Bequia 2018 Screaming Winds, Dragging Boats, HUGE Swell

Big anchorage, why so close?  And look who it is......

February 2018

It has been really windy here in Bequia.  REALLY!  It can funnel through the gap in the hills and scream down into the anchorage.  And it keeps blowing.  We had two and a half weeks of non-stop wind.  Then a short break and then back at it again.  Below is some of the fun that has taken place in the anchorage lately.  Some of this during the week we had no yacht insurance.  Yep, never dull.

Dragging, tangled cats

sv Wind Cat broke her anchor chain and started dragging through the anchorage.  The owners are charter captains who were down in the Tobago Cayes on a charter.  A call went out on the VHF radio that sv Wind Cat was dragging.  She soon snagged another unoccupied cat and then they were both dragging.  Of course, cruisers to the rescue.  Tom went, Patrick (sv Illusions), Jason (sv Blue Blaze) a few others and then a few local boats arrived as well.  Tom had to actually get on sv Wind Cat along with another guy to help untangle it from the other cat.  The wind was so strong that the dinghies were not having any luck moving the two tangled boats.  A local boat took over and towed sv Wind Cat up and put her on a mooring.  The other cruisers were able to get the other cat's anchor to set again.  Whew!  Scary note - Tom nearly lost his head during this rescue.  sv Wind Cat has a wind generator on her forward, starboard bow AT NECK HEIGHT!  Let me state that again, the wind generator is at neck level!  This should never, ever be.  And on the starboard bow?  WTF!  It was spinning so fast in the wind, Tom could not see the blades at all.  He could hear it but with all the commotion, didn't really take note.  It was only at the last minute he saw it swivel in the wind and stopped short.  People - never, ever, EVER mount a wind generator at body height, period!!!!  Even if you get a wind generator for free, spend the money to mount it properly.

Putting sv Wind Cat on a mooring after she broke free of her anchor

Just before 4am this morning a strong squall came through with powerful winds.  It woke me up.  I got up to check the 62ft charter cat in front of us.  I was worried they would drag.  Sure enough, they are dragging down towards us.  We both went into scrambled mode.  I hit them with our new, powerful, LED spotlight (love this thing) trying to wake someone up.  Tom went for our airhorn - not working -damn!  Tom dives for the dinghy key to unlock it and race up there and bang on their hull.  This monstrosity keeps dragging down towards us. This 62ft by 30ft+ monster is going to hit us!  I didn't know what else to do.  I started screaming WAKE UP! GET UP! YOUR DRAGGING! over and over and over at the top of my lungs. I hear Tom fire up the dinghy. I hear people on another cruising boat near by.  I keep screaming.  OMG -They are going to hit us.  They are less that 1/2 boat length away from us.  I am shaking all over.  Finally, a few on board wake up. The captain comes up and acknowledges. I keep yelling GO,GO,GO.  Luckily, they swing off to the side so I can spot our anchor marker, now ahead of their port bow.  I hit my spot on that and keep it there, yelling at the captain to keep clear of it.  Slowly they motored forward.  It seemed like it took forever. They pulled anchor and slowly motored to the outer edge of the anchorage.  Maybe the Captain decided to go on to Tobago Cayes "early".  I don't know or care as long as they are gone from us. Tom motored back to our boat and I finally shut off the spotlight and made my way back to the cockpit, wet and shaking from the whole thing.  This morning I have many strong thoughts about charter boats, charter captains and 62 ft catamarans - most are not nice. I am going to hold those for now until I can get some more sleep. 

Charter cat - this one is only 50 ft (roll eyes)

Bitch wings - a common sight in most anchorages.  Bitch wings are when a cruiser gets up on deck and puts their hands on their hips and arms out to the side.  This is done when someone is anchoring too near or thinking about anchoring near or perceived to be anchoring too near.  "Did you see that stupid charterboat trying to anchor too near this afternoon?  I had to get out my bitch wings and run them off."  Or "Dude, I saw you out there just now with your bitch wings on.  Good for you."  Bitch wings are not reserved for a particular sex.  Anyone can put on their bitch wings and flash them around when needed.  Sometimes they work (like with charter boats that are self chartered or other cruisers) and sometimes they don't (like charter boat captains and the French).  

Too close, no need in such a big anchorage

I have found something better than Bitch Wings.  It is my handy-dandy, new, lightweight and powerful LED spotlight.  If I am worried, I hit that a few times starting at sundown, even just to spot on the boat in front of us so I know exactly where they are and how close.  If they don't like getting hit with a powerful spotlight a couple of times during the night, they should not have anchored so near and they can move in the morning.  I joked with friends that instead of bitch wings, I would stand on deck with a holster.  On one side would be my spotlight and on the other, my airhorn.  A cruising friend added "Don't forget your cutlass.  Put that in the belt of your holster for an added touch."  Good idea.  Ha!  Let's see who anchors near us now if I am up on deck with all that!  

Poor sv Crazy Love

Poor sv Crazy Love.  This is a chartboat out of St Vincent at it is being abused.  In the last four weeks we have seen the following.  1.)  Three English guys grounded her and then "bumped" a cruising cat while trying to un-ground themselves.  2.)  sv Crazy Love drug down slowly on our friend Kurt's (sv Imagine) boat.  French cruisers rescue Kurt's boat by hopping on board and putting his fenders out and kept damage from happening.  The clueless charters return to find their boat has moved.  Resulting inquiry uncovered the reason for the dragging....they put out 40ft of anchor scope in 12 -15ft of water.  WAY too little scope as Tom scolded them.  3.)  A week later, a family of three chartered sv Crazy Love. Dad is motoring FULL speed through the anchorage.  He is way too close to shore and headed straight for shallows just off our starboard side.  He is motoring so fast there is not time to yell over and warn him.  They come to an abrupt stop - hard grounding.  They get themselves off and then anchor too close to us and then too near the French boat to our port stern.  Sigh.....poor sv Crazy Love.  It has done nothing and yet charter guests are abusing the hell out of this poor boat.  I emailed the company to let them know.  I got a very nice and prompt email back thanking me for the information.

Big swell destroying the new part of the Belmont Walkway and Princess Margaret Beach

Big Swell was predicted.  Big swell arrived in Bequia big time!  There are basically four areas to anchor in Admiralty Bay;  Lower Bay, Princess Margaret Beach, up front on the south side and north side.  Lower Bay and Princess Margaret Beach can be rolly at times.  This is not uncommon.  What was predicted was big swell, all up and down the island chain. We all knew about it for days.  Many changed anchorages or even islands, looking for protection.  The problem was the direction of the swell.  It was supposed to come from the north, northwest, west and possibly even a little southwest.  None of these good for the normally well protect anchorages in the lee of these islands.  We had already moved up from Princess Margaret Beach weeks ago during the really strong winds.  We were now anchored off the Bequia Plantation Hotel - at the start of the up front south side.  We thought we would be ok.  The day the swell hit, I was up early for some reason.  At 6am I looked down at Lower Bay to see a series of HUGE swells breaking way far out from shore in the anchorage.  At least 100 yards out from the beach, basically in the back of the anchoring field.   I woke Tom up. "You have to come see the swells in Lower Bay."  Soon our awe turned to serious concern.  It was getting dangerous for the yachts down there and in Princess Margaret Beach.  They were all violently rolling in the swell.  Many began pulling up anchor and heading to the north side or up front to mooring balls.  As more and more swells broke, a mass exodus happened.  Most but not all.  A few stayed.  Then as the day went on, the swell shifted and came towards us.  We ended up facing west -so weird.  Which put us 90 degrees to our anchor set and much closer to the beach.  Luckily, this also put us head on into the swell.  Much safer and more comfortable to ride them out head on vs taking the waves on the side of the boat.  They were breaking just behind us and occasionally under us.  In hindsight, I would have preferred to be one more boat length out from shore.  We were a tad close at this angle.  The full weight of sv Honey Ryder pulling and tugging at the anchor snubber, chain and anchor.  But she held.  Everyone stayed on their boats at the ready for whatever.  Huge waves crashed all day on the Belmont Walkway, battering dinghy docks and sloshing into restaurants along the shoreline.  The new part of the walkway was washed way.  The pounding waves eroded must of Princess Margaret Beach.  It was an intense, nerve wracking day.  Then just as sunset was starting, the swell returned to Lower Bay with a vengeance.  The few boats that were left down there were once again in danger.  Two or three of them were knocked down rail to rail in the violent rolling.  They all but two moved.  Those somehow survived.  Tom and I decided to sleep in the cockpit just in case.  It finally calmed down enough that we went below at 1:30 am to bed.  What a day!   

Double fire hose for chafe guard on the anchor snubber.  This is after two months in Bequia.

It wasn't always terrible in the anchorage.  There were many nice days and calm mornings and still nights.  I just give you the above examples so you know what it can sometimes be like in an anchorage.  We had a wonderful time in Bequia.  We stayed two months!

On The Front Lines Of Climate Change

Picture via FB Gallery Cafe in Carriacou

Sept 29th 2017
I am going to be political.  If you don't want or like that, don't read.  I am only going to publish limited comments if I receive any, and I will pick and chose comments I do publish.  This is my/our blog and I get to do that.  If you don't like it, write your own blog.

So much debate, truths, lies, controversy, and emotion surrounding climate change.  We are not going to talk specifics.  I just want to say that if you don't believe in climate change and you visit the Caribbean, keep that opinion to yourself.  These people are living climate change every day!  A few island elders have shared this first hand knowledge with us personally.  If you do visit and it comes up, perhaps instead of debating and trying to express YOUR side, maybe just listen.  Ask questions, gain another perspective based on experience. 

The Prime Minister of Dominica flew out of hurricane ravaged Dominica - where his own roof was ripped off during the storm - to address the United Nations on climate change.  His speech was articulate, passionate and from first hand experience aka the front lines.  You can read it HERE.  I hope you do.

Finally, I saw what I think is a brilliant response to most climate change debates.  I am only sorry I don't remember where or who posted this.  It went something like this....."Regardless of whether you think/believe climate change is real or not, shouldn't we want and strive towards clean air and water?"  Yes, yes we should.  End of debate.

Cat 5 Hurricane Marina - Weeping for Dominica and Others

Toni and Jeff - see the framed pic on the counter?

Sept 29^th 2017

This is Toni and her husband Jeff.  We met them in May 2017 in Dominica.  She is from Trinidad, he is from Dominica.  They met in Hawaii.  They came back to Dominica to start their life together.  They have two small children.  They built a lovely three story house.  Out in front of their house is a small roti/doubles/snack shop.  The land is family land on Jeff’s side.  He father grew up in a tiny 2 room house on that very land.  There is a framed picture on the counter of the snack shop of his father as a child at that house. Their plan is to live in the middle floor and make the top floor two separate apartments to rent out.  The bottom floor would be a market/wholesale place catering to visiting cruisers.  

Their house and business

We got to know them a little bit while we were in Dominica.  Lovely, warm people.  She and I have communicated via email a few times since.   She wrote to me in June to asking if we had safely arrived in Trinidad.  I wrote back saying we had and gave her a short update.  Mid summer I emailed her asking how they were doing.  She responded that they had gotten the market/wholesale area open on the first floor and they were excited for the coming cruising season.  Then hurricane Maria took aim on Dominica.  I emailed her right before.  I didn't really know what to say other than something like "We are thinking of you,. Be safe.  Good luck and please try to let us know you are ok after."  It felt like a weak and empty thing to say but it was all I had.  She emailed right back thanking me for my concern and letting me know that they were prepped and waiting.  Ugh! 

Our hiking guide Ian.  He lived right on a river in Portsmouth.  I hope he is ok. We don't know.

Maria decimated Dominica.  She also went on to ravage St Croix and Puerto Rico.  Report began to trickle out but very slowly.  Very few came out of Dominica.  Eventually, more reports and then pictures started surfacing.  Our worst fears, near total destruction.  I think something like 95% of all structures have sustained some sort of damage.  I need to remind you now, that Dominica was hit by tropical storm Erika two years ago.  That storm brought record rains that in turn caused massive flooding and numerous mudslides that took out over half the roads and hundreds of homes.  33 people died in TS Erika.  The country had only just recovered.  

Taken in 2016 from TS Erika in 2015

It is also important to remember that Dominica is it's own sovereign country with no strong motherland behind her.  Additionally, Dominica is one of the poorest countries in the eastern Caribbean.  Without a large, international airport, the tourist trade that most of these islands depend on doesn't happen on the same level in Dominica.  Despite that challenge, they have come a long way in developing not only a small tourist trade but ecotourism.  A perfect fit for all the natural beauty that is Dominica with 7 extinct volcanoes, 360+ rivers,  hiking trails, the boiling lake, whales and so much more.  

Middleham falls 2016

The cruising community LOVES Dominica.  Nearly everyone stops there while sailing north and south each season.  While several islands got hard hit this hurricane season and many are suffering, this fondness and the above facts are the reason that much of the cruiser related efforts at hurricane relief is focused on Dominica.  Martinique cruisers, Grenada cruisers and Trinidad cruisers have all mobilized with locals on each island to collect needed items and money.  Yachts and a tug have been loaded and have sailed for Dominica.  Additional will be following.  At great risk to themselves and their vessels, I might add. 

sv Endorfin II on the way to the Boiling Lake 2016

As cruisers, sometimes we get lucky and come to know locals on a personal level.  That is one of the magical things about this life, the wonderful people we meet.  This gives us a personal connection to a place and let's us get a glimpse into another culture.  When a natural tragedy or other strikes in that far off place.... like the Caribbean, we can no longer say "Oh, how sad for those people."  Instead we are invested, we know that place personally, we have a connection.  Our acquaintances/friends are there.  They may/are affected.  It pains and worries us.  Often we are called to response action somehow.  These connections and understanding of another place and people make this world a better place.  Especially during the bad times.  One race = the human race.  

Greg our boat guy in Roseau 2016.  I hope he is ok.  We don't know.

There are also additional cruiser efforts for other islands and individual causes and individual families.  We all know someone that was affected this hurricane season, some worse than others.  I just thought I might explain why it may seem like the cruising community is so focused on Dominica and to a lesser extent, Barbuda.  That tiny island is part of the sovereign nation of Antigua and Barbuda.  Again, hit head on by cat 5 Irma and again, no strong motherland behind her.  All 1800 inhabitants of Barbuda were forced to leave their island.  Did you get that.....they had to completely leave the island because the destruction was SO complete!  It is the first time in 300 years that the island had been without people.    

Famous guide Seacat making lunch at Boiling Lake in 2016.  I hope he is ok.  We don't know.  His house is right on the water.

Back to Toni and Jeff - We waited and waited to hear from her.  I scoured the internet for information on the damage in Portsmouth where Toni and Jeff live, hoping for some sort of update.  As I mentioned above, communication out of Dominica was very slow in coming with many, many areas completely cut off from the outside world or even from the government of Dominica itself.  Finally, this week on Wednesday Sept 27th I emailed Toni asking "Are you all alive?  Are you ok?"  I let her know that relief efforts had started in Trinidad, Grenada and Martinique...."Help is on the way.  Hang on"   She responded back late in the day they were alive and ok!  *I am tearing up now as I write this.  So emotional.  It seems they are US citizens (probably when they lived in Hawaii) and therefore were able to evacuate on Monday Sept 25th to Trinidad, several days after the hurricane hit.  She said their house and business was damaged but not nearly as bad as many others.  She added that Dominica is in real trouble.  "They need food and medical supplies now!  People are or have run out of food.  The main hospital in Portsmouth was damaged and needs supplies."   We were SO relieved and yet heartbroken at her report of the conditions.  She said they will stay in Trinidad for two weeks and then head to Texas to stay with family there for a while.  She didn't say when they would return to Dominica.  Think of all the thousands of people that were not able to evacuate.   

Young guide on our Boiling Lake hike 2016.  I hope he is ok.  We don't know.

I mentioned above how it felt weak and empty saying "Thinking of you.  Be safe.  Good luck and please let us know you are ok when you can".  It's more than that, you feel helpless to do anything - before, during and after.   Social media has been filled with images, reports and stories of all the destruction.  Most of us hit the cry emoji and make a comment, something along the lines of "heartbreaking"  but those are the same.....weak and empty.  Make no mistake - it is a horrible thing to have to send an email out with the subject line "Are you alive?  Are you ok?"   I think everyone was just so shocked and stunned.  We didn't know what to do.  But relief efforts soon fired up.  Links to organizations to donate money to or specific GoFundMe.  As well as the the above cruiser/local relief efforts to gather food and supplies to send.  

The people of these islands are strong.  They will rebuild.  This I know.  But they need help from all of us.  ALL of us!!  One race = human race!

High wind good news bad news

One of our morning coffee buddies

3-6-17
Most of the eastern Caribbean has had really high winds for the past 8-10 days.  It is forecast to continue. What do I mean by high winds?  Sustained 20-25 with gusts to 30+.  Yesterday, reports were coming in from USVI and St Maarten of 40 knots.

Here are some things I /we have learned with high winds.
-You need to have a good anchor set.  We do

-Once your anchor is set, it may never come out.
-Once your anchor is set, you are not anxious to change anchor positions, even if it might be less windy/white caps/rolly.
- Swinging around so that you are 180 to your anchor set is weird in no wind.  It is un-nerving in strong winds.

-Charterboats are scary.  Charterboats in high winds are very, very scary.

-The wind generator keeps the batteries 100%.  

-With the batteries at 100%, you can make lots of water with the watermaker.

-With the batteries full, you can charge lots of devices.

-With the batteries full, you have to find things to use the power on. 

-After a swim, I can get a free blowout of my hair just by standing on the foredeck.  My old salon on land charges $35+ for this service.

-Dinghy rides are....exciting.

-Dinghies can flip tied to the boat.  Ours did not but I thought it would last night during a squall.

-Cleaning the bottom of the boat in white caps is challenging. 

-Cleaning the bottom of the boat in white caps means you will swallow a certain percentage of saltwater.
-Do you think turtles end up with a snoot full of sea water when they come up for air and there are white caps?  I know I end up coughing and sputtering.
-Laundry dries really fast in high winds on the lifelines.
-It is easy to lose laundry drying on the lifelines.
-I lost a rug I really liked.  I got it in Port of Spain Trinidad.  It would probably be totally wrong to ask cruising friends there to get me another one given that they are vegetarians and the rug is made of strips of suede leather, right?  Yeah, I know, wrong.
-Winds between islands is usually higher than forecast in normal weather.  These past several days, those areas have really been screaming according to reports.
-Speaking of screaming winds, OMG - winds on the front edge of passing squalls are just howling! WOW!
-There is rumored talk of a break in the winds.  Cruisers are prepping to sail on.  Everyone is anxious to move on to the next anchorage.  We are not.  We have friends coming.  Yay!
-Another overnight update - Screaming winds overnight.  I woke up several times because it was so loud.  I never turned on the electronics to actually see what the readings were but they HAD to be in the mid to upper 30 knot range.
-Update - a cruiser friend said his wind meter hit 31 knots overnight three times.  WOW!
-Cruisers stay put in high winds.  We don't like to break things.  We like to be comfortable.
-A few days ago, a cruising boat anchored next to us with NO rig.  They had on their foulies and the boat was beat up - torn dodger and bimini.  It was obvious they lost their rig sometime recently.  Ugh!
-Charterboats go no matter the weather.  They have limited time, they must see it all...even if it is only for a couple of hours before they dash on to the next stop.
-The last few days, the charter cats powering in around 16:00 - 17:00 with everyone tucked below while the hired captain steams in wearing his/her foul weather jacket.  Just another day working in paradise.

Hurricane Forecast From Tropical Tidbits

If you aren't interested in hurricanes, this posting my bore you.  For all you sailors that worry about hurricanes, you may want to check out the link HERE for the 2014 season.  Levi is one of our favorite amateur forecasters.  He doesn't just repeat what others says but takes the data and comes up with his own predictions.  Sometimes he is right, sometimes he is wrong but we have found him very good.  Additionally we learn from him because he tells you the how and why of his forecasts. You can follow him on Facebook, on You Tube or at his web site where you can find all the kewl tools and forecast models he uses.  I also have a link under our Kewl Links tab.

HAM Goes to School

Now that I have my HAM license (KD0QAG - but don't try to call me as I don't have a HAM radio at all in KC.  The SSB is on the boat.) I get emails from the Amateur Radio... people.  (*I don't have all the HAM jargon down yet.)  They had a free webinar this evening on the 2012 Hurricane Season.

It was pretty good.  I, along with 300+ other people learned a few things.  I am hoping that we won't have to put any of it to use this hurricane season.
The Hurricane Watch Net
Amateur Ham Radio at the National Hurricane Center

Perpetual Ocean

Could this be used for routing?  Hummmm?  Maybe, to some extent?  Anyway....very kewl video that shows the interesting currents around the world.  FYI - NASA did this animated video.

Weather Blogger - Tropical Tidbits

There are tons of weather resources from the various NOAA services to the National Hurricane Center to Wunderground and more. Additionally there a hundreds of weather chat groups and bloggers, along with forecasters professional and amateur. A fellow Caliber owner recently shared one of his favorite weather bloggers and now Levi32 has become my main weather guy....along with all the official stuff. Check out his daily updates here.

Naked Girl

That got everyone's attention. Actually I am talking about s/v Honey Ryder. Cap10 Tom stripped her down prior to Hurricane Irene's arrival.

More Storm Stories

Since we are still glued to The Weather Channel and all the weather web sites,now worrying about all our internet sailing friends currently in the path of Hurricane Irene, I thought I would catch you up some freaky storms we experiences last weekend at Lake Perry.




















Back to back storms brought 70 mph winds with some tough results for our dock neighbors.





















Fellow sailors Paul and Jim's home made Bruce Robert's design sailboat demasted. Luckily it feel into the only open slip on the dock or it could have been worse.















A repeat the next night with more 70 mph winds pushed the docks around even more, shoving the E-Dock ramp up into the parking lot and into the back of this sailors car. That probably makes for an interesting call to the insurance agent....."Yeah, um...you know the big storm last night? Well, my car got damaged. How? A dock rammed into it. No, I did NOT ram the dock again with my boat. I said the dock rammed my car."

Hurricane Irene Update

We got a vm from our dock neighbor this evening. s/v Honey Ryder weathered Hurricane Irene just fine. When the forecast shifted Irene slightly to the north, he decided not to haul his boat but instead ride it out on board. It's his full time home. His message said he had winds 40-45 knots overnight so he was rocking and rolling quite a bit making sleep tough. However both his boat and s/v Honey Ryder stayed put really well. YAY!!
I want to give a HUGE thank you to my main hurricane man - Cap10 Tom for prepping and securing her so well earlier in the week! Additionally a big thanks to dock neighbor Greg for all his help.
















This was definitely a learning experience. Most learning opportunities in sailing are fun. This was not "fun" but I guess it's just part of coastal cruising. Our thoughts are now on fellow sailors and others still in the path.
Go away to sea Irene! Enough already!!!

Hurricane Irene

We have been camped out in front of various web sites since last weekend tracking this wicked storm. It is our first time dealing with a hurricane since we purchased s/v Honey Ryder and what a mean little bitch she's turned out to be. Sunday night into Monday forecasts had Irene coming ashore directly on top of s/v Honey Ryder as a Cat 3 Hurricane. I only got 20 mins of sleep that night - every possible scenario running through my head. Cap10 Tom flew out Wednesday morning to do final prep and secure her as best he could. I continued to drive myself crazy with constant hurricane updates. Slowly Irene turned slightly - taking aim on North Carolina for it's first landfall. s/v Honey Ryder would still have to deal with tropical storm forces but not a full hurricane. However worry has now shifted to worry for fellow sailors and friends in the storms path.
Quite the storm for our first hurricane. Does it ever get any easier on these suckers? Do you ever get used to it or does your stomach always churn as you worry through every close hurricane event?

Brunswick GA to Wilmington Island GA (south of Savannah)

We did our normal routine - checked the weather, plot the trip up the ICW on Maptech, checked the tides and then...discovered with two trouble spots (Little Mud River and Hell's Gate) and the need to hit them both on rising tides, we couldn't make the ICW route work with our schedule (stupid schedule - stupid work) Plan B, head out St Simon Sound, up the coast, in at Wassaw Sound and up the Wilmington River to Sail Harbor Marina on Turners Creek. Ok. Start over, check the weather, plot the trip, read up on Wassaw Sound, read local knowledge strongly recommended, read again, check weather again. Cap10 Tom called the marina and owner ( and fellow K-Stater) said "yeah - it's a bit tricky but just follow the markers in." More later on that.
To make our approach to Wassaw Sound in the daylight on a rising tide (since it was new to us), we left Brunswick at 10:45pm just after low tide with quite a flow. Cap10 Tom did a terrific job of keeping us in the channel, while I spotted the buoys amongst all the shore lights and range markers. Confusing at times not to mention the two channel markers that were out.
3 hrs later we cleared the channel and turned north. The wind was perfectly on the beam blowing from the west 15-20 knots. It was fabulous - except it was cold. The forecast called for a low overnight of 35 and I believe it. But we were prepared. I cooked ahead of time so we could just reheat if we wanted to, coffee was made and in the thermos, we shortened our watches to 2 hrs to help, laid out the new watch sleeping bag and dress accordingly. What does that mean.....dress accordingly? 7 layers. And how much do I LOVE my foulies and sailing boots! So we were chilly but we didn't care because the sailing was so good. *Video coming soon - as soon as I figure out how to edit it and get it on here. Ok...not soon but sometime sort of soon. Or in the near future, southeast of disorder.

Spring my ass! This blows - for real

March 27, 2009 and a blizzard has blown into the plains of Kansas. Of course this would be at the same time we had to make a trip to Wichita KS. My beloved uncle Madison passed away Tuesday, March 24th. The family all made plans from near and far to converge on Wichita to pay our respects, tell some Madison stories and laugh. Then came the weather predictions with words like "blowing snow, white out conditions, ice, sleet, snow" and such. Many family members did the smart thing and canceled their travels. Tom and I left KC at 5:30 Friday night in light drizzle. Half way there it turned to sleet and freezing rain. We slowly made our way south, arriving safely at greatly reduced speed. The wind nearly blew us over as we unpacked the car at the hotel that night.

Saturday morning dawned cloudy and windy with snow still falling. We all pulled together to get transportation set up for everyone. Luckily, cousin Greg from France was able to fly in that morning after an unexpected layover in Houston due of course to the weather. My brother Nathan, Tom and I spent 45 mins de-icing 3 cars. The ice was up to 2" thick in places. Slowly we caravaned to the church. Much to my surprise given the weather, there were about 20-30 others that showed up to pay their respects. One church member told me it would have been full if it wasn't for the weather. By the time we left the church it was already starting to melt. The sun broke out around 6pm. We spent the remainder of the day catching up on each others lives, telling family stories and looking at old and current pictures.

By Sunday the roads were all clear with massive melting occurring and we were able to cruise home at normal speed. Without a cloud in the sky, the bright sunlight made all the ice covered trees glisten like diamonds against the snow covered fields. It was actually beautiful in a stark, Andrew Wythe sort of way.

I love you Uncle Madison. You will be missed.