Winter passes slowly...

Friday, March 8, 2008 Hi folks, It has been brought to my attention that we have been getting delinquent in our blogging of late. Mea culpa! We've been laying low. Andi is teaching dance workshops here in Oriental and is preparing to go on the road to teach weekend workshops in other parts of NC. I've been learning new software. I got "Dreamweaver for Dummies" and have been reworking our web page. Soon it will be showing the results of my efforts - maybe in another week. This stuff is not simple. And I've learned another video editing software - here is a little piece of our show in Oriental: (If it pauses during playback, click the play button to pause and wait for a minute for the buffer to fill)

Winter has been giving us some storms around here. The temperatures are about the same as Santa Cruz, CA or maybe a bit warmer, but we've been getting cold fronts moving through about every 5 days. As they go through, they start with a wind from the South. As that intensifies, it starts lowering the water level. Around here, we don't have lunar tides like places closer to the ocean. Instead, the wind direction influences the water levels. A South wind blows the water out of the river and a North wind raises it. Now we only have about 7' of depth under our slip and we draw 6'-2" to the bottom of our keel. Normally all is well, but when the water start going down with a South wind, pretty soon the keel starts to bump on the bottom. If there are waves, it bangs on the bottom. That is nerve wracking. Finally, the keel is firmly on the bottom and we quit bumping. That is much better. The other night there was a tornado watch as some severe thunderstorms were coming through. We watched it approach on the TV as the newscasters showed off their Doppler radar images (scary!). It arrived right on schedule at 1:55AM and we saw a wind gust of 53 knots! Spring is on the way, though. Every day is a little warmer.

A storm came through yesterday that took away more than 2 feet of water. Here is poor Saeta sitting up on her keel, leaning against the dock. It is hard to see how much of the boat is out of the water.

This is a little more obvious. This big boat down at the end of our dock was at such an angle that life aboard would have been most difficult.

This little boat is balanced on her keel even though the whole hull is clear of the water. Whew!

We are still planning to make the crossing to Spain in early June although the Euro is now at around $1.52. At that rate, we aren't going to be doing very much without breaking the budget. Maybe we can work over there?? People often ask us,"Aren't you worried about crossing the Atlantic?" I reply, "Well, do you spend a lot of time worrying about driving on two-lane roads? Because that is a lot more dangerous and unpredictable than crossing the Atlantic. A drunk driver is passing you about 5 feet away with a combined velocity of more than 120 MPH - if he/she swerves 5 feet, you can't do anything about it and you are a victim." At least we have weather reports and can plan our trip to minimize bad weather. That is the most likely bad scenario and more likely to be unpleasant than dangerous.

We miss you and look forward to your calls and letters (emails). Don't be a stranger!