End of 2002

Well, the end of the year came before we could get back to sea, (tidal estuary, whatever.) From a very hot summer we went directly to a cold, stormy fall, and moving into our new house has been an event too momentous, time consuming and exhausting for us gimpy middle aged folks to manage any new sailing to write about. Late fall, we took the battery home and it finally did accept a complete charge according to our automatic charger, which is really reassuring. I had been concerned about it. But, good news or not, it looks like another winter cooped up in the garage for our now trusty battery. We will also have to go get the motor and the rudder sometime soon for winter maintenance, and a bunch of other stuff besides for safekeeping.

On one mid-December weekend we only wound up bailing out the water from the back of the boat. There were about five or six gallons of very welcome, drought-drowning autumn rain. I have simply got to figure out how it gets in there sometime. It’s not so bad bailing it out, but a real heavy downpour, like a hurricane, could cause water to spill over into the main part of the hull and, gosh, stain the carpet or something. Providing it all stays afloat, of course. While we were there, we also arranged to get the whole boat pulled out of the water for bottom cleaning and painting sometime over the winter, before it gets warm again. The marina guy was pretty happy to have some work that he could schedule himself, we were happy to oblige, and that was enough work for one day.

I wish we could get a new mast and rig while we’re at it, but all of our other excess money is spoken for this year. In exchange for this inconvenience we now have a wonderful new house. I could tell you lots of things about it, but the only real sailing related thing is that now I can never run out of space to store as many boats as I can ever possibly own. By the time we buy Whisper XX, I may need to cut down some trees to fit Whisper XIX in the yard. No problem; I got a chain saw.

So, this tragic loss of sailing time was brought about by our own success and good fortune. Some people think I’m too much of a curmudgeon to appreciate my many blessings, just because I fuss about how impossible it is to divide my time and energy satisfactorily among them. (Little do they know the true joys of curmudgeonhood.) All I can say is; HAPPY NEW YEAR to all you sailors out there, and wishing you all more success, prosperity and happiness than you can stand, too.