Sailing with George and Vicky: June 2019

Sunday, June 23, 2019

First Night on the Boat This Season & Boat Chore Morning

Sunrise on Sunday morning

After sailing with Xiaomi and her family in the early part of the day, and then sailing with John in the evening, I headed out to spend the first night of the season aboard Seas The Day.

The sun had set before we headed to the bar, but there was still some color in the sky as I headed out on the launch an hour later.

The first task was to clean up and set up the main cabin as well as the fore and aft staterooms. Generally it was to put away all the "beginning the season" paraphernalia, and make things presentable.

I'll spare you the details on the new battery for my CPAP that allows me to say out on the ball.

It was still quite rocky from a very blustery day (average of 12-15 kts with gusts up to 24 kts), but I was exhausted and quickly fell asleep. I woke up just as the sun was rising (photo at top and below).

But I was sore all over from my first intensive day out (8 plus hours on the water).

So I decided this morning would be a "boat chore" morning. Mostly this is light checking and easy maintenance items that should be done from time to time. Trust me... my tools make it look much more impressive than it really is.

Breakfast is much more mundane when Vicky is in China. I like things that involve boiling water and easy clean-up.

Ensuring the fire extinguishers are in OK shape...

Doing a pressure test (two readings 20 min apart with the gas pressurized and closed).

Since we installed a new fuel tank, had to treat the fuel.

And finally, makeing sure the batteries are topped off.

You can see that I'm basically a master mechanic (NOT).

And then the drive home - which was great until just before the end of the NJ TPK (a road I love to hate).

An Evening Sail with John

John's photo

My son, John, works at a local bank and frequently has hours on Weekends, so we haven't been able to sail together too frequently. Since I decided to crash on the boat overnight, it worked out that we could do an evening sail together.

It's hard to see how much we're heeling (18 degrees). John shamed me becasue on a blustery day like today, I didn't pull out the jib when sailing with Xiaomi earlier.

Eventually, we pulled in the sails and motored back. I wanted to tie up before Sunset and we caught sunset from the launch heading back to the KYC Bar.

It was a very pleasant evening.

John's photo

Sailing with Xiaomi, Gabe & Neve

Xiaomi is my work partner... sitting across the aisle but in a whole different division. Her job is to be the liaison to my division, and a key part of my job is liaison to her division. So we work quite closely together and when she expressed an interest in my sailing hobby, my first thought was...

~~Fresh Crew!~~ I mean...

"Cool! Here's another set of guests!"

Again, I'll let the photos tell the story. Her daughter, Neve, took to sailing quite naturally and before long she was exploring ways to sit on the boat that made all us adults quite nervous. Her husband, Gabe, makes incredible sushi.

And there are a couple of nice boat portraits at the end (as well as a nice surprise).