There are definitely days when I think to myself, “why the **** am I living on a boat?” I spent the day on Long Island retrieving my winter cover frame which I stored on my trailer at an old friend’s house. It was a chilly fall day. Cold noses, slow fingers, wished I had a woolly hat.
I had ordered new clips for my Yakima rack a while back. Y11’s – they fit the ‘91 GTI I now own (It’s a POS – but I love it). The rack does a fine job of holding all the wood frames for the cover. I used this same roof top technique last spring when I dismantled, transported and stored the winter cover with the Civic.
Today, as I set up the rack on the GTI, I remembered that my rack towers are the Q type, not Y type. I had ordered the wrong clips… clips for the GTI yes, but for an older style rack mounting system. Foiled! After paying $6 to T-Mobile for use of their “hotspot” and searching online I was able to track down a set of the correct clips. But the closest shop with the Q32 clips I needed was 22 miles away. Yuck! Off I went. Turns out it’s the same bike shop I went to to test drove the Dahon folding bikes.
2 hours later I return to the trailer and the cover frame, to load it onto my GTI with new clip and rack mounted firmly on the roof. A couple of truckers hitches, some bowlines, a few frapping turns and she’s good to go. Strapped in tight and ready for the 4 hr highway ride back to Martha’s Vineyard.
An uneventful ride back to Woodshole… a stop at Tim Horton’s for coffee and donuts… ever since the delivery, I’ve been indulging in far too much coffee and sweet treats… long distance sailing will do that to you… or is it my lack of routine and regularity that does it? As a matter of fact, I haven’t spent more then 6 consecutive days here on Martha’s Vineyard since August, when I left for the cruise to Maine. I’ve been a jolly roving tar, gallivanting here and there, hither and yon… barely working, spending plenty. I must confess, it’s been a crazy few months. My mind is chock-a-block with a diverse collection of options, plans, dreams etc… If indecision was profitable, I’d be a rich man.
Of course when I arrive back to Martha’s Vineyard tonight at 10:30, I realize I left the dinghy in the wrong spot. It’s inconveniently not at the parking lot where I’m leaving the car, but rather a few hundred yards down the beach, back towards the ferry terminal. As I neared the dinghy, I understood full extent of my mistake. The dock is exposed to the North. The Autumn winds have been strong the past few days. The dinghy is just barely visible above the water. Swamped. Waves crashing over her bow continuously. Pathetic. I’m tired, I’m cold, I’m standing in the dink bailing with a 5 gal bucket… getting splashed with each rolling wave. But quickly Cricket rises and fewer and fewer waves come rolling over her bow, until she holds her own and is staying fairly dry. A good shove, I jump in, and oars begin to row against this brisk 25kts. Bitter cold fingers, wet from bailing. Numb pinkies. Wet feet. Ahh, so this is winter rowing. I think about the sailors who braved the Horn… working aloft furling the tops’ls in winter gales. I feel like the biggest pussy cause my poor fingers are numb as I curse myself for not pulling the dink up on shore, forgetting gloves and a hat, and only bringing a medium weight fleece.
Finally home after what felt like and endless uphill row. I climb aboard and am greeted by my bicycle obstructing the galley and access to the fwd part of the boat… namely the heater! My ass is wet. I can see my breath. I can barely move my fingers to light the stove… AND ITS NOT EVEN WINTER YET!
Now I’m sitting here in the fwd cabin, with the bed set up, my nose is frozen, my wet feet shivering and it’s howling a gale out there! Chamois rocks and rolls, jerks and bumps. The kero heater is burning nicely, but the heat isn’t circulating through the cabin and I’m miserably cold. Sleep is my only option. It’s been a long day.
Overall an excellent trip… although longer then anticipated. Both departures, from Martha’s Vineyard and Bermuda where on the tails of strong winds. We had a few days of great sailing. Second day out we were running before 25-30 kts, making 8-9 kts. Gulf Stream brought us some nice warm water, dolphins, flying fish and much improved temperatures.
Noel left us a large and confused swell, and I didn’t fare so well the first 36 hrs out of Bermuda… Winds were light and rather contrary for the better part of the second leg. We made nice Easting in anticipation of finding the SE trades at about 23N. But they never appeared. Instead we faced SW winds of 15kts… EXACTLY the direction we were trying to head… typical. We got on the horn with 
Road Bay, Anguilla didn’t excite me too much, but Marigot on St. Martin – the french side – was tres cool. I have an affection for all things French. Studied it for 6 years in highschool, and was nearly fluent, si on parlait avec une personne a l’age de 4 ans. Found a lovely patisserie, where I read my book, listened to french conversations around me and enjoyed a few too many pain de chocolats. Simpson Bay, on the Dutch side of the island (where we left the boat anchored) by contrast was dirty, riddled with casinos, run down and not at all pleasant.
I’ve been reading Storm Tactics Handbook, by Lin and Larry. Like so many of the books I’ve bought…I’ve never read it. It figures that only after I attempt to heave-to I’d read it… very typical. To fit some quality reading time into my oh-so-busy schedule I hop on the eliptical machine for 30 mins. Ordinarily, I hate doing cardio inside. Much prefer a bike ride or run outside. But cold weather, short days and the perfect opportunity to get some reading done make the elliptical very appealing.
