It’s all about the soles…

A slightly embarrassing story, but a story nonetheless:-)

So, I got up this morning and it wasn't raining; awesome. Got dressed, grabbed Maddie and went for a walk. We walked all over the marina property and out onto the side of the road for a while. The ground was wet but not too bad. After our walk we returned to the boat and tidied up a bit.
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While I was tidying I couldn't help but notice that the cockpit needed sweeping so I got out the soft brush and dustpan and commenced to sweeping up the cockpit sole (that is the nautical term for the floor in the cockpit of a sailboat). The space is small and a bit segmented requiring the sweeper to sweep around obstacles, like the steering pedestal, and usually requires some form of inventive gymnastics to accomplish the sweeping to a satisfactory level.

Now don't get me wrong; I am not, nor have I ever been, a neat freak… But, after all, we are at a yacht club rendezvous so I want the boat to look at least nice, not perfect but at least cared for. This is a long way of saying I was crawling around trying to sweep the small corners of the cockpit and,every so often, I found a mud smeer (!). I'd no sooner clean it up, and I'd find another. It took me a couple laps of said cockpit sole before I realized it was me! And my shoes! That were leaving mud sneers as I crawled 😱

Tools down, checked my shoes and, sure enough, the soles of my shoes had collected lots of gooey dark mud on our walk and my wiping them off on the lawns hadn't been enough. Bottom line: this soul (me) had to wash down the cockpit sole to erase the mess left by the soles in the photo. DONE! No more chores today. TTFN. CJ
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Bonding Time…

If not "for the courage of the faithful crew"… I might not be lying here at 0700, wrapped in warm blankets, listening to the pounding of the pouring rain. The SE wind, as forecast, has also just arrived.

Yes, Maddie and I left the dock in Maple Bay yesterday and, after an uneventful three hour motor boat ride, we arrived safely at Telegraph Harbour Marina. It was the strangest arrival I have ever experienced. Another club boat and I arrived within minutes of each other. We both had made reservations and we both attempted to raise the Marina on the VHF. No one answered. We could see the Marina was almost empty. There were only 2 or 3 boats tied up and they were residents. So, with not too many viable options, we arrived as planned, selected our slips and tied up. We were advised by one of the residents the cafe was open but there were no dock staff on duty. So, like you would, we settled in to enjoy the Luke warm fall sunshine and had a nice afternoon and dinner before retiring for the night. The predicted rain arrived about 0400 and the expected SE wind began to show itself about 0600. Today should be very interesting as our club cruise registration was 'sold out' and a large number of boats are expected to arrive. I think it's safe to say they need not wait for the official check in time of 1300. Anyway, the good news is this is Maddie and my first solo trip on SSpirit so it's been a good learning experience. having always sailed as a twosome, I had to move fairly quickly when something needed to be done under way. Thank goodness for the auto pilot. Maddie was very good and she seems to have accepted that I'm not all that bad after all. I know I'll be dumped into the #2 position the minute Kathy gets home and that's ok. I'm happy for what I have and am tickled pink to be out on the boat, even if it is raining and going to blow. I'm glad we're all tucked in. The rain is supposed to stop tomorrow and the winds are supposed to be light on Sunday, the day we head home.
TTFN. Tata for now. CJ and Bosun Maddie.
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