Track Data – 5/27/19

Indefinitely Delayed in Georgetown

We had planned to receive one more guest in Georgetown so when we left our 2nd guest off on the 14th we were prepared to have one more arrive on the 19th. The idea had been to stay that week for the annual Georgetown Regatta (#52) to be exact. When we found that our last guest of the trip wouldn’t be able to join us as expected we were a bit unsure what we should do.

Should we take advantage of the extra week and leave early to the Abacos and spend the time there? Would we be better served to begin our transit to the US early and use the extra time as a buffer or bad weather contingency for our return trip to Maine? Would we regret not staying and watching the regatta?

As the anchorage began to fill with new boats and the airwaves in the morning began to become even more heavily trafficked we did what any good cruiser would have done, nothing. We thought about moving north but without any significant wind advantage it seemed less appealing than staying. The kids found new friends and old ones that were coming in daily on the incoming boats and each morning the social calendar filled with birthday parties and baby showers, dinners with friends, and trips to town.

We provisioned and filled the water tanks, took “last” strolls on the beaches, collected “last” seashells (I mean it not one more will fit on the boat, except I’m the one with the problem, I can’t leave them alone). It was all very relaxed and yet seemed a swirl of constant activity.

In addition to the 75-100 boats that are here to participate in the races there are now between 300-400 cruisers in all manner of sail and powerboats here to watch the races.  Some of the cruisers even participate in the races if the local boats need more crew.  ??There have been 3 races per day for the last few days.  There are arts and crafts booths, “fair” food Bahamian style, the local band has played music in the street.  The straw market which is usually a relaxed laid back place has been brimming with activity.

Nicole finally learned to plait, which is what they call weaving palm fronds to make the famous local straw handbags.  It’s been really fun and Nicole caught on quite quickly.??We finally got it together enough to pick a day to leave, the last Friday prior to the big Saturday final races was it. We were planning to leave first thing in the morning Saturday but right away when we turned on the radio in the morning there was a call on the VHF radio appealing to the cruisers for some more kids.

On Saturday they have a kids race and apparently the racer have to have to have a minimum of 2 kids per boat to participate. The racers prefer kids that are 14 to 16 but have few locals to choose from as most of the local don’t sail and surprisingly many don’t swim. So come Saturday morning at 8 am they were still short a fair number of kids so Nicole was asked if she’d like to try racing Bahamian sailboats and she said sure so off we rushed without breakfast.

We loaded her onto a boat and then proceeded in following the race around the harbor as the boats beat upwind, rounded the marks and then finally screamed toward the finish line.  There were three races and Nicole’s boat never came in even in the first three but she had a fabulous time! ??Then, Paul, who didn’t qualify as a kid because he is 18 (knife through the heart there) got asked to race in the 1pm adults race so as soon as we got Nicole off her boat we ran her and Paul in to town to eat some lunch and then took Paul out to his assigned boat.

His boat didn’t win either but he also had the most wonderful time and couldn’t stop talking about it when he finally got done with the race.  By the time Paul raced the wind had picked up and accordingly so had the waves, these boats, a bigger variety of the ones that Nicole was on heel over with just a bit of wind and they all have long boards called pikes that the crew all hike out on to keep the boat balanced.  In addition to the increased wind and wave action the course was more challenging and Paul was completely soaked (and beaming) when he got through.

So as you can see we have been indefinitely delayed in Georgetown. Tell me, if you will, how you could possibly say no to birthday parties, Bahamian “fair” food, dinner with friends and still more shells. We for one couldn’t seem to. Hopefully the future will be less interesting, or we may never leave.

VHF Entertainment

Years ago when my mother was young she tells me that there was no TV and that people sat around the FM radio on Sunday nights after dinner and listened to the stories and music that issued forth from that amazing invention. Still later, in my childhood I remember the telephone lines in Alaska being “party lines”.

For cruisers the VHF radio, while often a powerful tool for communication and safety is also a suitable substitute for the combined purpose of the FM radio and telephone “party line” style. For those of you to young to remember the old radio or party line phone system (or to stubborn to admit you remember it), I’ll refresh you.

The FM radio used to have weekly programs like “The Shadow Knows” and others for entertainment purposes, whole families would (as I’m told) sit around and listen in amazement and amusement as the stories unfolded.

The local house phone came a little later and the first iteration of that invention involved multiple houses on the same phone line. If you were lucky enough to have a phone at home it was likely that you shared the line with others on your block or in your area. This, I remember was sometimes somewhat amusing and could be, from time to time rather annoying.

The party line phone worked like this. Each of 3-4 families, depending on the area, shared the same phone wires. Lines went to each house but none were to just one house. When a call came in to your house it would ring a “special” ring that indicated that the call was for you. At other times when a call was for your neighbor it would ring as well but “their” ring rather than yours. If you had a particularly nosey neighbor there was nothing to stop them from picking up on your incoming call and listening in, thus the “party line”. In fairness, even if you weren’t a nosey neighbor it was impossible to tell whether there was a party on the line without picking it up and listening in.

The VHF is in many ways a combination of these two historical pieces of techknowlegy. In the cruiser community, especially where the cruisers dot the anchorage like here in Georgetown, the VHF is on on most boats virtually all the time. The hailing frequency varies from anchorage to anchorage but for all intents and purposes it is the “phone” of the cruisers. It is also, most definitely a party line. Don’t for a moment be lulled into thinking that this is any way a private form of communication.

As a result the VHF is also a never-ending source of entertainment and, as with the radio stories of old, new and interesting stories unfold each night on the VHF. Some of the funnies ones unfold without our meaning to listen in as this one did.

When calling another boat rather than a ring there is a boat name and the hail goes, “Passages, Passages, Passages this is Taua”. The hailed boat responds “Taua, this is Passages, switch to 69” to indicate the channel that the conversation is meant to continue on (this is done to keep the hailing channel clear for hailing and with the intent of some assurance of privacy) the later is a flagrant and blatant exaggeration as everyone on the radio is equally able to switch to 69 or any other channel named.

Last night we had the radio on, after dinner as it happened to be and on a Sunday night just to make the story better, when a boat called Independence hailed a boat called Lost Marbles. So the hail went, “Lost Marbles, Lost Marbles, Lost Marbles, this is Independence”. Lost Marbles came back, Independence, this is Lost Marbles how you doing?” Independence doing the “right” thing responded, “Pick a channel” to which Lost Marbles said “Okay”. For about thirty seconds there was radio silence as Independence waited for Lost Marbles to communicate the channel he’d picked. Lost Marbles, however, had already changed to the channel he’d picked and was happily awaiting the continued conversations there.

After about 30 seconds the poor boat Independence (who was also now lost) came on again, “Lost Marbles. Pick a channel? Lost Marbles, Lost Marbles?” The kids and I dissolved into giggles. This I assure you is better than standup.

Within a couple of minutes, Lost Marbles, realizing that no one had joined him on the channel he’d picked came back to the original channel and sheepishly shared the channel he’d picked with Independence (and the rest of us) so as to continue the “party” conversation.

 

A Night to Remember

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The reason we were so eager to get to Cape Canaveral, some of you may already know, is to watch the Shuttle Endeavor take off.  As one of only a few launches scheduled before the program is to be decommissioned in 2011 and the last night launch we were eager to catch it if we were going to be in the area.  Making it to Cape Canaveral in just two days put us in a good position to see the launch if indeed it was going to launch on the 7th as predicted.

From the ocean we took the Cape Canaveral barge canal and the lock to get back into the ICW and transited North to Titusville where we’d heard that there was a good anchorage for viewing the launches.  We were amazed to find, when we arrived, that not only was the anchorage a “good” spot to view the launch, it was practically front row seats.  Nothing separated us from the shuttle and NASA except water and only about 4-5 miles of that.

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We set the hook (anchored) and settled down to wait.  The kids and I did some extra baking and one day, when it was rough I allowed them to take the day off and play video games and watch cartoons (dvds we have in our on board collection) to their hearts content.  Boyd and I worked on boat projects and he completed beautiful and more importantly functional lazy jacks for the sails.  I was able to wrap up a number of sewing projects and start a few new ones.

The launch was delayed and didn’t happen on the 7th – much to everyone’s dismay.  They actually got to within 9 minutes of the launch in the countdown before they scrubbed it due to weather.  We were, of course, disappointed but decided to give it one more day.  The backup plan was to launch on the 8th at 4:14 AM.

This morning, at 4:14 AM they did!  All I can say is Wowzers!  I know that may sound childish but there was something really awe inspiring about viewing this from so close.

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Not knowing exactly what to expect it was incredible how bright and how loud it was from here.  When the shuttle actually lifted off the night (and it had been fully dark) turned to day.  The glow of the rocket boosters as they lit reflected on both the water and the overhead clouds.  In the pictures look closely and you can tell that the sky behind the shuttle is blue!  Moments before and minutes after it was jet black!  And the noise, well it was like a continuous roll of the loudest thunder, once it arrived it went on for several minutes.  We will share all the photos we can but guys, it was so incredible.  You would have to be here to totally get it.  I’m certain that this will be a night to remember for our whole family.