First and Last Day

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Nov 22, 2008
3,562
Endeavour 32 Portland, Maine
I just came below after watching the first sunset of the new year which also promises to be last warm sunset for a long time. This incredible spell of weather we have been having is predicted to change in the wee hours of tomorrow. The law of averages makes it a good bet that the wind and sub freezing lows will be the norm for a while.



I started the year with a great day of sailing, raising the sails shortly after leaving the creek portion of Bluffton approach. I had a very pleasant sail down the May River and tucked in a reef after joining the ICW. It felt great to short tack down a narrow channel again, working hard and setting up a nice rhythm of sheet handling and winching.

Just after I raised the sails, I heard someone on the radio who I thought might be calling me. I called back with their vessel name but didn’t get an answer. Instead, my old friend Paul Rollins, builder of the Yawldory came back calling me.

Yawldory:

http://www.cruisingonstrider.us/OpenBoat.htm

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1666880372308.69083.1846284215

Paul is on his boat, heading south, and they were at a marina just a couple miles away about to go ashore for lunch. We’ll be figuring out how to get together tomorrow.

I’m now well set up in Bull Creek http://fms.ws/6lioI on bow and stern anchors that I will convert to a Bahamian just before I turn in and a couple hours before the wind is predicted to come hard from the north. I have good protection from high trees in that direction. When it backs to the west, I will be a bit exposed but the fetch is only a few hundred yards so I should be able to ride out much worse than is forecast.

I’ve been ashore on the island. The collapse of the housing bubble has created some interesting landscapes where land was cleared and opened up for developments that never happened. This large transformer, abandoned in the bushes, reminds me of photos I see of Chernobyl. Both meltdowns have created ecological damage but also paradoxical habitat preservation.



The wide open spaces now abandoned:








And, right next door, the marshes:






The trunks of all of these palm trees are burned from a fire evidently set by campers.



Perhaps because of this, there are “Posted” signs that I didn’t see until after I returned to the boat and moved a bit farther up the creek for better protection. So, no, you shouldn’t walk around here.
 
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Nov 22, 2008
3,562
Endeavour 32 Portland, Maine
My first day's sail. Under power shown in red and sailing in blue.

 
Jan 22, 2008
1,483
Hunter 37 C sloop Punta Gorda FL
Nice Roger, Keep us up to date. Won't be much to do in the cold except huddle around the heater and go on the web.
 

Jimm

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Jan 22, 2008
372
Hunter 33.5 Bodkin Creek - Bodkin YC
Nice Roger, Keep us up to date. Won't be much to do in the cold except huddle around the heater and go on the web.
Ya'll stay warm down there now .... we'd be glad to send you some of our 20s in exchange for your 40s :D
 
Nov 22, 2008
3,562
Endeavour 32 Portland, Maine
Wow! I just took my big Guardian anchor, rated for a 47 foot boat, out of the bilge, assembled it, and deployed it at about 40 degrees off the bow from the other one. The wind just gets stronger and refuses to veer in the predicted direction that would give me some cover.

I did it with the stern anchor still set and all from the deck under power in about 5 minutes after assembly and set up, a neat bit of seamanship if I do say so myself. I wish I had a video. The stern anchor is still holding me straight against the current. I should be good for 50 knots or more.

Temperature is about 55 but I expect that will go down.
 

Jimm

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Jan 22, 2008
372
Hunter 33.5 Bodkin Creek - Bodkin YC
Wow! I just took my big Guardian anchor, rated for a 47 foot boat, out of the bilge, assembled it, and deployed it at about 40 degrees off the bow from the other one. The wind just gets stronger and refuses to veer in the predicted direction that would give me some cover.

I did it with the stern anchor still set and all from the deck under power in about 5 minutes after assembly and set up, a neat bit of seamanship if I do say so myself. I wish I had a video. The stern anchor is still holding me straight against the current. I should be good for 50 knots or more.

Temperature is about 55 but I expect that will go down.
Impressive! And yep, forecast from tonight into Thursday has some bitter cold and wind headed through most of the east coast - crank up that cabin heater!!
 
Oct 26, 2008
6,081
Catalina 320 Barnegat, NJ
C'mon Roger ....

I'm sure your blood hasn't thinned-out already! ;) You might have a few cold nights to endure but the forecast around here (northern NJ) is 50's again by next weekend so I'm sure you'll be in short-sleeved shirts and shorts soon enough.

This is a feeble attempt at assuaging our envy. You will just have to suffer with your guilt for causing these envious feelings of ours.

But in the meantime, keep posting. A little day-dreaming everyday does me no harm and I like to think it's motivating as well!
 
Oct 22, 2010
27
MacGregor 26 Brownsville
Great reflexion. We need to be better and take care of our ecological ambient.
We need to be better ecologic guardians.
Thanks for the pictures and your reflexion.
Happy 2012.
My sail place is in the Laguna Madre in the most southern-west part of the Gulf of Mexico.
It is a great and natural ecological reserve.
 

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