Cook's Bay Wind

We had a great evening on board Island Time last night with hosts Mary-Ellen, Ron and crew Bill. They have a 1982 Norseman 440 that Ron has owned since 1985. The boat is showroom clean and set up beautifully for cruising. The plan for today was to move out to the anchorage on the reef at the entrance to Cooks Bay. We pulled up the hook with some effort as it got caught on something heavy. A little motoring around and slacking off the chain finally got us free. As we got out to the head of the bay, the wind started to blow around the corned and the dinghy that we had tied to the port side almost flipped over from wind catching under the bow. We quickly turned around and headed back into our nice, quiet, secure anchorage in lots of deep water. The outer anchorage is on the reef and is only 8-9 feet deep. We draw 6 ½ feet so I wouldn't have got much sleep. I just heard from the boats out there that they have had gusts up to 40 knots. I'm glad we're here!! We did have one small casualty from our short trip today. We left one of our solar showers hanging on the mast and when we were broadside to the wind when we turned back, the bag went plop and drop into the tide. We didn't notice until after I came up on deck to shower off after spending an hour cleaning the bottom of the boat. Oh well, c'est la vie and besides that one was ripping at the handle anyways. On the bright side, the bottom of the boat is nice and clean again and we still have one shower bag. Thanks for bringing two Rob!!
Cats Paw IV hosted a "dessert party" in the afternoon. The previous owners of their boat, also Bluewater Cruising Association Memebers, took a picture of Cats Paw in Cooks Bay. That picture now graces the title page of the dessert section of the Bluewater Cruising Cookbook, hence the dessert party. Ann invited everyone in the anchorage and they all showed up. Steve and Sylvie off 2nd Wind, an Aussie couple who left England in 1999 and who are finally getting back to Aus, Island Time showed up, and the crew off "Far Out", a Farr designed 72 foot sloop that was part of the ARC rally. They were an interesting mix; there was Estelle, one of the paid crew form Spain, Victoria, the 13 year old daughter of the owner, and Jonas her teacher. Jonas and Victoria along with the owner (absent just now) are Danish. Luis, the captain, stayed onboard. I ended up taking Jonas back and got a tour of the boat. A dual cockpit design with crew quarter aft and guest quarters forward. Lots of teak, but surprisingly simple inide.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see:

http://www.sailmail.com