GCS: Big Wind

Lew  PM'd me to say a big wind came through GCS last night and there was sailboat damage down at the pier.  His boat and some others sails and sun shields were destroyed. I think Inspiration II, on the hard, did not have observable damage.  I would hate to make a trip down to fix any damage. Counting down the weeks until we go back down.  About 12 to go.

Inspiration II on the hard

Inspiration:  Our punch list of items to repair is with the Holland Marine but the work on her will not start until November according to Hal & Tom.  The punch list is up to 16 items - some smaller and some medium sized jobs.  I do not think there are any real biggies.  I no longer do above deck and masthead items since it strains things that do not like to be strained.  Perhaps after the physical therapy I can do some of this again.  I miss climbing towers and masts.

This Summer up North here in Indiana is going quickly.  Yesterday we put out a new Hummingbird feeder which has been discovered and visited quite often by a solo female.  New visitors are welcome of course.

We just finished up our work at the 4H Fair and I would call it moderately successful.  We did get to make a round of the animal barns but there were no chicken exhibitions this year due to the Avian Flu outbreak here in Indiana.  The weather could have hardly been better - clear skies, breeze and zero rain.

We will go up to Michigan next week to see our sailing friends in Saugatuck.  We will have a report on that later.  Blueberries are will be ripe and I hope to pick a bunch of Jersey BB's.  Maybe 10# worth. Moore later.

HMS Bounty: Newspaper detailed report (story)

This is a good summary article and human side of the loss of the Bounty.  Here is a shot of the Captain.  This is a good read but it takes and hour or two.

http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2013/reports/bounty/index.shtml

We are back!

We travelled quickly from Indiana to Texas for the May 29th graduation of our grandson David. What an enjoyable time we had.  We stayed at the La Quinta on Texas Street at the A&M Campus edge.  There was a wonderful half price book store near where my son works and I bought a bunch of nautical books: World Cruising Routes and Chapman Piloting Handbook were most notable.  We left Texas and made it back to Indiana in two days.

After a week or so of preparation we left in the small car for Green Cove Springs.  We made if as far as Calhoon, GA and spent the night at a rural motel recently converted from Ramada to Quality Inn. The next day we made it to the boat and opened her up as it was in the high 80's on arrival.  The first night we had both air-conditioners running and did not shut them off until we pulled the boat on Wednesday.  The air-conditioners kept her cool in-spite of the 98°F temperatures: on the next year list of things we need is a fore deck cover that will keep some of the sun off the deck.  Tuesday evening we took the dodger and bimini off and rolled them up to take to the storage facility.

Thursday we installed the "snow" cover  to keep water and sun off the boat from mast to after deck.  It worked out so well last year we did a repeat of the buttoning up.  We talked with Holland Marine and they let usp put it in their yard since we were going to do a lot of the work on her.  I have a punch list of about 15 items I need done before we go on the winter cruise south.  We received some bad news that they are charging us for something we figured we would not be so this will be our first complaint since we started doing business with them.  We stayed the night in the Green Cove Inn Wednesday and Thursday night and left for St. Petersburg Friday morning.

After visiting relatives for a couple of days we left Florida via I-65 Towards Indiana.  We made it as far as north Birmingham, AL the first day and the rest of the way the next day via Indianapolis.  I felt exhausted after this trip and my shoulder hurt badly so a visit to the doctor produced a ticket for a round of physical therapy which has helped a whole lot.

DJ Owens RIP

We will be absent from the blog for a while.  In fact, we have been absent already.  Our grandson DJ was sick with non-Hodgkin lymphoma brikket.  In fact, he just lost his battle and will be buried Thursday.  Truthfully, I feel a little low on energy plus we will be traveling to Texas to my son's house for another grandson's graduation. Therefore, I will not be writing for another couple of weeks.  Regards to all.

Facebook Liveaboard Sailboat page

I am being entertained by the facebook liveaboard sailboat page these days.  I thought it would be just another Yahoo type thing with an oppressive sysop.  After a few days looking at I decided it was a reasonably human site so I guess I will stay for a while.  So far there havve been no earth shattering answers to questions or even real good questions but at least it is a human interest page with a focused venue.  Like it if you like it.

PS: after a few days it is getting on my nerves.  You get those same anal guys that make a big deal of a small grammar mistake and totally cloud the issue.  You get the same guys that nitpick small issues with the same results.  And worst of all the guys making a "funny" comment about a serious issue.  However, all-in-all it is still a decent place to peruse.

Water related fun

This is a just for fun experiment on embedding a video.  Perhaps more of these in the future if the mood strikes.