Tradition

We had read for years that you are who you are and just because you’ve decided to go cruising don’t expect to radically change your habits. You are going to want to do what you like to do even though you’re now living the “life aquatic”.

We’ve always led a fairly frugal life so we expected few problems adjusting to our new life style. One of our known areas of…adjustment is our apparent habitual need to be plugged into the Internet, more or less continuously. In this I am not without guilt but I also really enjoy relaxing in front of a television set. We don’t have cable and even if we did, the power the TV would use could well be prohibitive. In sunny climes we don’t need to run the genset but we sure do up here. Occasionally we try the TV just using the onboard antenna but there isn’t much available without cable or satellite.

All of this can lead to a need to get off the boat, even in bad weather. Yesterday we picked up our friend Alan for a grocery run and as we approached the dinghy dock we realized that the storm that had been raging around us for days, had blown several feet of water into Oriental and was now covering the dinghy dock which would require an “en pointe” trip down the dock to land. So with wet feet we squished our way about a mile to the Town and Country market. Of course while shopping it began to rain. As we stood outside looking at the sky for a break in the clouds a woman gestured toward her car. “Can i give you a lift?” Why yes! Nice place, Oriental.

No trip into town is complete without a stop at “The Bean” for coffee, local news, and to complain about the weather. This is what we found.

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While sipping our joe we actually saw a cormorant swimming down the street. Really.

On a better day you can see Escape Velocity out in the anchorage and the dinghy dock not under water.

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This is my adjustment to one of my great passions. Watching Formula One races.

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It looks like this.

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Not the same!
Realizing that this Sunday’s F1 race was the inaugural US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, I began to lay pipe to secure a TV that would let me watch the race on Sunday. The Toucan Grill, not 500′ from EV said sure. So come hell or high water, Alan and I had a plan.

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I picked up Alan and fighting 25 kts of wind, rain, and submerged docks, we saw a great race.

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It’s a tradition. And I’m not giving it up.

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5 Responses to Tradition

  1. I’m an internet and TV junkie too and I’m a bit worried about our upcoming trip to the Bahamas aboard Double Wide. I’ve been tempted to buy one of those super expensive satellite systems, but Michelle has forbade it!! I guess I’ll have to learn to do without, but it won’t be an easy transition…

    • If it’s any consolation it’s not too bad when the weather is nice and we’re out doing things. Being cooped up in cold and rainy weather makes it a whole lot worse, especially when our hands are too cold to do any projects aboard.

  2. Internet, yes! TV, not so much. The part I don’t like is when we can’t communicate. And good for you, Jack. Keep up those traditions! XO

  3. Ed annd Sue Kelly on ANGEL LOUISE

    FYI ONLY…Our first couple years let us use Direct TV aboard Angel Louise. It worked like a charm at anchor or on any dock up and down the US East Cost through the Bahamas. We had it mounted on the back arch on a Follow-me TV mount that was good in waves up to a foot high at anchor as it turned as your boat turned. We coulld not use it after going further outside US so in 2009, we removed it from the arch and shipped the base and Direct TV antenna back to my brother for storage. When we get back to US from our current cruise thru Europe, and the Med – IN turkey, we will mount it back on rear arch.
    A Univ of Md prof marketed them successfully though he had to change its name. It has motor to keep it pointed with a gyro. We found that the tilt did not need to be adjusted if traveled less than 100 miles up or down coast. We watched 12 volt TV & HBO all the time. Carried a stepladder for easy access to dish to adjust highth every 100+ miles but it was great. Cost of mount was priced then around $800. Ed on Angel Louise

    • Our boat came with a satellite TV thing similar to Follow me TV. The problem is the DirecTV subscription — it doesn’t fit in the budget. The one thing that helps Jack with his serious TV withdrawal is that we can watch a lot of things on the iPad as long as we have a good wifi signal. Not so much live but a lot of on-demand stuff that helps keep us in touch with pop culture. We have always got our news from NPR so that hasn’t been an adjustment for us. And finding a local place to watch special events, like the election returns or a Formula 1 race has been fun. Frankly, I’m just as happy not to have a TV on all the time.

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