I HATE SHOES

I am in Sarasota now and about to take a two day cruising lesson. This is more geared towards learning the systems on a larger cruising boat than the basic sailing techniques of lessons I've had before. Here us the boat: a 30' long and 13' wide (!!) Jennau. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I know I have painted a very rosy picture of the Winchelsea, but, after all, she is a 38 year old boat, and needs some work. First and foremost are the faint gas fumes that permeate the area below deck. I'm not too thrilled that she came with a gas engine in the first place, and I am very tempted to replace it with a 1 or 2 cylinder diesel engine. I am concerened about the safety of a gas engine on board, those fumes can be not only hazardous to breathe but potentially lethal if they accumulate too much and are ignited. I have someone looking into it as I type and I'll update the blog here with what they find as soon as I hear back. Secondly, and this is safety related as well, is the propane issue. The boat currently has a propane stove and heater, both of which do not work. I cook on a small camping stove with the small 16.4 ounce propane bottles and that works alright for now. For heat, which is a big issue when it drops into the 20s and teens, I am going to remove the inope...

Preface: I wrote this while I was in Sarasota over December 2009. I was drunk when I wrote this, but the entire trip was 100% sober... It is hard to describe the feeling of being pushed along with the raging surf after, for almost four hours, being battered with it broadside. I am thinking of the voyage we made over a week ago from Rhode Island to Boston, and it almost seemed easy at the time. I have conferred with the others that made the trip and they concur: it was not a simple walk in the park sailing cruise, but one of great determination, compassion and a general commitment to a cause I wasn't even sure existed. As we came into Boston, I spent the entire time up on deck, admiring all of the nuances of a port I have never experienced coming into from the sea. I could only wonder if my great grandfather Clifford Keddy enjoyed a similar arrival, full of excitement as he passed through the narrow passageways between the harbor islands as he made his way to a City he had never see...

Here she is: And my view from the cabin: - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

So I've been asked a few times why I have chosen the name Winchelsea . The name has personal historical significance as it was the name of the ship that Alexander Kady came over on in 1749. His name was changed to Kedy when he landed in Halifax (he was part of the founding party of Halifax) and then it evolved to Keddy when Clifford Keddy came to Boston around 1900. The list of all passengers aboard that ship can be found here . The original Winchelsea was a 24 gun sixth-rate frigate, similar to the one shown above. She was built in 1740, captured by the French in 1758 and retaken two weeks later. She was broken up in 1761.

Last night marked the official renaming of my vessel from the Windfall II to the Winchelsea. It is, in fact, very bad luck to simply rename a boat, but if you follow the correct procedure, it can be done without pissing off Poseidon. Basically the way it works is that Poseidon has a huge list of all the ships that are allowed to sail on the surface. He keeps this down at the bottom of the ocean in his Court. If He sees a boat sailing along he does not recognize, he'll do pretty much whatever He can to take it down. So this ceremony asks Him (politely) to remove the name of the old vessel from His list and to replace it with the new name. Then you have to give Him libations (bubbly). We had our own ceremony last night, and Winchelsea was decked out in Christmas lights (sorry for the crappy pictures, I took them with my phone, I'll replace them with better ones that were taken when they're sent to me). Below is the AWESOME program that Maria made for the eve...

We made it back to Boston at about 4:30 pm yesterday afternoon in light rain with 2-5 knots of wind. It was hairy at times, but all around, it was a great experience. Given the fact this voyage was completed in a New England December weekend, it actually went very smoothly. After motoring most of Narragansett Bay, we put up the sails just after going under the Newport Bridge and cut the engine. By this time it was completely dark and I got one of my first tastes of navigation by lit buoys and charts. Winchelsea was out in open water a couple of hours later, heading nearly due South. With a strong West wind (20-25 knots, gusting to 30) she was getting hit directly on the starboard by consistent 4-6 foot waves with an occasional 8 foot monster. These had her heeled over pretty good for a second (that felt much longer), but she righted herself again quickly. The combination of 15 degree air temperature and gusts of 30 knot winds to the right side of my face was relatively brutal. However...