Ker-SPLASH

[Marlene Anne Sassaman]

"What the heck?" I muttered while the toothpaste oozed out of the sides of my mouth. Slowly, I eased out of my bathroom wearing a t-shirt that barely covered my butt. Curiously, I peeked into the master bedroom where a guest had been sleeping. Noticing the covers on the floor and no visible signs of a body in the bed, I tip toed toward the sliding glass door. "Oh gees" I thought in surprise. My 82 year old special visitor was briskly swimming in my pool. How invigorating is that?  What a great way to start the day.

Not only was it a great day the whole week-end was wonderfully delightful. I left work early on Friday to meet with boat designer Jim Brown, a new friend Zeta and a local sailing bud Phil. The clouds were drifting overhead in thin sheets looking like cotton candy when it is pulled off the paper stalk. The breeze was gentle at the dock with the promise of 12 - 15 knots along the coast. Being docked at the Port Canaveral Yacht Club makes ocean sailing convenient. Within an hour of our arrival we were beating out the inlet.

That dern main halyard did its usual twisting around the mast steps which prodded a conversation full of possible solutions. It was agreed that John Marples (my boat's designer) idea to drill holes in the ends of each step so a vertical line could be run from the top of the mast to the deck was the way to go. All I had to do was hope my boat surveying friend, Captain Kirk would arrive the next day and take to the bosun's chair. In the meantime, Jim, Phil, Zeta and I enjoyed breezing a long at a steady 7.6 knots for several hours.

The next day brought a real treat. Rave hydrofoil designer/sailor Mike introduced Jim and Zeta to the thrill of 'flying' above the water on their latest 17 foot prodigy. She's a real simple looking boat and except for the scratchy trampoline which begs crew to wear knee pads it is a very comfortable ride. So, while these 3 enjoyed the high speed, flat sailing ride, yours truly was able to test her photographic skills.

Using my Nikon D100 for still shots and my Olympus point 'n shoot for video I was impressed with the fun I had capturing the action. Although my pictures weren't crisp enough for a cover shot, I think there are a few worth posting on this site. Stay tuned and I'll see about that task in a bit.

Meanwhile after a 2nd great sailing day preparation was made for Kirk to make the climb. Little by little he drilled one hole on the bottom step then as I carefully eased the halyard used as his safety line, he inched his way up. After about 2 hours all holes were drilled and the fairly thin dyneema was threaded vertically. Success was so far achieved as twenty four hours later when I checked on the boat the halyard did not wrap around a step. Let's hope this remains the case.

As luck would have it just as we were leaving the boat on Sunday I noticed that the new AIS widget did not have thewires soldered or clipped into the antenna widget on the back of it. On the good side I spoke with Bethel Marine where I purchased the AIS and they agreed to send their 'man' out to my boat tomorrow. I'm optimistic.

 

Oh no, I need to go order the sextant and a chart of the eastern US and on out to Bermuda. You never know, I just might make it out there. After I order these items I will down load the pix of last week-ends great sailing .....  Stay safe!