RECORD SETTING RAIN

He Said:   Happy Sunny Saturday.  Since our last blog I only have 3 words to explain the past 6 days, rain, rainier, rainiest.  Holy Shit is it ever wet, no wonder!!  In less than ½ of the month they have only received 9 inches of rain.  The all-time record in a month is 13 inches.  If the second half of the month is close to as rainy it will be the wettest month ever.  Welcome to Boston.  They normally receive about 1 inch in the month of June. We try our best to find positive stuff with this weather and here it is: we believe as our travels send us South the weather could not be as rainy or cold as the past 2 weeks have been and we survived it just fine.  The great news is I just watched the 7 day forecast and it rocks.  Few clouds but mostly 70-85 and sunny - thank god.  

Enough of the weather report. We are trying our best to take care of the mechanical issues in getting the boat ready for the 3500 mile trip to the South.  The biggest challenge is getting a mechanic to the boat to work on some of our stuff.  The boating season here is very short compared to nice weather states (CA, AZ, FL), so you can only imagine what it is like when every boat owner in town wants to get their boat in the water.  Hey Greg, they would die for a good diesel dude, only 1 in this whole area and he is some kind of busy. Our good friend Tim headed back to Seattle this past Tuesday.  He was a great help, and it was also great catching up on stuff with him.  

 

Great trade - dinghy & motor for a 150 footer

Our lives are sort of back to normal.  We’re trying to get in our exercise 4 or 5 times a week along with eating in on week-days.  This past Tuesday we went to the 5 buck theatre to see The Internship with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.  If you are looking for a good flick go see it.  You will have a smile on your face when you leave.  We thought it was some kind of funny. We had dinner with our Captain Doug and his girlfriend this past Wed. at his favorite little tavern in down-town Hingham. It’s a nice little Cheers-like joint with Pizza, Burgers, Fish & Chips - perfect for us. 

Not much more happening here.  We will be heading to both Chicago and Columbus in less than 2 weeks.  We will both be in Chicago for Pat’s niece’s wedding on the 4^th of July.  We will head back here on the 5^th and prepare for our departure on the 6^th or 7^th towards Annapolis, about 400 miles down the Atlantic.  It should be a blast but hard to believe in about 3 weeks it’s Pat and me in the water with no El Capitain.   That’s about it from here for now.  For all you fathers, have a great Sunday.  For those of you who still have your dad around make sure you give him a hug, couldn’t hurt! 

 

Take Care, Damp Jack

She Said:  We took another learning cruise.  We departed without incident – we’ve gotten very good at departing.  We practiced getting to a mooring ball – dead on.  With Jack driving, I took a stab at grabbing the mooring ball with the hook – bulls-eye, except I grabbed the wrong part of the ball, so I had to release the hook into the ocean.  We didn’t have a way to retrieve the hook so we left it attached to the ball floating in the ocean.  (Jack and Tim took the dinghy back and retrieved the hook.)  I was feeling really comfortable driving the boat which was quite a departure from the previous time out.  I actually drove the boat back to our dock where I gave the helm to Jack to bring the boat into the slip.  My job was to handle the ropes.  Jack was pulling us in perfectly when the winds and current took over – we made it only halfway into the slip.  Jack gave it another try, but aborted the attempt.  He made another attempt from the other direction and that made all the difference.  There were a couple of guys on the dock that helped me with the ropes.  I’m continuing to work on my navigational skill and have added the use of the GPS.  Between the charts and GPS and I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on navigating.  We will still only travel in good weather and daylight.

We’re in a holding pattern because 1) we’re waiting on the mechanic and 2) the weather’s awful and not cooperating.  The mechanic is due today (we’ve only been waiting two weeks) and hopefully he’ll get our fuel filter and engine leaks fixed soon.  As soon as the fixes are made we can resume our lessons.  The weather has been awful.  We have received approximately 8.5 inches of rain in two weeks – that’s more than we get in Phoenix in an entire year.  It’s also exceptional for Boston – so far it’s the sixth rainiest June on record and more rain is in the forecast.  In addition to the rain it’s been cold – the bedroom was 63 degrees when we got up this morning.  Good thing the heater works well.  Who would have thought that we’d have to use a heater in June!

After the fourth dinghy tow we decided to bring the motor into the marine repair shop to have it looked at.  Like everything else that’s water related it’s going to take 7-10 days before they can get to it.  We plan to use the dinghy a lot when we’re “on the ball” and anchored, so it’s important that the dinghy is reliable.

(Jack traveling without the motor.)

Because of the bad weather, we’ve focused our boating efforts on the inside of the boat.  There were plenty of storage spaces that were completely empty, so I’ve started spreading out a bit.  Our bed is a piece of plywood with a small mattress and some foam.  We added a feather topper to the bed and it has really made a difference.  I sleep so well at night it’s unbelievable.  We’ve hung some pictures and got some plants.  It’s amazing how quickly and easily we’ve felt at home aboard.

I joined a gym here in the marina.  That gets me out and about by myself at least three times a week.  Captain Doug picked us up and took us into the quaint town of Hingham where we had dinner in a building built in the mid 1700s.  (Hingham is also the home to the first Talbott’s and its corporate headquarters.)  Today we were going to venture out on the bus, but had to cancel that because of the mechanic’s pending visit.  We hope to get back into Hingham this weekend and into Boston next week.

 

p.s.  We hear it's difficult to post on our blog.  We think it may have something to do with the drop down menu asking to select a profile.  Play around with that and see if it helps.