Daily Archives: September 21, 2012

Through the fog of my barely cognizant brain I heard a familiar sequence of sounds.

Click, bing, plop!

I was vaguely aware that I was standing. That’s a start. It was very dark. Ok, and dear reader I confess I’ve achieved an age where it’s a rare night that I don’t find myself standing at the toilet several times a night. The law of averages dictates that we go with another bathroom break.

Now, Marce and I find that the best way to fall asleep is to clip our ipod nanos to our T-shirts, ear buds plugged in, and listen to audio books while drifting off to la la land.

Oh…My…God!

I’ve managed to knock the clip of my Nano off of my T-shirt,(click) while my Nano spinning through the air, unplugged itself faster than Eric Clapton (no sound effect)…or rather, think of that song “Cocaine” because that’s what was beginning to erupt in my brain, bouncing off the porcelain bowl (bing) and plop!

I’d love to be able to say that I’ve never done this before…but I can’t. You just know that time is of the essence, there is no time for delicate tools. I found it, but that sucker was really wedged down in there. I ran down the companionway, up 3 steps, across the bridge deck, tripping over Izzy, down 3 steps smashing my toes on the bulkhead leading into the guest cabin, where I keep my emergency nano retrieval tools, wheeled around and hit the bridge deck at an age adjusted blistering pace. This time Izzy heard me coming and adroitly darted to the last available foot space before the 3 steps, as we tumbled down into our cabin (nothing broken) I may have sworn at that moment because Marce finally woke up — why suffer alone? — with some encouraging words such as could you keep it down? No I couldn’t keep it down, I was in crisis mode!

Lets just say Yr. Hmbl. Capt. with great dexterity, displaying calmness in command, fished the nano out. Marce, having awakened by this time is pretty good at drying out damp electronics, took over with some kind of secret recipe for rejuvenating drowned Apple products this time using sushi rice instead of basmati. Hope springs eternal. Maybe this time I’ll try a different color.

That’s life on the water.

Things have been a little more hectic than we’d like around here. I thought we’d have time for a few leisurely bike rides, some quality shopping time with my sister, quiet cocktail hours in the cockpit watching the sun go down. Instead it’s been either stormy or rolly in the anchorage, with the added frustration that our dinghy outboard, which has never been completely reliable, has gotten worse. It no longer idles, and that means whenever we go anywhere we have to go full throttle toward the dock, then cut the engine at the last minute with the hopes that we can grab something before the current washes us out of reach. In that case we grab the oars and paddle like crazy people until we can secure ourselves to the dock. I’m sure we present endless amusement to everyone on land who can see us.

The upshot is that when people come to the boat we give them a carnival ride of a trip, from getting into the dinghy at the tight squeeze of a dinghy dock at the club, to the bouncy surf that always seems to blow up just as we leave to pick up guests, to the fire drill of grabbing the dinghy falls as we hurtle into the bridge deck, to the circus act of getting non-boaty guests from the dinghy into the boat. Outboard problems aside, there must be an easier way!

The day after the storm we saw this poor damaged boat being towed to the yard as we had coffee in the cockpit.

We saw other damaged boats as we walked along the waterfront.

After the storm we all needed a break from the boat, so we loaded Izzy into her carrier and took her ashore where Nancy and Dave picked us up and took us to a day of R&R at their house. We mostly just hung out, although we also washed the cockpit cushion covers and Nancy mended one of them.

Izzy was so happy to be on dry land. She explored the house and yard, and danced around with happy-cat tail, a rare sight on the boat.

When we got back to the boat, she once again stared wistfully at the trees and shrubs on shore. Poor Izzy!

Later that evening we had a great visit by my niece and her friend. They brought us dinner and we ate in the cockpit, despite the early autumn chill. We were so happy to have some alone time with Emily. It’s been a long since we’ve had a chance to just be together and get caught up on each other’s lives. They didn’t even mind the thrill ride of the wonky dinghy in the dark. Ah, youth.

Thursday was the farmers market. It’s a small market, but they had some fine bluegrass musicians for shopping entertainment, and we bought far more than we needed or could eat in a week. Still, it was nice to get fresh locally grown produce, fresh cheese and baked goods.

We invited Nancy and Dave and two old friends to join us for dinner, our first party of six aboard Escape Velocity. And sure enough, the day that was supposed to be mostly sunny and calm turned cold and windy so that the transport of people to EV was borderline harrowing for our guests. We managed to eke out cocktail hour and dinner, but by dessert time some of our guests were feeling a little queasy and we had to cut it short and get them back to land. We hope that in calmer waters and with a reliable dinghy outboard we’ll be able to give our guests a better EV experience.

For our last couple of days here in New York we plan to take advantage of Nancy and Dave’s Excellent Family Taxi Service for shopping and provisioning, as well as cram the remaining hours with quality together time. As excited as we are to head for Annapolis and the boat show and friends there, we’re sad to leave the familiar comfort of our family and surrogate home. No amount of time together is enough and I treasure every minute with my sister and her family. They’re as enthusiastic as we are about our adventure and that means the world to us.