All clean and proper

Eventful peaceful morning

Before I was willing to get out of bed today, Leo was already on the dinghy rowing. This showing off (at least I don’t have a better way to describe it) between the two boys was both amusing and annoying, but it kept happening the entire week. Last night both said they were going to row in the morning. It seemed that it would be up to the one who woke up first to go first. Peter even decided to sleep in the salon instead of on the bed next to me. Then right before going to bed Peter said that he was not interested in rowing, so Leo can do what he wants. Privately, Mark said to me “thank God! At least that will make the morning easier.”

When I heard Peter go up to the cockpit, he asked Mark when Leo was going to be back, because he also wants to exercise. Leo came back and Peter went off. Every 5 minutes we’d get a question from Leo as to when Peter will be back or whether Peter has been out longer than Leo had been. Boys!

We saw Peter coming back towards Salty Ginger, but then a bit of wind picked up. Not much, but enough to make it harder to row. First, Peter weighs about as much as the dinghy, so the total momentum is less than what I would have had. Second, he doesn’t have as much strength (luckily). Third, a lot of the wind resistance is created by the dinghy, so he had to work against the wind that was pushing him away from us.

He came back fine but tired. We brought the dinghy on the bow and folded her and then started thinking about breakfast. At least Peter was hungry. Leo was not so much interested in food. “Any takers for eggs sunny side up?” asked I. Leo declined. Peter found half a package of bacon that needed to be cooked and was a bit disappointed that his eggs would be cold by the time the bacon would be cooked. “No problem”, I responded. “You have the eggs first and then the bacon.”

In the meantime, Leo was very concerned about the health of his father. “He shouldn’t have the yolk,” he said while eating the egg white. By the time Leo was done eating the yolk, there were 2 measly pieces of egg white left for Mark. Just like he expected. At least everyone got something to eat.

We started sailing in light winds towards Portland. I wasn’t sure how high into the wind we would have to go up, so I chose code-0 instead of the spinnaker. We motor sailed for a while and then turned the motor off and set a course between the islands. Suddenly the foresail detaches itself from the top of the mast and collapses into the water. As luck would have it, there were no lobster pots, so Mark was able to collect the salty sail before we had an opportunity to rip it.

Was I glad that we have a second halyard!!! The work that I did earlier this season paid off!!! We hoist the code-0 on the spinnaker halyard and keep sailing. I looked at the top of the mast, but couldn’t tell what was could have gone wrong.

Crew change

Ultimately we took the sails down and motored. The wind was light, and Mark had a long drive ahead of him, so the option of sailing for fun until we pull into the marina was not an option.

When we hailed Maine Yacht Center, we still did not have an assigned slip, so we went to the.pump out station. Just in case. After all, sewage treatment is better than no treatment dump in the middle of a small harbor. Earlier Peter asked me if he could do the Dutch coil of all lines and silly me said yes. Oh, boy, Leo coiled one of the lines. Scandalous! Boys… At least we were able to make peace and take a group photo on the deck of Salty Ginger!

Before Mark and Leo left on their long drive to NYC, we went to Hamilton Marine to pick up solar panels that I ordered. The ones that came with an empty box last weekend. Leo, totally excited by all the new knots he learned, wanted a piece of turquoise line. And he found it there too. Peter got a “Captain’s Log” notebook. Writing down thoughts is always good, which is exactly what I’m doing now.

Peter and I waited for the laundry to get done and ultimately went to the boat where he got to watch a few YouTube videos while I was hooking up the new solar panels.

All of a sudden, I see our friend Mark S walking down the dock. What? Did you call? He did. My phone was not set to ring on calls. Brilliant… “Don’t worry,” said Mark. “You told me the marina name. I found you! What do we need to do?”

Mark and Peter stayed on the boat and started to prepare for a big wash of the deck and the cockpit while I went to pick up the laundry. I came back and cleaned the inside of the boat while the boys took care of the outside. The deck is pristine and all the dirty spots are wiped. After all, Irina is coming tomorrow! The boat needs to be clean! I even took a look into the bilges. They were ugly and dirty. Quite a bit less ugly now!

Mysterious sail fall

Once the boat was clean, it was Peter’s adventure to go up the mast to retrieve the halyard that was left up when the code-0 came down. A quarter up the mast Peter started to say that it was too scary to go up. Kids… 4 years ago he was so happy to get hoisted up and now he is afraid.

Peter conquered his fears and ultimately went up to the top of the mast and fed the halyard down. To my amazement the pin that should be holding the sail was intact, but the thin rope that is supposed to hold it was torn. But the pin was exactly where it was supposed to be!!! There is no logical explanation for how this could have happened! I was ready to see a missing pin or something broken. But to find everything ready to go up tomorrow was beyond my expectations!

The most likely possibility is that somehow the string that retains the pin got pulled by the adjacent block of the spinnaker halyard. This caused the sail to fly down but the pin got put into place by the recoiling block. I could have made a mistake, sure, but then why did the huge sail stay up for a while until the wind picked up? What sort of a mistake I could have made to have the sail hoisted and the see it land into the water?

At least we have the backup halyard! Good planning!

Waiting for all the crew

Mark, Peter and I had a simple dinner, cleaning up the remainders of the fridge with pasta. After all, folks who work need to be fed! And the boat is clean, the galley is clean, bathrooms are clean, and even Peter and I took showers in fresh rather than salty water. The beds are made in anticipation of Alla and David plus Irina with Margo and Mabry arriving tomorrow.

The half moon is descending and my eyelids are closing. Another wonderful day of vacation in Maine!