2008.01.13 Hope Town
They say happy people have no stories and that may be why we have been posting sporadically to the blog…time for a little update though…wow no posting since the 3rd!!!
Our big project this year has been to attend to the bright work on Soli which is looking somewhat sorry, and H&J keep looking at it and shaking their heads in disgust….did I tell you that cruising with the Webers can be very pleasant but the tradeoff is trying not to feel guilty when Heinz (the teak freak as he is known around here) is forever varnishing pristine L’Equipe… The sun’s UV rays are quite damaging… think about what they are doing to our skin!!! Yes CJ we are using sunscreen and wearing hats!!!!
So we have been applying a solvent , scraping, sanding, scrubbing and the teak is coming up nice and golden but there is still a lot to do….I remember finding a file on our computer named “ Catherine and David’s dream boat” with all the features we wanted and did not want in our next boat and in first position it clearly stated “NO EXTERIOR WOOD”…we somehow forgot to look at it when we fell in love with Soli!
Last Wednesday (9th) there was a regatta organized by the Hope Town Sailing Club… we decided to participate, especially since we knew there would be a sistership in the race…. Soli had been at the dock since Dec.15th and was getting fat and lazy and is probably growing some stuff on her bottom (happens to the best of us!!!)also we were anxious to really try the new genoa sail that Hood made for us.
So at 9 AM we registered at the club, attended the skipper’s meeting… it was a nice course, 6 legs for a total of about 10 miles…We got off to a good start and were the FIRST boat of the fleet to round the first windward mark… then on the next leg it was as if we were anchored, now we know we never do as well on downwind legs but this was really bad…wonder if it is the 250 feet of ¾ chain in our anchor locker (about 500 lbs!) that slowed us down or maybe the wine cellar!
Heinz and I made a good team and did some very neat tacks but although we did well on the upwind legs those 2 downwind ones killed us… we then found out they had given the two Sabre 402 a handicap of 67.5 so with corrected time we both finished in the last two positions which was really unfair to Briezl since they had crossed the finish line in fourth position.
No matter, it was a glorious sail, a nice even 15 knots breeze, brilliant sunshine and the magical colour of the Abaco sea… who would dare complain about a lousy handicap in paradise!
The real fun (?) part was about to begin… by the time the race was over the tide had gone down and we now had to negotiate a very shallow passage back into Hope Town harbour… Almost as soon as Heinz said to David “I think you should be closer to the green” we were hard aground, now a wing keel such as Soli’s allows for a reduced draft which is a good thing…but when you are aground with such a keel it is very difficult to get off… in this case it was impossible and the tide was still going out… the owners of Briezl were just passing by in their gig and we handed them a line attached to our halyard and they pulled and heeled Soli over until we were off the shoal… about 50 yards further we were aground again… a team of 3 Carib dinghies, engines revving at full blast, tried to pull us off without any success… a nice young man in a gig with a big engine came by and we did our halyard thing again and with 4 boats pulling we were off again …. David was not a happy camper, Heinz had never seen that side of him….when I see D light his pipe in the middle of the day I know he is in a bad way!!!
We then attended a get together at the club and met a lot of very nice people… there is a thriving and very active community living here. We are invited to Susan and Rolf’s (Briezl) house for dinner on Monday along with J&H and Suzanne (J’s sister who just arrived from Montreal). Oh, and I forgot … we received a prize for the most sportsman like sailor… other words for DFL!!! They are now saying that since we are “live aboards” they will adjust our handicap for the next race!!!
Yesterday the owner of our marina, Ruddy Malone, got married to a lady from Nassau, so as we were slaving away on our teak (no sanding…too noisy) we witnessed the whole ceremony and were treated to a very musical afternoon …mostly good stuff from the 80s and 90s…. “You are the wind beneath my wings” still makes me teary…
We have a very nice dock neighbour, Joe, who is an avid and successful fisherman…he goes out most days and has come back and shared some delicious mahi-mahi and wahoo with us…he delivers it to our boat in nice clean filets in ziplock bags.. how spoiled are we? We had the wahoo last night, just delicious baked with a light coating of panko,but we are saving the mahi-mahi to share with L’Equipe!
We are going to lunch at the Harbour Lodge today and for a long walk on the beach with the crew of L’Equipe… it will be so nice to get to know Suzanne better….I did not see her crown when we met yesterday but she surely must be royalty judging from the way J scrubbed and polished everything on board to prepare for her arrival.
They say happy people have no stories and that may be why we have been posting sporadically to the blog…time for a little update though…wow no posting since the 3rd!!!
Our big project this year has been to attend to the bright work on Soli which is looking somewhat sorry, and H&J keep looking at it and shaking their heads in disgust….did I tell you that cruising with the Webers can be very pleasant but the tradeoff is trying not to feel guilty when Heinz (the teak freak as he is known around here) is forever varnishing pristine L’Equipe… The sun’s UV rays are quite damaging… think about what they are doing to our skin!!! Yes CJ we are using sunscreen and wearing hats!!!!
So we have been applying a solvent , scraping, sanding, scrubbing and the teak is coming up nice and golden but there is still a lot to do….I remember finding a file on our computer named “ Catherine and David’s dream boat” with all the features we wanted and did not want in our next boat and in first position it clearly stated “NO EXTERIOR WOOD”…we somehow forgot to look at it when we fell in love with Soli!
Last Wednesday (9th) there was a regatta organized by the Hope Town Sailing Club… we decided to participate, especially since we knew there would be a sistership in the race…. Soli had been at the dock since Dec.15th and was getting fat and lazy and is probably growing some stuff on her bottom (happens to the best of us!!!)also we were anxious to really try the new genoa sail that Hood made for us.
So at 9 AM we registered at the club, attended the skipper’s meeting… it was a nice course, 6 legs for a total of about 10 miles…We got off to a good start and were the FIRST boat of the fleet to round the first windward mark… then on the next leg it was as if we were anchored, now we know we never do as well on downwind legs but this was really bad…wonder if it is the 250 feet of ¾ chain in our anchor locker (about 500 lbs!) that slowed us down or maybe the wine cellar!Heinz and I made a good team and did some very neat tacks but although we did well on the upwind legs those 2 downwind ones killed us… we then found out they had given the two Sabre 402 a handicap of 67.5 so with corrected time we both finished in the last two positions which was really unfair to Briezl since they had crossed the finish line in fourth position.
No matter, it was a glorious sail, a nice even 15 knots breeze, brilliant sunshine and the magical colour of the Abaco sea… who would dare complain about a lousy handicap in paradise!
The real fun (?) part was about to begin… by the time the race was over the tide had gone down and we now had to negotiate a very shallow passage back into Hope Town harbour… Almost as soon as Heinz said to David “I think you should be closer to the green” we were hard aground, now a wing keel such as Soli’s allows for a reduced draft which is a good thing…but when you are aground with such a keel it is very difficult to get off… in this case it was impossible and the tide was still going out… the owners of Briezl were just passing by in their gig and we handed them a line attached to our halyard and they pulled and heeled Soli over until we were off the shoal… about 50 yards further we were aground again… a team of 3 Carib dinghies, engines revving at full blast, tried to pull us off without any success… a nice young man in a gig with a big engine came by and we did our halyard thing again and with 4 boats pulling we were off again …. David was not a happy camper, Heinz had never seen that side of him….when I see D light his pipe in the middle of the day I know he is in a bad way!!!We then attended a get together at the club and met a lot of very nice people… there is a thriving and very active community living here. We are invited to Susan and Rolf’s (Briezl) house for dinner on Monday along with J&H and Suzanne (J’s sister who just arrived from Montreal). Oh, and I forgot … we received a prize for the most sportsman like sailor… other words for DFL!!! They are now saying that since we are “live aboards” they will adjust our handicap for the next race!!!
Yesterday the owner of our marina, Ruddy Malone, got married to a lady from Nassau, so as we were slaving away on our teak (no sanding…too noisy) we witnessed the whole ceremony and were treated to a very musical afternoon …mostly good stuff from the 80s and 90s…. “You are the wind beneath my wings” still makes me teary…
We have a very nice dock neighbour, Joe, who is an avid and successful fisherman…he goes out most days and has come back and shared some delicious mahi-mahi and wahoo with us…he delivers it to our boat in nice clean filets in ziplock bags.. how spoiled are we? We had the wahoo last night, just delicious baked with a light coating of panko,but we are saving the mahi-mahi to share with L’Equipe!
We are going to lunch at the Harbour Lodge today and for a long walk on the beach with the crew of L’Equipe… it will be so nice to get to know Suzanne better….I did not see her crown when we met yesterday but she surely must be royalty judging from the way J scrubbed and polished everything on board to prepare for her arrival.The sisters are having a beach bonding session.
Daddy! Your face has an odd scratchy somthing on it?? have you given up shaving?? Going for the rustic piraty look?
ReplyDeleteAll is well over here. I am procrastinating at work :)
Love you!!
Cath xoxoxo