The yard this year is fairly empty of boats, which is good to see. I hope that it means healthy people taking new or properly patched-up boats back to their more normal routines. It seems that most of the retirees come to fetch their boats in November, and spend a month or so getting ready before they launch. Our experience with a full house was just post-Dorian, where everyone was still on the hard, learning how to patch fiberglass, straighten bent rigging components, and working on personal meditation to best manage the waiting, waiting waiting of the part-ordering process. Either way, we seem to be an anomaly even in the ‘get the boat in the water lickety-split’ category. One day of prep and organizing before launching was an aggressive plan, but thanks to few projects and a very tidy boat (ahem, yours truly put it away last spring, remember?), we’ll be ready to roll/float with ease.
Andy replaced the starting battery and starboard side lettering (our ‘Chickadee’ on that side bakes in the sun all summer, and it was definitely time, as last year it had started a real ‘Chikade’ vibe). He rigged the halyards and we got the dinghy down off the bow and I cleaned it up. I pulled things from storage and cleaned every hold, locker and surface down below, made immensely easier by the fact I was so dorked out in my organization last spring. It’s also amazing how one can blaze through any activity with the assist of a good podcast or two.
The weather fell apart later in the day, so we came home to V, who had been catching up on school work missed for our travel days. It was nice to tuck in for the night after a long day of work. We’re staying at the Harbour Cottage (how fitting), the last of the three cottages owned by the family who first rented to us four years ago. Only the second family to own the property that spans the ocean beach to the inner harbor of Black Sound, it was bought by the Queen of England in the 1940s as a retirement gift for Winston Churchill’s private pilot. He built two houses on the beach, which we adore, and this one on the harbor, which is the smallest, but has great harbor entertainment views, and a dock to boot. The interiors feel like a boat with their high-gloss varnish of the Abaco pine build, and the owners have thought of every last amenity. They’re comfortable, charming and clean, and the caretakers are wonderful, and a lovely part of our stays each time. We’re here for one more night, so we may bring the boat to the dock this afternoon, and really have it all right here at our fingertips!
The best topper to the day was a FaceTime with Lily, who as expected is having a great time. She’s had a full schedule touring the city with the group of other exchange students, and today her host family will pick her up and take her ‘home’. She had a chance to sit and talk with the year-long exchange kids, and had a lot of questions answered about expectations, customs, etc. As always, she seemed calm, adjusted, happy to have met new friends, and open to adventure. And it was so good to see her face.
Clouds to start the day, but probably for the best, as our pasty northern skin appreciates the slow start to the melanin shift. Our resident rooster (who Violet has named ‘Crow’) just walked up to the screen door and did his thing at an unholy volume, so I imagine Andy and Violet are soon to rise. Time to get farming, I suppose!
