Love Odyssey

I’m feeling really old and frustrated today. Bryce and I have been spending time today trying to figure out Twitter. Once we got an account, we tried to figure out how to send tweets on our phones. Well, I guess our phones are just too old like us to send tweets–can’t access the net. Oh dear, do we just buy new phones (only a few months old) or do we stay tied to our computers? I guess we’ll need to make that decision soon.

I feel really challenged by technology. Bryce is so much better than me about learning how to do stuff–then he usually shows me (or asks me to read the tutorial and learn myself). I felt pretty good for a few weeks when I taught myself how to text message. My 22-year old daughter couldn’t believe that I was actually able to send texts! Now she sends me texts several times a week–messages that I might not have received had I not learned how to speak her language, like “I love you, mom”. Priceless! So maybe it is worth all the grief of learning how to keep up with technology. Helen 01/02/2010

It’s a little scary to be out in the open river with blips on the radar but no way to really identify what those blips are. It is even scarier to know that there are marker bouys somewhere in the next 1/4 of a mile and you cannot see them until you are practically on top of them. Deviate even a quarter of a mile and you could be hitting a dock or shoals; even scarier, you could be trying to go under a bridge span that is not high enough to accomodate your 63-foot mast (most bridges have a clearance of 65 feet!). Yes, there were times the adreneline really flowed.

But somehow with the help of modern technology, experience, and sheer guts we made New Bern in four hours–not bad, considering it usually takes us three hours in perfect weather. So here we are, sitting in the pilothouse, warmed by the central heat and perfumed by the meatloaf baking in the oven. We are indeed lucky to be able to lead this lifestyle.

As I write this, I hear some loud “booms” and look out the companionway (back door) to the sight of fireworks over the harbor. It really doesn’t get much better than this. Yes, life is good! Have a Happy New Year!         Helen (12/31/2009)

I think there are few sports that are as dependent on good weather as sailing. Mind you, Bryce and I are fair weather sailors; we don’t relish braving all the elements in an open cockpit. No, we don’t like freezing in the wet, blustery days of winter or roasting like a barbequed hog during the sweltering days of July and August. Cold, wet spray in the face never makes me feel like a true sailor. I admit it; I’m a girl who likes warm, dry days with blue skies over head and a gentle breeze to blow us slowly down the river. Aah! That’s my idea of sailing!

However, the weather gods rarely give us such ideal sailing conditions. Usually we have to compromise. Is it really too wet or cold or sweltering to take the boat out of her slip? Now you need to know, our boat is sitting in a very protected slip in a very protected marina, what we sailors call a “hurricane hole”. She is connected to shore power and is running either heat or air conditioning most of the year. Really, she is our “condo in the water”. So whenever we are faced with the decision to disconnect from shore power and leave the slip, we are asking ourselves whether we want to leave this very nice environment. I should also add that wind is another very important factor beside temperature. Too little wind and a sailboat just wallows in the water; too much wind and conditions can become uncomfortable or downright dangerous. Only fools take their boats out in gales; lesser fools take their boats out in “small craft warnings”.

For the past month Bryce and I have wanted to take the boat out of the slip; afterall, sailing is supposed to be fun! Well, the past two weekends it has blown a gale. This coming Thursday (New Years Eve day) we were hoping to sail to Ocroacoke, but again it looks like the weather gods are going to give us a “small craft warning” and some heavy rain to boot. That would make the five and a half hour trip pretty uncomfortable and possibly dangerous.

Now we are looking at whether we can compromise and take the boat up the river to New Bern on Friday afternoon when the wind should be lighter, the rain will have stopped, and we have only a three hour journey. Mind you, we do have a very protected steering station in our pilothouse; there is heat from the generator even though we are un-plugged from shore p0wer during the journey, and the windshield has wipers to clear off the rain. We also have radar and a GPS if conditions get difficult to see (read “heavy rain”). So just maybe we can beat the weather gods this weekend!           Helen (12/29/2009)