Just over one week, and the adventure truly begins

By Sailor Keddy -
October 4th will be our planned departure date. We being Jon, a guy who works on the schooner next door; myself; Carla and of course Winchelsea. About three weeks ago I had an absolutely massive checklist, which I have whittled down to only getting the proper paper charts, which will be taken care of tomorrow morning. I've purchased an EPIRB, a harness to clip anyone working on the bow into the boat, a spotlight, patched a hole in the exhaust, installed the depth sounder, fixed the chart plotter/autohelm, as well as taken her on a couple of shakedown sails, among a galaxy of other tasks that don't come to mind right now. During our sails we discovered she really loves an early reef, and in 15 to 20 knots of breeze there is only a small trace of weather helm. I would have liked to get a new mainsail, the current one is sufficient but a little stretched out and baggy, but her sail plan calls for a 13' foot, when most modern rigged boats have a shorter one in the 10' range. Oh well, maybe in Florida.

I really can't wait to get south of the Mason-Dixon line again. Warmer, milder weather (it's already getting too cold for me here now), my family and friends are all waiting for me. We plan to stop in Charleston and Savannah for a few days at least; Jon has yet to truly experience southern belles and hospitality. Of course we are in no rush; trying to sail on a schedule is how you get into trouble. However, it would be nice to be south of Hatteras as soon as possible. Again, there is no crucial urgency, and I've been trying to keep this blog to strictly sailing, but I have a certain personal reason I met in Newport this summer who is waiting for me to get to West Palm sooner than later.




Comments

Anonymous said…
Sailor Scott,

Very well written, and a most interesting blog to follow. You should consider writing a book about your adventures.
September 26, 2010 at 1:30 PM
Miss McCannahannasullivannah said…
So hurry it up already!
September 27, 2010 at 4:29 PM
Christina Tobin said…
Easy come. Easy go!
October 2, 2010 at 12:31 AM
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