AJ and Phil Go to Florida and Sarah Battles Ice Storm

AJ and his dad left for Florida to go work on the boat the day after Thanksgiving. AJ is pictured on the left with the boom vang he got for his Birthday. It arrived just in time for them to take it to Florida to install it!  

They are sending me text updates and pics.

The first morning at the boat Phil texted that it was raining. Raining and 85 degrees. Little changes in Florida.  But that didn't stop them! They've been making amazing progress already. They've stripped the ceilings (insulation project abandoned), mounted the anchor roller, mounted the dodger, ran the engine, turned the boat around, Had the tiller head reinforced, cut and installed mainsheet and outhaul, sized electrical cable, ran the mast wires into the cabin, built the electrical panel, gone up the mast and more.  I just received word that they will sail tomorrow!

Meanwhile

An ice storm hit the state last night and power is out all over town. Luckily the power is on where I am but roads are closed everywhere. The snow and ice is supposed to last through the weekend, so AJ and Phil probably shouldn't attempt to return this weekend as planned. Arkansas will be closed. Unlike up north, much of Arkansas does not get enough ice and snow to justify salt trucks, so schools and roads tend to close at the first sign of snow.

Prior to their departure and bad weather, AJ and I enjoyed 60 degree temps, the rapidly changing colors of fall, and messing about in the woods.

Apparently there are alligators in Russellville too.  At the Bona Dea walking trails. 

Deer frequent the yard.  One day two faun and two females were really close to the house, where there is a low spot in the fence. I took pictures of them with my phone camera through a window. They somehow heard the noise and all stared in my direction.  One of the females began stomping the ground, and marching around with her head high and chest puffed out. She marched around the parameter of her group, stopping to stomp outwardly in each direction. The noise of an iphone 4 camera through a distant window really freaks deer out. I wish it had been a better camera! This one no longer processes light well, and the lens is hopelessly dingy.

AJ will give a more detailed account of the trip when he gets back. His hand has healed nicely. He also insisted that I make an appointment with the surgeon who did my scoliosis rod spinal surgery 14 years ago to make sure everything is alright before we venture off into the wild unknown. But the earliest appointment I could get was December 20, so we'll be staying through Christmas!

Arkansas Autumn

The leaves changed color this week.  I forgot how quickly it happens.  We are enjoying our time with friends and family and have decided to stay through Christmas. But the boat won't be totally neglected for that long because AJ and his dad are going to go work on it after Thanksgiving! There are a few final projects that would be better served with two sets of man arms.  And I know AJ has wanted to work on the boat with his dad, (who inspired his dream to sail in childhood), since we bought the boat.  I am so happy this worked out.  They will finish up the sailing essential projects and take S/V Robin our for it's first sail.  When we return after Christmas we will move aboard, finalize interior living systems, and sail away.  We'll shove off the coast of Florida in January 2014. Or February... But we will be starting this adventure by my 32nd birthday (the last day of February!).  I've gotten so lost in the lifestyle of working on a boat that I'm trying to imagine actually traveling with it. Trying to wrap my head around sailing and living rather than sanding and grinding! Trying to wrap my head around the fact that this next year will be spent in foreign countries...and the sea!  We married with the goal of sailing away in 2007, bought a boat in 2011, and will sail in 2014. 7 years from dream initiation to goal completion. 7 years good luck I hope! 

Many thanks to our readers for all of the kind and supportive words these last few months. They mean a lot, and have really helped keep us motivated. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Christmas Visit

AJ's parents arrived late the evening after Christmas.  AJ inherited his interest in sailing and wooden boat building from his father. AJ's dad, Phil,  trailered an 18' open daysailing boat he built while AJ was in college all the way to Stuart to take it out sailing on the river. It had been out of use since he raced it at the Texas 200, a 200 mile long open boat cruise on the Texas Gulf coast. First thing the morning after their arrival, we launched it at a park down the road and motored over to the courtesy dock at the marina.

Once at the marina, they came to see our boat in the daylight.  AJ's nephew Dean immediately looked around, plopped down in the cabin and exclaimed, "This is miserable." I cracked up.  Still do everytime I think of it. Also, while AJ was pumping our sink's foot pump to fill up his water bottle Dean asked "What are you doing!?" AJ explained that in most houses, city water is run through a series of big pumps and/or towers that pressurizes water to come out of the faucet at home, but since a boat is not hooked up to the city pressure system, the water must be pumped somehow, so we had a foot pump.  To that he replied, "That's terrible." Maybe the boat life is not for him, though he did seem pretty impressed with the 100 foot mega yacht just down from us.

After taking the daytime tour of SV Robin, we all boarded Andrea Christine, Phil's 18' dayboat, and headed towards the bridges that lead to the inlet. The mast was too tall for the first bridge, and we did not want to call for it to open, so dad dropped the mast while underway, we motored under the bridges and raised the mast again once through.  Oh to have that sort of flexibility with Robin!  We sailed down the river towards the St Lucie inlet. The wind was strong and Phil is apparently quite the boat designer, as his old-style standing lug rigged 18 footer sped away from just about every sailboat out that day, even with a reef tied into the sail.  Dean wanted to go to the beach and we were going to try to sail there, but three hours in we realized we would not be able to make it there and back before sunset and had to turn around to return to the marina.  No beach that day, but a (mostly) WONDERFUL day of sailing.

It had been warm that afternoon but on our return the clouds started darkening and we got caught in a hard but brief and cold rain. Dean and I wrapped ourselves in a towel. AJ was at the helm and decided to stand up, take the brunt, and make a game of it.

We arrived back at the marina cold and wet and hungry and stopped for dinner.  Andrea and Phil went to take the trailer back from the park to their hotel and Dean came back to our boat. He had seen our fishing poles and wanted to go fishing. AJ took him to the bridge where people often fish just behind D dock.  Dean cast the fishing line into the water, waited about five seconds, reeled it back in, cast it out again, waited about three more seconds before stating “Man, fishing takes a lot of patience.”

On the second day we went to the beach as Dean was promised. It had been in the 80's the previous week, but that day it was in the high sixties.  Luckily, the water temp was still in the 80's so one could swim, but  Dean was the only one who ventured in.

We got back in time for a quick sunset sail around the mooring field to check out the boats that had arrived this season.  This boat is a warship just off the line when the Korean war ended.  IT never saw service, and was going cheap. A couple made it their home and now use it to cruise the Mediterranean and Caribbean.\

A house boat on anchor in front of the mooring field.  Gin palace, Floating trailer, Keys Condo, whatever you want to call it, I still think they are kinda cool if voyaging is not your thing.

On the third and final day we sailed up the river the other direction. Water front homes line the river's edge, and we just casually looked in their back yard, lounged about and nibbled lunch over the course of a day of sailing.  What I enjoyed most about sailing in an open boat of that size was that I got a sense of the physics of sailing in a less anxiety-inducing way.  In our small dinghy you are not so much sitting in it as on it.  As expected of a 7.5 foot boat, it heels dramatically and bounces violently in wakes. We sat inside the 18 footer and could feel the heel of the boat and get a sense of when and why it moves without feeling like you are going to fall out. The only other sailing option we have is the big boat. Also an anxiety-inducing ride considering you are dealing with such a large vessel and your home. So I thoroughly enjoyed the day trips up and down the river in that happy medium, small enough to be able to see and understand everything that was going on, and stable enough to let you pay attention.

After the last day's sail, Andrea and Phil hopped off at the marina to grab the trailer while AJ was entrusted to bring the boat back to the park to be tailored and prepped for the trip to Arkansas.  Dean seemed to have adapted to the slower pace of sailing by the third day, when AJ offered, Dean was excited to take the helm. After piloting for a while he said “I like sailing.”  Dean was an impressive skipper for 10 years old.  I think the three days may have changed his mind about sailing and speed of life in general.  We were glad to finally spend some quality time with our nephew and parents, and glad also that Phil brought the right tool to do so.