Merry Christmas from the WD
Benny being Benny
Our great Lil tree
Em has the the spirit!
Kanyon is a great Elf!
I got Kaleb with a smile.
From our home to yours,
Many Blessing, The Burton's
Monday, December 6, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Enjoy, a little look into our daily lives
Hello all, I was lucky enough to get a underwater camera this year for my birthday. So, I am snap happy and have pictures of lots of things. Enjoy and little look into our daily life. Blessing, Rebecca
Thanksgiving day, Dad did all the cooking!
Yes, we even get cold when it drops to the low 70's.... I know you feel sorry for us.
Em is my new model .... how much fun is that?
Tofer on the move, this was just a afternoon swim off the boat before I went to work.
OH, my who is that.... we look so great...... Em begged me not to post this one....
Just bits of our life...
Blessing to you and Yours,
Beck and The Crew
Tofer on the move, this was just a afternoon swim off the boat before I went to work.
What a fun picture! Em is so much fun.
Just bits of our life...
Blessing to you and Yours,
Beck and The Crew
Blog Dec 4 -5, 2010
Yesterday was a beautiful day with winds only blowing 10 to 15 from the WNW. We ate Jill's Lasagna and slept each in turn. Dylan worked through some sea sickness issues and felt pretty good by the time his night watches came around. We knew yesterday morning that this was the calm before the storm. Our weather guy Capt. Bob Cook keeps us informed and gives us routing instructions and he had been setting us up for the WSW blow that we knew was coming. We had been steering south for the first couple of days because we knew the high west winds were going to push us east fast. Sure enough at about 9:00pm the westerlies started to fill in at 20+ knots and they continued to build through the night.
Let me paint you the picture of today. I woke up to take my 06:00 watch and Dick came down from the cockpit soaking wet. When the guy coming off watch is dripping seawater and looking grim you know that you are in for work. The sun came up right in front of the boat and I got my first glimpse in daylight of what I had been hearing throughout the night. The sea was slate gray but faded into oranges and reds in front of the boat. The waves had grown to 16 to 18 footers boiling and rolling white foam as they came from behind about every six seconds. The wind was blowing a steady 40 knots gusting to 50 (our highest gust today was 55) and the wind was blowing white spin drift off the tops of every wave like I used to see on the cornices that formed way up high on the peaks when I was skiing in Jackson Hole. When the wind is blowing like this the whole ocean is a living monster, tendrils like moving snakes can be seen just below the surface everywhere you look and little tiny waves on the surface turn into huge waves right before your eyes. When you look right behind the boat every six seconds a new behemoth forms and barrels down on you like a 747 airliner with a similar roar. The roar of the approaching wave is deafened though by the sound of the wind ripping through the rigging and over the sails. The boat almost always rides right up over the top of this mountain and surfs down the back side only to rise again on the next one. Once in a while the boat slides off to the side just a little too far and the white foaming top of the overtaking wave crashes over the boat drenching you with a thousand gallons of water. You almost always can see this coming and have time to hunch your shoulders, tuck your head into your jacket and hold tight with your hands to the sides of the cockpit.
Today the adventure continued with a new twist. The auto pilot decided to continue his strike and every so often quits altogether forcing the guy at the helm to think quick, grab the wheel and fight the boat back onto her coarse an reset the auto pilot. If you are to late she rounds up into the wind and waves and it's a lot of fun getting her back on course in these seas and winds.
We are all doing well, the very fact that I am writing a blog tells you that. We were well rested going into this and our weather guy told us this morning that it would be over "soon," a somewhat cryptic answer but still he is a weather guy.
Thanks for all of your riddles and messages we love to receive them.
"Ridin' The Storm Out,"
Capt. Tofer, Capt Dick and Dylan on "Changin' Tags"
Let me paint you the picture of today. I woke up to take my 06:00 watch and Dick came down from the cockpit soaking wet. When the guy coming off watch is dripping seawater and looking grim you know that you are in for work. The sun came up right in front of the boat and I got my first glimpse in daylight of what I had been hearing throughout the night. The sea was slate gray but faded into oranges and reds in front of the boat. The waves had grown to 16 to 18 footers boiling and rolling white foam as they came from behind about every six seconds. The wind was blowing a steady 40 knots gusting to 50 (our highest gust today was 55) and the wind was blowing white spin drift off the tops of every wave like I used to see on the cornices that formed way up high on the peaks when I was skiing in Jackson Hole. When the wind is blowing like this the whole ocean is a living monster, tendrils like moving snakes can be seen just below the surface everywhere you look and little tiny waves on the surface turn into huge waves right before your eyes. When you look right behind the boat every six seconds a new behemoth forms and barrels down on you like a 747 airliner with a similar roar. The roar of the approaching wave is deafened though by the sound of the wind ripping through the rigging and over the sails. The boat almost always rides right up over the top of this mountain and surfs down the back side only to rise again on the next one. Once in a while the boat slides off to the side just a little too far and the white foaming top of the overtaking wave crashes over the boat drenching you with a thousand gallons of water. You almost always can see this coming and have time to hunch your shoulders, tuck your head into your jacket and hold tight with your hands to the sides of the cockpit.
Today the adventure continued with a new twist. The auto pilot decided to continue his strike and every so often quits altogether forcing the guy at the helm to think quick, grab the wheel and fight the boat back onto her coarse an reset the auto pilot. If you are to late she rounds up into the wind and waves and it's a lot of fun getting her back on course in these seas and winds.
We are all doing well, the very fact that I am writing a blog tells you that. We were well rested going into this and our weather guy told us this morning that it would be over "soon," a somewhat cryptic answer but still he is a weather guy.
Thanks for all of your riddles and messages we love to receive them.
"Ridin' The Storm Out,"
Capt. Tofer, Capt Dick and Dylan on "Changin' Tags"
Friday, December 3, 2010
Day 1 and 2, Dec. 2 and 3, 2010
Welcome to the voyage! "Changin' Tags" is well on her way from Norfolk, VA toward St. Thomas. We left the dock this morning at around 09:00 after a final run to the grocery store, a great breakfast of eggs Benedict at a local cafe, and topping off the water tanks and strapping down the dingy on deck.
Both Dylan and I are used to the warm Caribbean so our bodies simply rebelled against the 40 degree weather! We looked like "Stay Puff Marshmallow Men" in our layers of foul weather gear. As we left the dock three fast little navy boats full of SEALs zipped past us looking firmly ahead... no waves or smiles... what's with that? Then as we approached the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel three HUGE Navy hover craft barreled past us as well. Leaving Norfolk it's hard to forget about our troops overseas. Here's to all of you over there a SALUTE from "Changin' Tags" and a Merry Christmas!
We spent the day motoring in very little wind and low seas around Cape Hatteras. I made some grilled swiss cheese sandwiches for lunch and put roast beast on Dick's and my own... DylAn reminded me at this point that he is a vegetarian... a fact I had known but forgotten. It might have served him better to have reminded me while we were in the grocery store earlier but there is plenty for him to eat and Dick and I get more steak, hot dogs and hamburgers so we are OK with it too.
For supper I made some spaghetti and we all ate quietly trying to stay warm. In the middle of the night our old friend AUTO PILOTI decided that he had had quite enough of our treatment of him and went on strike. Well let me tell you there is absolutely nothing that makes you love a working auto pilot as much as one on strike. Dick and I played around with it while Dylan hand steered around Diamond Shoals at 3:00am. Dick pulled out fuses, we both read the books, we messed with the gain and turned it on and off a bunch of times... finally we gave up and decided to head into Beaufort, NC to get it fixed and then Auto decided to work again and has been steering like a champ ever since. This morning we made our turn to cross the Gulf Stream and if you look at the "SPOT" at you will see that we are finally heading out to sea.
Dylan is doing great although waking him up in the middle of the night has been a very humorous challenge for me. He wakes up staring at you like a deer caught in the headlights, and the first time I woke him up he just went right back to sleep. Once he is up and about he stays awake and alert at the helm and he seems to be adjusting to the motion of a mono-hull with no ill affects so far.
Thanks for all of the riddles from Mike, and Dylan's Aunt... we are working on them. Don't send us answers!!!! we work on them until we solve them.
Hope you all have a beautiful day!
From the Gulf Stream,
Captain Tofer, Capt. Dick and Dylan
Both Dylan and I are used to the warm Caribbean so our bodies simply rebelled against the 40 degree weather! We looked like "Stay Puff Marshmallow Men" in our layers of foul weather gear. As we left the dock three fast little navy boats full of SEALs zipped past us looking firmly ahead... no waves or smiles... what's with that? Then as we approached the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel three HUGE Navy hover craft barreled past us as well. Leaving Norfolk it's hard to forget about our troops overseas. Here's to all of you over there a SALUTE from "Changin' Tags" and a Merry Christmas!
We spent the day motoring in very little wind and low seas around Cape Hatteras. I made some grilled swiss cheese sandwiches for lunch and put roast beast on Dick's and my own... DylAn reminded me at this point that he is a vegetarian... a fact I had known but forgotten. It might have served him better to have reminded me while we were in the grocery store earlier but there is plenty for him to eat and Dick and I get more steak, hot dogs and hamburgers so we are OK with it too.
For supper I made some spaghetti and we all ate quietly trying to stay warm. In the middle of the night our old friend AUTO PILOTI decided that he had had quite enough of our treatment of him and went on strike. Well let me tell you there is absolutely nothing that makes you love a working auto pilot as much as one on strike. Dick and I played around with it while Dylan hand steered around Diamond Shoals at 3:00am. Dick pulled out fuses, we both read the books, we messed with the gain and turned it on and off a bunch of times... finally we gave up and decided to head into Beaufort, NC to get it fixed and then Auto decided to work again and has been steering like a champ ever since. This morning we made our turn to cross the Gulf Stream and if you look at the "SPOT" at you will see that we are finally heading out to sea.
Dylan is doing great although waking him up in the middle of the night has been a very humorous challenge for me. He wakes up staring at you like a deer caught in the headlights, and the first time I woke him up he just went right back to sleep. Once he is up and about he stays awake and alert at the helm and he seems to be adjusting to the motion of a mono-hull with no ill affects so far.
Thanks for all of the riddles from Mike, and Dylan's Aunt... we are working on them. Don't send us answers!!!! we work on them until we solve them.
Hope you all have a beautiful day!
From the Gulf Stream,
Captain Tofer, Capt. Dick and Dylan
Monday, November 29, 2010
Fall Deliveries
(Our stow-away on the "Marinette" delivery this year)
“Marinette” moves back and forth from Aventura, Florida to Mamaronac, New York. I have done the trip six times now, two times with the owner Dr. K and his son Mark on board for portions of the trip and the rest of the time with a variety of crew. My son Jimmy crewed for me for three of the trips and I have also had, Richard, Blaine, Mike, and Ross come along. Mike and I just finished the trip from NY to FL right before Thanksgiving. It was a great trip but the weather in the Fall is always a little rough. We had to wait out a gale warning off Cape Hatteras and then beat to windward for about 36 hours off of Charleston in 30+ knots of wind. Island Packets are big, beefy, tough, offshore sailboats but they are not really known for their ability to sail to windward in the best of conditions. In 30 knots of wind and 16 to 20 foot seas… well it’s a stop sign. We made it only a day late though which makes me happy, as a delivery captain I like to be as accurate as possible with my estimates.
“Changin’ Tags” moves back and forth from Norfolk, VA to St Thomas, USVI. This is a true bluewater trip and is almost guaranteed to have some sort of excitement. Let me see… we have filled up the fuel tanks 900 miles from land with the help of a Container Ship, the “Desert Serenity;” we have battled gale force winds for the better part of a week; we have turned and run from 3 nasty storms in one trip and been forced to turn tail and scoot away from Norfolk once when we were only 200 miles away. I have wrestled six gallon jugs of fuel back onto the boat which had been washed off the deck in monster seas and were still atatched to the lifelines. The wind blowing so hard I could hardly keep my eyes open. Through it all the owner, Dick Shirley, battled along beside Jimmy and I. He held the boat steady at 6 knots alongside a huge containership while fuel was passed down to the deck on a line, he laughed and joked as we watched the wind guage climb to 67 knots and has always proven to be a great sailor and a great Captain as well. Jimmy came along on most of the “Changin’ Tags” deliveries and I am happy to say that the time he spent out there facing the ocean’s wrath as well as her calm and beauty, and the time he spent with men like Dick have made him into a man and son I can be proud of. We will be leaving Norfolk on December 2nd and we will miss Jimmy but we will be bringing along another young man, 15-year-old Dylan Milton will be crewing in Jimmy’s place. He and his family live aboard a Cat called “Ubunto.” I am sure the trip will be a great experience for Dylan as well.
We love to get messages on the Iridium phone offshore. They are free for you to send and free for us to read. We cannot send you back a reply but pop us off a message every now and then and share the trip with us. All you have to do is go to: http://messaging.iridium.com/ and leave the 8816 that is already there and add our number to it 32521786. In the email line just put your name because we can't email you anyway but then add your message below. There is a counter and each message can only be 160 characters but you can send as many as you want. If you are sending multiple messages just put 1/2 or 1/3 or what ever at the beginning so we know which message of how many because they do not always arrive in order. Also if your message is for a specific crewmember just put it in the email line for example.... Rebecca to Tofer 1/3...
Remember you can follow us on SPOT by clicking on the little word SPOT on the upper left side of the blog where it says "Where we are now". The SPOT shows you exactly where we are every 6 hours or so.
Oh and for Blake on Slow Motion... BREAK OUT THE HARD RIDDLES FOR THIS TRIP!!!
Thanks For Reading!
Captain Tofer
Friday, October 8, 2010
How about a blog from Grenada the day before we leave?
For example if I am approached by one of my children bearing a cut my first reaction, depending on the decibel level of the scream, is to see if there is enough blood spurting out of said cut to make a mess all over the boat. My second reaction is to tell said child to shut the hole in his face before my eardrums break and let me look at it. I am usually rather un-nerved at this point and am not really very gentle as I poke and prod the cut to see if it needs stitches or a band-aid. Either way I dump some alchohol on it clean it with a swab and bandage it up while at the same time telling the child to stop screaming. Splinters are handled with the tip of my pocket knife and alcohol (just like my dad used to do with such afection for me when I was a wee lad.)
Clothing and hygene… I prefer it if they wear one pair of shorts for the week so I don’t have to do as much laundry… T-shirts are wearable until they no longer pass the “sniff-test” and I generally discourage the wearing of any shirts by the boys unless we are going shopping. Teeth are brushed every night or when I notice that they are a shade of yellow that proves to me that the child has been lying to me all week and not brushing them at night when they were told. Showers… what? They have been swimming every afternoon! What kind of dirt can stick to that pruny body? No really I make them shower… when the hair on their head sticks up and cannot be moved without breaking it off… time for shampoo.
Haircuts… moving on…
My wife softens all of that and fixes all the little messes I make out of our offspring by gently cleaning wounded fingers, using a sterile needle to softly prod a splinter from its hiding place, encouraging soapy showers and shampoo, changing shirts and shorts almost every day (we do still live on a boat people!) checking to make sure the teeth are clean after the kid has spent 20 minutes making faces at himself in the head mirror with the water running and still has a dry toothbrush.
Her humor and infectous laugh and big beautiful smile and the sparkle in her sea blue eyes keep me grining from ear to ear. She has been my very best friend for more than 20 years now, she shares my dreams and heartaches and this whole idea that the kids and I could live without her for a couple of months was ludicrous! We won’t make that mistake again mark my words!
Grenada is a beautiful island and the Port Louis Marina was a great place to stay for a very reasonable rate. I would recommend it to anyone. We had a great time with new friends on Ubuntu, EmilyAnne took French lessons, the kids swam the pool almost dry and I had a place to get into the habit of morning running. We actually had a great time for these weeks but again… we would much rather be with Becky.
I will try to send her a couple of updates as we sail and feel free to send us messages on the Iridium phone (they are free) also I will update the spot about every 6 hours so you can track us as we sail by clicking the little “spot” word on our blog page.
God Bless,
Captain Tofer
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Unexpected Passage to Grenada
Just in case you were wondering… we are not in St Thomas anymore… well not all of us anyway. Rebecca is still there waiting for us to return and working at Tickles. The rest of us and Wandering Dolphin are safely in St George’s, Grenada. How exactly did this come about? If you recall we left at the end of July heading south to avoid the Hurricanes and the Auto Pilot quit on us so I was forced to head back to St Thomas rather than attempt a five day sail with four kids hand steering the whole way.
I managed to work out the issues and get it up and running within the next week but the whole emotional mess of leaving Rebecca behind was just something I couldn’t bring myself to do again. I had a couple of good windows and even a call from my friend Dick (“Changin’ Tags”) who was willing to sail with me on the next available window. I just didn’t want to go so I kept putting it off hoping and hoping that no storm would threaten us enough that I would have to head to the mangroves in Salinas or Vieques with the kids to ride it out. We managed to eek out almost all of August before I saw the development of Danielle, Earl, and Fiona in the Eastern Atlantic. I had been watching the weather like a hawk and when I saw these three storms I knew that my last window was that day, Thursday August 26th. Rebecca had that Thursday and Friday off so even though I should have left that day I stayed and we prepared the boat to head for the mangroves. Saturday morning when I left St Thomas I was still not sure if I would be heading for the mangroves or Grenada. It all depended on the wind. I figured if I had the wind to sail south I would just get out of the zone. I knew the path for the hurricane (Earl) already had it curving north and arriving Monday or Tuesday so I figured two days of good sailing would put me south of it’s path and I would personally rather not have to ride out any hurricanes with kids onboard even in the mangroves.
As we left St Thomas I was able to sail south with no problems so south it was. Before leaving this time I had given all of the kids a dramamene so they were drifting off into never never land. The wind was only blowing 10 to 12 from theE SE so the seas were beautiful and low and Wandering Dolphin always feels good, and sails fast close hauled. By evening the kids were waking up and feeling good so we had a chat and I reminded them of the rules. They already knew that offshore they always had to wear a harness and clip in with the tether whenever they went above (even in the cockpit) but this time they were to help make sure DAD did the same thing. I also showed them how to heave to in an emergency, use the radio, set off the EPIRB, and call on the SAT phone. Then I told them our new rules for this passage. They were alowed to be awake whenever they wanted or sleep whenever they wanted day or night. Whenever the engine was running or the solar panels were putting out 13V or more they were allowed to play Wii or watch movies at any time day or night. Snacks, fruit and drink mixes were there for the asking and NO SCHOOL ALLOWED for the duration of the passage. I would never have thought that those few little freedoms would make such a huge difference in a passage. The kids had a ball for five days. Benny eventually found himself helping EmilyAnne with her night watches. She was the only one actually on a watch schedule with me. She was great and never failed to wake me up if she had any question about anything she saw or noticed a ship on AIS or a squall on the radar.
During my 0300 to 0600 watch on Sunday night as I listened to the WX weather on the VHF from NOAA I started to panic. It sounded from the hurricane warnings and watches that had been issued that Earl had sped up and was heading straight for us. I called Beck at 0400 and asked her what she saw on the internet and she called our friend Herman who began to feed us weather info and put my mind at ease that we had already sailed far enough south that we would not be hit by the storm itself. He also gave me routing instructions that helped me avoid the outer bands. THANK YOU HERMAN!!!!
Earl hit St Thomas on Monday and while our friends and Becky were getting nailed with hurricane force winds and boats were dragging anchor or sinking in Honeymoon Bay and Becky and the folks at Island View Guest House were protecting their home and hearth we had west winds clocking to the SW at 18 to 20 with gusts no higher than 25. We tacked that morning and Wandering Dolphin started FLYING south on a beem reach. For 24 hours we made tracks to the south and further from the storm and the one following it.
Tuesday brought light winds from the SE which was exactly where we needed to go to make Grenada so we fell off to a due east reach for St Lucia counting on a clocking of the wind at some point closer to the islands. That day we made Pizza and continued our movie marathon watching the newest Star Trek and having a Wii Brawl tournament.
In the evening as we were sitting in the cockpit watching the sunset when the general call for all hands was issued with the word, “DOLPHIN’S!” EmilyAnne and Benny clipped into the jacklines and made their way to the bow pulpit where they sat to watch the show. We were all enjoying the playfull pod when I saw Kanyon’s eyes grow wide as he watched behind us. I turned to see what he was seeing just in time to catch the monster dorsal fin of a killer whale and smell his breath as he exhaled no more than an arms length from the rail of our cockpit. What Kanyon had seen before I turned around was the whales full face, teeth and black and white head as it surfaced for a breath. For about twenty minutes we watched this pod of killer whales and their attending pod of dolphins until we sailed out of their range.
On Wednesday, September 1st we pulled into the marina at St George’s. Benny looked sad and said,
“I wish we could stay offshore all the time…” When EmilyAnne asked why he replied, “No school, no bedtime, movies and Wii whenever and snacks all the time…. WHY NOT!”
The kids all agree that this was the best passage they have ever had. EmilyAnne was WONDERFUL as crew and by the time we arrived in Grenada we were tacking, gybing, and reefing with ease.
I should have left earlier. I sure should have taken Dick up on his offer and left WAY earlier. I should have at least left on Thursday or Friday. But the decisions we make in life are all colored by our emotions. The hurricanes delude people.. there is plenty of warning now that one is coming but it’s easy to be an optimist and think the storm will just miss you. Usually that’s what it does. Many boats were lost in St Thomas. A friend of ours now has a boat on Honeymoon beach because he didn’t at least move across the bay to a more protected spot. Our mistake this year was that we didn’t stick with our original plan and sail south as a family. Leaving Beck in St Thomas to work made it just too hard to leave when we should have. From now on it’s our intention to always be out of the “zone” during the peak season at least.
Meanwhile, here we are, Grenada is beautiful and the people are great and for once the marina is at a price we can afford.
God Bless,
Captain Tofer
I managed to work out the issues and get it up and running within the next week but the whole emotional mess of leaving Rebecca behind was just something I couldn’t bring myself to do again. I had a couple of good windows and even a call from my friend Dick (“Changin’ Tags”) who was willing to sail with me on the next available window. I just didn’t want to go so I kept putting it off hoping and hoping that no storm would threaten us enough that I would have to head to the mangroves in Salinas or Vieques with the kids to ride it out. We managed to eek out almost all of August before I saw the development of Danielle, Earl, and Fiona in the Eastern Atlantic. I had been watching the weather like a hawk and when I saw these three storms I knew that my last window was that day, Thursday August 26th. Rebecca had that Thursday and Friday off so even though I should have left that day I stayed and we prepared the boat to head for the mangroves. Saturday morning when I left St Thomas I was still not sure if I would be heading for the mangroves or Grenada. It all depended on the wind. I figured if I had the wind to sail south I would just get out of the zone. I knew the path for the hurricane (Earl) already had it curving north and arriving Monday or Tuesday so I figured two days of good sailing would put me south of it’s path and I would personally rather not have to ride out any hurricanes with kids onboard even in the mangroves.
As we left St Thomas I was able to sail south with no problems so south it was. Before leaving this time I had given all of the kids a dramamene so they were drifting off into never never land. The wind was only blowing 10 to 12 from theE SE so the seas were beautiful and low and Wandering Dolphin always feels good, and sails fast close hauled. By evening the kids were waking up and feeling good so we had a chat and I reminded them of the rules. They already knew that offshore they always had to wear a harness and clip in with the tether whenever they went above (even in the cockpit) but this time they were to help make sure DAD did the same thing. I also showed them how to heave to in an emergency, use the radio, set off the EPIRB, and call on the SAT phone. Then I told them our new rules for this passage. They were alowed to be awake whenever they wanted or sleep whenever they wanted day or night. Whenever the engine was running or the solar panels were putting out 13V or more they were allowed to play Wii or watch movies at any time day or night. Snacks, fruit and drink mixes were there for the asking and NO SCHOOL ALLOWED for the duration of the passage. I would never have thought that those few little freedoms would make such a huge difference in a passage. The kids had a ball for five days. Benny eventually found himself helping EmilyAnne with her night watches. She was the only one actually on a watch schedule with me. She was great and never failed to wake me up if she had any question about anything she saw or noticed a ship on AIS or a squall on the radar.
During my 0300 to 0600 watch on Sunday night as I listened to the WX weather on the VHF from NOAA I started to panic. It sounded from the hurricane warnings and watches that had been issued that Earl had sped up and was heading straight for us. I called Beck at 0400 and asked her what she saw on the internet and she called our friend Herman who began to feed us weather info and put my mind at ease that we had already sailed far enough south that we would not be hit by the storm itself. He also gave me routing instructions that helped me avoid the outer bands. THANK YOU HERMAN!!!!
Earl hit St Thomas on Monday and while our friends and Becky were getting nailed with hurricane force winds and boats were dragging anchor or sinking in Honeymoon Bay and Becky and the folks at Island View Guest House were protecting their home and hearth we had west winds clocking to the SW at 18 to 20 with gusts no higher than 25. We tacked that morning and Wandering Dolphin started FLYING south on a beem reach. For 24 hours we made tracks to the south and further from the storm and the one following it.
Tuesday brought light winds from the SE which was exactly where we needed to go to make Grenada so we fell off to a due east reach for St Lucia counting on a clocking of the wind at some point closer to the islands. That day we made Pizza and continued our movie marathon watching the newest Star Trek and having a Wii Brawl tournament.
In the evening as we were sitting in the cockpit watching the sunset when the general call for all hands was issued with the word, “DOLPHIN’S!” EmilyAnne and Benny clipped into the jacklines and made their way to the bow pulpit where they sat to watch the show. We were all enjoying the playfull pod when I saw Kanyon’s eyes grow wide as he watched behind us. I turned to see what he was seeing just in time to catch the monster dorsal fin of a killer whale and smell his breath as he exhaled no more than an arms length from the rail of our cockpit. What Kanyon had seen before I turned around was the whales full face, teeth and black and white head as it surfaced for a breath. For about twenty minutes we watched this pod of killer whales and their attending pod of dolphins until we sailed out of their range.
On Wednesday, September 1st we pulled into the marina at St George’s. Benny looked sad and said,
“I wish we could stay offshore all the time…” When EmilyAnne asked why he replied, “No school, no bedtime, movies and Wii whenever and snacks all the time…. WHY NOT!”
The kids all agree that this was the best passage they have ever had. EmilyAnne was WONDERFUL as crew and by the time we arrived in Grenada we were tacking, gybing, and reefing with ease.
I should have left earlier. I sure should have taken Dick up on his offer and left WAY earlier. I should have at least left on Thursday or Friday. But the decisions we make in life are all colored by our emotions. The hurricanes delude people.. there is plenty of warning now that one is coming but it’s easy to be an optimist and think the storm will just miss you. Usually that’s what it does. Many boats were lost in St Thomas. A friend of ours now has a boat on Honeymoon beach because he didn’t at least move across the bay to a more protected spot. Our mistake this year was that we didn’t stick with our original plan and sail south as a family. Leaving Beck in St Thomas to work made it just too hard to leave when we should have. From now on it’s our intention to always be out of the “zone” during the peak season at least.
Meanwhile, here we are, Grenada is beautiful and the people are great and for once the marina is at a price we can afford.
God Bless,
Captain Tofer
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