12/05/04

Heidi's Ramblings (last updated 05/16/2004 13:53 -0700)

May 12th:

Have been getting ready for this next great voyage forever now.  At long last, it is almost upon us.  If we keep crossing our fingers, it seems by Saturday the wind may return to to its usual position just south of east, as opposed to the northeast wind we've been feeling for many days now.  It's tough to sail northeast with the wind right on your nose.

The cat has been very busy catching up on his sleep, it's very tough to keep up with such things along with all his other awesome responsibilities.  He's also put a fair amount of time into studying the charts and weather for the crossing, unfortunately he usually chooses to get involved as soon as I spread out the charts to do some work of my own.

October:

We've been chasing September for weeks now, though it seems we're losing the battle when we have to turn the heat on for 20 minutes before getting up and have to don thick gloves and wool hats when racing across the bay.  Must be nearly time for the great leap south.

Officially switched to Greenwich Mean Time - it seems far too complicated to live any other way, especially when preparing for this 1000+ mile passage.

A bit of rest, at last.  Some dear old friends, some new. 

Maryland mud... it is so different here than the rugged beauty and serenity of Maine. Nearly every night we find ourselves literally up a creek, in 5 or 6 or 7 feet of thick or sometimes slickery mud. 

One afternoon, while tucked in to a tiny hurricane hole while waiting out some strong winds, I was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of Ann, a quite courageous woman who sailed one of the very first boats that Walt built across the Atlantic, by herself, no less, at age 50!  What wisdom, inspiration and verve.

Did some catching up with Andy Burton, who first indoctrinated us into the art of offshore sailing.  And shared some big hugs with Walt and Tom and Shawn who built our boat.