Today the boat was floating 5 miles off shore, the weather was calm, the wind and waves were almost none existant. Perfect weather for swimming!! We've all been waiting all week for this opportunity. I don't think there was a single person aboard who didn't jump into the water. It was a delight! I've never swam in the ocean so far off shore before.
Today we were supposed to have hamburgers for dinner. Cooked on the grill. Our ordered course had other ideas. The waves were coming at us at an angle, which makes the boat roll and pitch like a mechanical bull. Not ideal for trying to grill. So instead, we made Sloppy Joe`s, a dish that neither Mitch nor I had ever cooked before! There have been a lot of "I`ve never cooked this meal before and now I'm doing it for the first time on a boat" moments. It's been an interesting learning experience
Today I woke up, came up from below decks and saw only ocean, for as far as my eye could see. No land anywhere. We were trully off shore! It helped that we were going around Cape Hatteras and there are very shallow shoals for as far as 20 miles out. The Clipper is a shallow boat, drafting only 8 feet with the centerboard up, but some of the shoals are shallower even than that, and so we were forced way off shore. Sailling at night was amazing. The light pollution was drastically reduced and the moon was new so the stars were just phenomenal!! Even the Milky Way made an appearence.
Today we played the best game in the world. The past few days had been rainy and chilly so there was a round of cabin fever going around. The sun finally returned and everyone came up on deck to soak up some rays, A few of my crewmates decided the main deck was the perfect place to lay out. Well, the boat is rocking and rolling at this point, so if something isn't lashed down and is capable of rolling, it will roll, prone bodies on the deck are no exception. And so we rolled! Back and forth across the main deck. Into the port side hatches, and then over to the starboard side. Back to port side, and then over to starboard side. There were three of us rolling back and forth. If you got your momentum up you could roll over the person next to you! We rolled back and forth and backk and forth. Sky, mast, deck, crewmates, deck, mast sky; all rolling by. It was cause for myuch hilarity. A fellow crewmate came up on deck to investigte the source of so much giggling. He looked askance at us, skeptical of our activity. We told him he really just had to try it. He did. And was giggling with the rest of us in less than a minute. :D
Today we spotted a Sea Llama!! There are a few of these structures left off the coast of Hatteras. Back in the days before the coast guard and GPS these rescue stations were built to try and give assistance to boats that ran aground on the shoals. When the llama keepers spotted a grounded ship they would use a cannon to shoot a harpoon at the boat. Once the harpoon was secured, the rescue team would send a large metal water tight canister down the line. A few sailors would scramble inside and the canister would be hauled back to the rescue station. In extreme weather instances, when it wasn't possible to shoot a harpoon at the sinking boat, the rescue team would send llamas attached to a saftey line to swim out to the boat. Many a sailor stranded on the shoals of Hatteras were saved by these brave llamas. And today we passed one of the structures from which these llamas were dispatched.
I have a wonderful apron. A crewmate gifted it to me for my birrthday. It has crabs and anchors on it. And it has a pocket. I love it. I normally wear it just for galley work. But periodically there's a call for "All hands to...." and I dash out on deck to help with sailing things. And then I'm an apron wearing sailor. :) And a few time that pocket has come in handy while doing sailing things. To hold bolts and twine and tools and bobbles and such. Once, when the call was "Hands to raise the fore," the apron was flapping around and getting in the way, so I turned it around and wore it as a cape. Much better!
Notes on Provisioning:
Mitch and I have had some rather adventerous provisioning trips.
In Baltimore, the Safeway was just down the street from the dock. When we were finished shopping we called our crew mates and they came to the store, totting marina trollies to carry all of the food stuffs. 'Don't mind us as we tote carts of food down the sidewalk. This is completely normal.'
In Portsmouth, VA the Race committee assigend us a very lovely and very eager provisioning helper who drove us around and bore with us as we talked through the menu and how much of what we thought we needed and do we need this item and 'oh my goodness we've already filled four carts of groceris' and 'do you think this will all fit in your car??'
In Charleston, SC we ended up at Wal-Mart and as it's our last stop in the US we decided we should stock up on items that will be more expensive or harder to acquire in the Bahamas. As a result, we had SIX carts of groceries. Whoooeee. We had the first 2 or 3 stashed near the registers and when we came to stash the next one the first ones were gone! We had a minor heart attack before we realized that the wonderful cashiers had started to ring everything up for us, anticipating that we'd have more items and getting a head start on the process. And then we had to get everything back to the boat, via Uber. The look on the Uber drivers face as he drove up and saw us with our 6 carts was priceless. :D
Like buying kitchenwares with someone else's money, buying groceries can be fun. 'Do we need this?' 'Sure, why not, I'm sure we'll eat it eventually.' 20# of ground beef? 15# of chicken? The largest bottle of hot sauce we can find? Little Debbies oatmeal cream pies and nutter bars? Definitely!
Tomorrow we sail for the Bahamas! Tonight is my last night in the US. Here goes! :D
*Perhaps not everything in this post is exactly true....... ;)
Today we were supposed to have hamburgers for dinner. Cooked on the grill. Our ordered course had other ideas. The waves were coming at us at an angle, which makes the boat roll and pitch like a mechanical bull. Not ideal for trying to grill. So instead, we made Sloppy Joe`s, a dish that neither Mitch nor I had ever cooked before! There have been a lot of "I`ve never cooked this meal before and now I'm doing it for the first time on a boat" moments. It's been an interesting learning experience
Today I woke up, came up from below decks and saw only ocean, for as far as my eye could see. No land anywhere. We were trully off shore! It helped that we were going around Cape Hatteras and there are very shallow shoals for as far as 20 miles out. The Clipper is a shallow boat, drafting only 8 feet with the centerboard up, but some of the shoals are shallower even than that, and so we were forced way off shore. Sailling at night was amazing. The light pollution was drastically reduced and the moon was new so the stars were just phenomenal!! Even the Milky Way made an appearence.
Today we played the best game in the world. The past few days had been rainy and chilly so there was a round of cabin fever going around. The sun finally returned and everyone came up on deck to soak up some rays, A few of my crewmates decided the main deck was the perfect place to lay out. Well, the boat is rocking and rolling at this point, so if something isn't lashed down and is capable of rolling, it will roll, prone bodies on the deck are no exception. And so we rolled! Back and forth across the main deck. Into the port side hatches, and then over to the starboard side. Back to port side, and then over to starboard side. There were three of us rolling back and forth. If you got your momentum up you could roll over the person next to you! We rolled back and forth and backk and forth. Sky, mast, deck, crewmates, deck, mast sky; all rolling by. It was cause for myuch hilarity. A fellow crewmate came up on deck to investigte the source of so much giggling. He looked askance at us, skeptical of our activity. We told him he really just had to try it. He did. And was giggling with the rest of us in less than a minute. :D
Today we spotted a Sea Llama!! There are a few of these structures left off the coast of Hatteras. Back in the days before the coast guard and GPS these rescue stations were built to try and give assistance to boats that ran aground on the shoals. When the llama keepers spotted a grounded ship they would use a cannon to shoot a harpoon at the boat. Once the harpoon was secured, the rescue team would send a large metal water tight canister down the line. A few sailors would scramble inside and the canister would be hauled back to the rescue station. In extreme weather instances, when it wasn't possible to shoot a harpoon at the sinking boat, the rescue team would send llamas attached to a saftey line to swim out to the boat. Many a sailor stranded on the shoals of Hatteras were saved by these brave llamas. And today we passed one of the structures from which these llamas were dispatched.
I have a wonderful apron. A crewmate gifted it to me for my birrthday. It has crabs and anchors on it. And it has a pocket. I love it. I normally wear it just for galley work. But periodically there's a call for "All hands to...." and I dash out on deck to help with sailing things. And then I'm an apron wearing sailor. :) And a few time that pocket has come in handy while doing sailing things. To hold bolts and twine and tools and bobbles and such. Once, when the call was "Hands to raise the fore," the apron was flapping around and getting in the way, so I turned it around and wore it as a cape. Much better!
Notes on Provisioning:
Mitch and I have had some rather adventerous provisioning trips.
In Baltimore, the Safeway was just down the street from the dock. When we were finished shopping we called our crew mates and they came to the store, totting marina trollies to carry all of the food stuffs. 'Don't mind us as we tote carts of food down the sidewalk. This is completely normal.'
In Portsmouth, VA the Race committee assigend us a very lovely and very eager provisioning helper who drove us around and bore with us as we talked through the menu and how much of what we thought we needed and do we need this item and 'oh my goodness we've already filled four carts of groceris' and 'do you think this will all fit in your car??'
In Charleston, SC we ended up at Wal-Mart and as it's our last stop in the US we decided we should stock up on items that will be more expensive or harder to acquire in the Bahamas. As a result, we had SIX carts of groceries. Whoooeee. We had the first 2 or 3 stashed near the registers and when we came to stash the next one the first ones were gone! We had a minor heart attack before we realized that the wonderful cashiers had started to ring everything up for us, anticipating that we'd have more items and getting a head start on the process. And then we had to get everything back to the boat, via Uber. The look on the Uber drivers face as he drove up and saw us with our 6 carts was priceless. :D
Like buying kitchenwares with someone else's money, buying groceries can be fun. 'Do we need this?' 'Sure, why not, I'm sure we'll eat it eventually.' 20# of ground beef? 15# of chicken? The largest bottle of hot sauce we can find? Little Debbies oatmeal cream pies and nutter bars? Definitely!
Tomorrow we sail for the Bahamas! Tonight is my last night in the US. Here goes! :D
*Perhaps not everything in this post is exactly true....... ;)
