Memorial Day Weekend in Glochester

Friday 5/25/2012

The weekend was promising. So we pulled out from the docks on Friday evening and went to our mooring. Season mistake 1: got too close to Deer Island in the dark. Danielle warned me and I moved off, after reading 4.3 feet of depth ! After grabbing a mooring, we enjoyed a calm and pieceful night Next moring I heard

Saturday, 5/26/2012

Danielle preparing the lines by 8 AM. She was ready to go. After filling up the dinghy with gas, we left the mooring and mototres past Deer Island light where we set sail. Season Mistake 2: sailing past Graves where I was trying to keep the boat away from the rocks, Danielle simply asked: Are we going to hit the rocks there. I had overlooked the small outcrop of rocks that is called the Northeast Grave. It is just about 1/2 ft above the water at that point. We were about 300 feet off. Time for a good evasive maneuver.

Entering the Glochester Breakwater

We sailed, then motorsailed into Glochester harbor and grabbed a mooring from the harbormaster.
Glouchester was the ususal busy fishing port with all the noises of the giant refrigirated warehouses, the fish processing plants, and the announcements from the whale watch trips. Amids all this is a strange ocean tranquility that we enjoy so much.




Usually I don't make reservations in Glochester. The holding is so good, that I just anchor in the inner harbor. But the moorings are inexpensive ($25/night) and if one is available from the Harbormaster (VHF ch 16) I take it.

On the mooring

Babato at anchor

We spend the afternoon walking the dogs in town, got smoe steamers from the fish market and went back to the boat. We met our winter neighbors from Babato at Constitution Marina, who were anchored there.

Sunday 5/27/2012

Delicious Breakfeast

Danielle pulling the dinghy to the beach while I am taking pictures

In the morning danielle prepared a delicious omlette. I then took the dinghy back to the Fish Market and bought some fresh scallop pieces fro $6.50 /lbs.
I also tried to tighten the stuffing box that was leaking pretty bad, but the locking nut just refused to give. So I sprayed some PB Blaster on it and decided to wait.

Annisquam, Wingersheek Beach

 Around noon time, we took the dinghy up the annisquam river. It is always a fun trip because of all the oddities one observes on the way. Rocks painted as frogs, treee story buildings  in the middle of the river, and all sorts of interesting boats and people.
We spend a few hours on the beach with warm sand and warm waters.
By around 5 pm it was time to get back. It takes about an hour to go thhrough the Annisquam river and back to the boat. We were able to slide under the bridge again with no problems.

Rocks painted as frogs

Once back, we took the dogs for a walk, and then went back home to a delicious Scallop dinner. I noticed that my friend Craig Spear who is also sailing the cruiseforlife.org was at the mooring in front of us, so I grabbed the dinghy and said a quick hello.

Monday, 5/28/2012

We had a lazy morning. Woke up around 10 am, just had a lazy morning and left the mooring around 1:30pm. We raised the sails going out of the breakwater. Initially we motorsailed, but eventually the winds picked up enough that we were able to sail, albeit slowly, back home. Halfway down, we did our annual Memorial Day flower ceremony. Every year, we drop into the ocean  a flowers, from a bucket, remmebering thos  who are not with us any more. And the last and larges one is then thrown for those who have died fighting for our freedom.

Memorial Day Flowers

We then had a beautiful afternoon sail into Boston Harbor. I need to decide how to back in with the dinghy. It took me two trys, and I almost squashed Joe, who was on the dock trying to cath the lines. Again, this week, the wind was blowing us off the docks.
We had the usual suspects on the docks, spent chatting with friends and then had dinner up at the lounge.

Sunday Sail with Captn Ron and Lovely Lori

Danielle was away this weekend at one of her dance competitions which she loves so much. So that was a perfect opportunity to clean up my boat.
Of course, what else could one do on a beautiful sunny day on a weekend at a yacht club with great food and drinks, and a beautiful view.  Clean up and organize the boat.
Well I needed motivation, so I posted a sailing event and 2 good old friends of min, Ron and Lori, who are avid ocean kayakers decided to join me.
After surviving a great Opening night party at the club I got up early morning and started cleaning up the Waterdancer. It was all put away just in time as they arrived. We left around 12:30, raised the sail around the dolphin, an inched our way out, occasionally motorsailing, past Deer Island Light. From there we had a beautiful sail up the coast, tacked around sailed past the Graves and then back into the harbor past the Boston Harbor Light.

Graves Light

We tried to catch mooring off Gallops, but there were no pennants, and we could not reach the ring from the bow. So we simple anchored which went smooth. I had to get into the dinghy and recover the boat hook that decided to part with us while we were trying to grab the mooring,

Lori working really hardly on this sailing thing

Ron (aka Captn Ron) since he is an ex navy guy, cooked us the hamburgers, we ate a just enjoyd the anchorage for a while until it became time to go back home.
Wew motored back to Winthrop. The landng did not go as smooth, because there were  Easterly winds, and a good amoutn of current, But thanks ro Joe, Marie and Dave who were there to catch the lines, we eventually made it in.

Safely moored back in Winthrop

Great day, great sail, great friends, it was an overall good day.

Weekend at the Mooring and First Sail

Sunset at our mooring spot

This summer we are planning to go out as much as possible. So, this Friday, we left our slip and went out to the mooring. It was great to be away from the crowds and noise and just enjoy the water. We had beautiful sunsets, nice food for the grill and a very tranquil time.

Sailing back to Winthrop Jib only

On Sunday we decided to sail out. We left the mooring field, went around the airport all the way back to Constitution Marina, where we harassed our winter friends with a fly-by (on motor) and then sailed back out to the islands.
From there we had a beautiful sail back, jib only, at six knots into our regular slip on A dock.

Danielle at the helm beautiful sail

There, the dogs met Milly and Danielle and Darlene went back to their old Sunset Wine routine.

Danielle, Darlene, Sailor Sammy and Milly

It looks like, slowly but surely we are all recovering from the tragic events of last year.

 Life goes on

Back to Winthrop

Well, WaterDancer is back in Winthrop again. We moved out Sunday,
April 29 and arrived without a hitch at Winhtrop Yacht Club. We stayed on one of the inner docks until the marina opens. This year's casualty is the Radar. The bow thruster is working but is flakey. If I don't run it every day, the solenoid takes a few attempts before it engages.

Summer is about to begin !

Winter has come and almost gone

.... and I have posted nothing.

S/V Waterdancer under her Shrinkwrap.

This has been a very mild winter. Waterdancer is under her shrinkwrap, and we are planning to move first to the outer docks and then back to Wintrhop in May.

I have been more active than usual at the club, because I was elected to the Board of Directors.

My current project is the WIFI installation in the club.

Albums

At the same time, there are a few furniture installations on waterdancer that will make it easier to take her out on a whim.



I have been experimenting with various photo albums. We had a beautuful New Years day, and I met my good friend Buzz on the water, and with two dingies we captured the racing action. I also added a few older albums and added links from the main page.  http://www.waterdancer.org/Albums

CCOA Party

I have been down with the flu for that past 10 days. Finally the after loads of antibiotics I am getting up again. So the CCOA (Commodore's Club of America) party at the Holiday Inn in Mansfield was a good break for us to get away from the boat. The hotel has a indoor atrium with a swimming pool and a hot-tub. The rooms are arranged around the pool, so you are totally isolated from the outdoors.
We enjoyed great food, drinks and camaraderie.
Although D was sick too she was able to enjoy the indoor pool and volleyball match. The theme was Gilligan, and there was a competition and Gilligan's parade. Saturday evening was passed mostly watching the Patriots and chatting with friends.

New Years Day Races

It has been a wonderful day. The sun was up. I put the 8HP onto the inflatable and went out to the harbor while D was recovering. After visiting Buzz on Boston Harbor Shipyard, we went out with two inflatables and followed the races. The weather was in the 50ies, there was enough wind to move the sailboats. So w took plenty of pictures.
In the afternoon we met Bill and Andrea at Max&Dylans for some drinks and dinner.

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.