, Noy, Maria came for the party.

VOR Boats Leaving

In a miserable, cold foggy afternoon the VOR boats left Boston Harbor.

We hopped on TapAlong, our little 14 ft whaler to watch the boats leave. After waiting around for an hour or so in the harbor, we were able to see the majestic boats sail out. They definitely have amazing sailing abilities,

It was fun to watch them run close hauled into the wind out of the harbor.

Moving to Winthrop Yacht Club

Andrew on Solace, Konstantin and Rob on Nomad, and I on Waterdancer, packed all our stuff and moved over to the Winthrop Yacht Club. It was uneventful, and Konstantin is looking forward to sail Nomad down to East Greenwich where she will be berthed.

Spring is here

It is a beautiful April day, with the dreaded April 15 deadline coming, but things are great.
The Shrinkwrap will be coming off in a few days, Nomad has been sold, and we are looking forward to a very active summer. More to come soon

Playing with Video Editing

Summer is coming again, and we are planning to have a long supper vacation.
Winter here in Constitution has been great, and we made many new friends. Unfortunately we did not have too much time to update our blog, because of my intense work and other events you can see happened int the past.
Danielle has her new Apple computer, "Baby" and is playing with creating her own imovies.
So I would like to share her first imovie about our Bahamas Cruise below. If it works, we would like to produce movies during our vacations, and happenings and publish it here.
So, here you go .. get ready to party.....






Summer is almost here.....