Trip report - Dec-March
 

On Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:03:17 -0700 (PDT), Skip Gundlach
wrote:

lying Black Point, soon to be in Staniel Cay, Exumas

PS, Staniel Cay is also a great place for getting things shipped in
from the US. Watermaker Air in Ft Lauderdale flys in daily and they
are very accomodating with picking up stuff and delivering it to SCYC.

http://www.watermakersair.com/

Trip report - Dec-March
 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wilbur Hubbard"
Sorry, Skippy but SOMETHING had to be done to troll you up. These people
were having Skippy withdrawal symptoms and some were extremely worried about
your well being having not heard word one from you in months. How dare you
so abuse your loving audience?

Be sure to work you way up to the Abacos in time for Regatta time there.
Don't miss it.

Wilbur Hubbard


LOL :{)) No need to apologize...

We'll be in the Exumas; likely we won't get to do Regatta time this time
around, at least not in the Abacos.

As to trolling me up, I was incommunicado, not hiding or otherwise, and
didn't even see the post for quite some time after I'd made mine. However,
I do apologize for the long silence. I know you are well aware that's not
my style :{))


Lydia has something to say to you, btw...

Hi, Wilbur (you old ratbag, you) -

We're going to be back in the States for the month of May to OD on children
and grandchildren (or, at least *I* am - Skip may be busy working on a
friend's boat in SSI) and then we're off again around the beginning of July.

I'm trying to encourage Skip to consider going back to the Abacos for the
summer. Why don't you *seriously* consider joining us? Bring your meds and
your cranky old self and give us a tour of all your favorite haunts. We'll
have mom off the boat by then, and there will be a lovely V-berth begging
for a body, and your own loo. Honestly - we'd love to have you aboard for
shorter or longer, which ever you like.

OK - that's it from the admiral - let us know!

Love, Lydia

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a wide, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin

Trip report - Dec-March
 

On Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:43:20 -0400, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

Hi, Wilbur (you old ratbag, you) -

We're going to be back in the States for the month of May to OD on children
and grandchildren (or, at least *I* am - Skip may be busy working on a
friend's boat in SSI) and then we're off again around the beginning of July.

I'm trying to encourage Skip to consider going back to the Abacos for the
summer. Why don't you *seriously* consider joining us? Bring your meds and
your cranky old self and give us a tour of all your favorite haunts. We'll
have mom off the boat by then, and there will be a lovely V-berth begging
for a body, and your own loo. Honestly - we'd love to have you aboard for
shorter or longer, which ever you like.

OK - that's it from the admiral - let us know!

Love, Lydia

A very gracious invitation indeed if all is at it seems. If he
accepts, please try to keep him off the internet. :-)

Trip report - Dec-March
 

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...

A very gracious invitation indeed if all is at it seems. If he
accepts, please try to keep him off the internet. :-)



Well, while he may not have the opportunity to sail at this time in his
life, he's obviously enjoyed being a very knowledgeable captain in another
day, and if he would enjoy the chance for one last bang, I'd enjoy anything
he has to teach me. Besides, having had mum on the boat for 6 months, I'll
be ready for another cranky geriatric on board. :) I hope he accepts our
invitation. Life is full of colorful people, most of whom brighten our
lives if we learn to line the trees up differently.

Thus speaketh Lydia :)

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a wide, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin

Trip report - Dec-March
 

On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:32:55 -0400, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

Besides, having had mum on the boat for 6 months, I'll
be ready for another cranky geriatric on board. :)

We'll expect nothing less than a full report.

:-

Trip report - Dec-March
 

On Mar 11, 3:44*pm, "Flying Pig" wrote:
Hello all!


I don't mind her staying sloshed,

Humm............. adapting are you??? Drunks are like dogs. You cant
leave them alone or theyll destroy your house (sink boat) and nobody
else will watch them for you.



When I yanked the mainsail up and the
wind filled it, down came the mainmast. So we had to tie it alongside and
use the motor.

Ouch. you say that with such daily ease.

Lydia running aground.............. uh take a look around the baot you
may find a clock looking thing that has numbers. When the number get
smaller the closer you are to the bottom.

Im sitting in Fouchon, LA . google search M/V NORTHER CANYON (Nassau).
It a helix company boat. its parked 100' away. Big boat!

The ROSS CHOUEST is in a floating drydock another 100 feet away. lots
of boat here too butno drunk spouses
bob

Trip report - Dec-March
 

Boob...

"Bob" wrote in message
...
On Mar 11, 3:44 pm, "Flying Pig" wrote:
Hello all!


I don't mind her staying sloshed,

Humm............. adapting are you??? Drunks are like dogs. You cant
leave them alone or theyll destroy your house (sink boat) and nobody
else will watch them for you.



Don't tell me Greg/Wilbur sucked you in...

We're behind Big Majors, but still see the Staniel Cay Yacht Club...

L8Rs

Skip and crew

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a wide, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin

Trip report - Dec-March
 

"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wilbur Hubbard"
Sorry, Skippy but SOMETHING had to be done to troll you up. These people
were having Skippy withdrawal symptoms and some were extremely worried
about your well being having not heard word one from you in months. How
dare you so abuse your loving audience?

Be sure to work you way up to the Abacos in time for Regatta time there.
Don't miss it.

Wilbur Hubbard


LOL :{)) No need to apologize...

We'll be in the Exumas; likely we won't get to do Regatta time this time
around, at least not in the Abacos.

As to trolling me up, I was incommunicado, not hiding or otherwise, and
didn't even see the post for quite some time after I'd made mine.
However, I do apologize for the long silence. I know you are well aware
that's not my style :{))

My irony meter just pegged.



Lydia has something to say to you, btw...

Hi, Wilbur (you old ratbag, you) -

Hi Sweetie!


We're going to be back in the States for the month of May to OD on
children and grandchildren (or, at least *I* am - Skip may be busy working
on a friend's boat in SSI) and then we're off again around the beginning
of July.

I'm trying to encourage Skip to consider going back to the Abacos for the
summer. Why don't you *seriously* consider joining us? Bring your meds
and your cranky old self and give us a tour of all your favorite haunts.
We'll have mom off the boat by then, and there will be a lovely V-berth
begging for a body, and your own loo. Honestly - we'd love to have you
aboard for shorter or longer, which ever you like.

Thank you for your kind offer but the timing of your itinerary is suspect.
Quite frankly the sailing winds suck big time in the Bahamas in the
summertime. Nothing but light and variable with lots of thunder, lightning
and squalls. Then, by the end of July, a serious cruiser will be out of the
Bahamas for August, September and October because of the good chance of a
hurricane or two. Not much in the way of good hurricane holes in the
Bahamas.

And, in the summer it's rather hot and still and very buggy at times with
terrible mosquito and no-see-um infestations. And all the fires can make it
hard to breathe. Sleeping sometimes is a sweat bath because little air comes
down the hatch and bug screens restrict that puny flow to nothing. Then
there's the constant drone of generators and stench of diesel fuel from the
sissy boats full of spoiled lubbers who can't live without air conditioning
and who make it ever so unpleasant in any anchorage both day and night.

And just exactly what is a 'loo?' Is it some sort of pussified indoor
crapper? Why, that's women's stuff. Real men use a bucket in the cockpit to
take care of business. Real men decommission the 'loo' and use the space for
book shelves or some other more useful storage. Why devote so much space in
a yacht for something that gets used maybe ten minutes a day and on top of
that is most often untenable in a seaway? That's so inefficient and
wasteful.

Maybe next winter I'll plan another trip to the Abacos aboard my own fine
blue water yacht. I'd be happy to meet up with the "Flying Pig' somewhere to
share a cold beer or two. But, traveling together is out of the question. My
boat sails faster than yours under most every condition of wind and sea. I
hate waiting for any slowcoach.

TTFN

Wilbur Hubbard

Trip report - Dec-March
 

A compliment to the parodist, whom or which-ever he/she/it may be:

"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
Hello all!

I've been put on notice that the fine folks at rec.boats.cruising have
been concerned about the whereabouts of Flying Pig and crew. Well, not to
worry. All of us are doing just fine. We've been hanging out at an
anchorage close to Volleyball beach in George Town.

Pretty good, considering I'd not posted that information. However, noting
the starting and ending points of the race around Stocking Island would have
shown that, as, for that matter, would our track, prolly, to get there, on
our SPOT.

We haven't done any sailing nor have be gone anywhere for about three
months. We are busy working on Flying Pig as usual fixing one thing after
another that breaks unexpectedly. We are likely to be here for a long,
long time as spare parts all have to be imported with a hefty import duty.
Plus, the mail is not the most reliable thing around here either and I
think some of the stuff gets re-directed to some needy local for his own
boat.

Again, prescient, as I'd wanted to send some stuff back for electronic
repair, and elected not to do so because of the duties. We've not heard of
stuff being misappropriated, but delays and costs are a real nuisance in the
Bahamas. And, as seen in a later post, Boat Repair In Exotic Locations sort
of defines cruising :{))

Lydia is doing fine and is in Hog Heaven. She spends her days putzing
around with a handful of other cruising wives and they gossip and cook and
shop and work on their tans. Some of them even manage to stay somewhat
sober while doing so but not my Lydia. She's awfully fond of her rum, ya
know. And rum is one thing that's cheap around here. I don't mind her
staying sloshed, though, because then it's pretty easy to convince her how
great a lover I am.


Heh. Nice try, there. However, shopping isn't on the agenda, though
tanning is, and Rum isn't one of our purchases, either before or being here.
OTOH, there is the OCCASIONAL rum punch at Chat 'n' Chill, though Lydia
usually prefers beer.

As to convincing, sober is a great deal better for appreciation, so you
missed on that one, too. Sorry...

Speaking of cheap, WOW! Don't even think about buying diesel here. It's
anything BUT cheap! Try seven dollars a gallon.

Another nice try. Gasoline is expensive - more so than in the states - but
we were very pleasantly surprised to see diesel very much cheaper in the
Bahamas than in the states. At the time of our only fill, it was about a
buck cheaper than road diesel, much less, I'm sure, than marina diesel
stateside.

I think I'm going to have to learn how to sail into and out of the harbor
as it costs too much to motor like I used to do all the time in the
States.

Interesting, there, too, in that we routinely sail off our anchor, now. We
usually have the motor on to put out the hook, more that we're in crowded
spaces than we need it, per se, and likely, when we get to open places,
we'll do that. It is, in fact, more a cost issue than proving any skills,
as we're already confident of the skill level. Good shot.

Speaking of that, we were sailing out of Elizabeth Harbor the other day for
an afternoon sail and, as usual, Lydia went on the wrong side of a channel
post and there we were again, hard aground. We did listen to Wilbur Hubbard
this time though and departed on slack low water so we only had to wait
about a half hour for the incoming tide to lift us off.

Heh. No channel posts here, or at least extremely few. And we usually
disregard the tide advice, preferring the lift of the direction to the tide
state. You'd have to presume grounding to follow his advice :{))

I always thought Wilbur was something of an ass but now that I've started
taking his advice I have to admit that sailing goes a lot smoother.
Sometimes we can go for an afternoon sail and not have but five or six
things go wrong instead of the usual dozen or so.

Like the other day. We went sailing and I forgot that I had taken down the
forestay to repair the roller furling.

Excellent! He remembered all the way from our trip to Maine, when a casting
weld broke on the furler, and worked it into the story.

When I yanked the mainsail up and the wind filled it, down came the
mainmast. So we had to tie it alongside and use the motor. But it wouldn't
start. I traced the problem to a corroded ground connection which I fixed
but it still wouldn't start.

Also excellent, in that he worked a bad ground we'd uncovered (very long
ago, but, still...) in our chasing the non-working spreader and foredeck
lights into the story. Not the same, but still a good insertion.

So I then traced it to a bad battery.

Wow! The man's prescient, too. Our start battery gave up the ghost, and
started vampiring our house battery...

So I switched it out for one of the house batteries and it started.

The (presumed) man's amazing. While swapping a house battery for the
starter wouldn't work (6V, 125#), we did take the start battery out of the
system, and all is very well with both starting (which wasn't a problem
before, since it was set to "both") and, very particularly, with charging,
but our house battery is now the starting battery.

But then it quit again. I traced this to a clogged fuel filter which I
changed out and it ran long enough to get us back to our anchorage in the
cove by Volleyball beach.

Heh. Not so good on that one - we have a killer polishing system, and the
tank is very well agitated, then cleaned, from the wreck which I estimated
had 3000-5000 impacts on a half-full tank, and the trip back to St. Pete,
where we rolled 30* in each direction (while running the fuel polisher,
having changed the filters twice in Marathon, before leaving). I would be
stunned to see a fuel clog-related problem - but if we do, we have dual
Racors, too, plumbed for non-bleeding restarts.

But we had to stop twice to unwind mast halyards from the propeller.

Well, nice simile - but we've never had to stop while under way. That's not
to say that we haven't occasionally had to unwind some line (on more than
one, but fewer than 4, occasions). Nice touch.


Well, anyway, friends, fear not. Flying Pig and crew are pursuing our
dream.

Ain't it the truth! Had fun with the swimming pigs today, and tomorrow I'll
finally dive the boat to clean off the slime (that being all that's
accumulated here in over 4 months).

We never really were cruising sailors so we don't mind admitting we'll
probably be in George Town for years.

:{)) Longer than we'd have thought, or for that matter, wanted, but we're
gone. Great time, and we'll return, no doubt.

We might even buy a house as we finally realized we will always be lubbers
at heart.

Ah, well, you're allowed one gross mistake. We can take (we'll see this
coming trip with more accuracy) about 10 days, max, ashore, before we're
absolutely climbing the walls and can't wait to get back to the boat.
That's despite our combined 8 kids and soon to be 7 grandkids.

Apparently, you managed to recall that we'd sold our houses, after an
earlier comeuppance claiming that we weren't real sailors, always going back
to our shoreside digs, but buying a house is literally the furthest thing
from our minds. Lydia's even talking circumnav, now...

Good job, otherwise. Entertaining read.

L8R

Skip and crew, lying Big Majors, through Staniel Cay WiFi

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

The Society for the Preservation of Tithesis commends your ebriated
and scrutible use of delible and defatigable, which are gainly, sipid
and couth. We are gruntled and consolate that you have the ertia and
eptitude to choose such putably pensible tithesis, which we parage.

Stamp out Sesquipedalianism

Trip report - Dec-March
 

"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
A compliment to the parodist, whom or which-ever he/she/it may be:

"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
Hello all!

I've been put on notice that the fine folks at rec.boats.cruising have
been concerned about the whereabouts of Flying Pig and crew. Well, not to
worry. All of us are doing just fine. We've been hanging out at an
anchorage close to Volleyball beach in George Town.

Pretty good, considering I'd not posted that information. However, noting
the starting and ending points of the race around Stocking Island would
have shown that, as, for that matter, would our track, prolly, to get
there, on our SPOT.

We haven't done any sailing nor have be gone anywhere for about three
months. We are busy working on Flying Pig as usual fixing one thing after
another that breaks unexpectedly. We are likely to be here for a long,
long time as spare parts all have to be imported with a hefty import
duty. Plus, the mail is not the most reliable thing around here either
and I think some of the stuff gets re-directed to some needy local for
his own boat.

Again, prescient, as I'd wanted to send some stuff back for electronic
repair, and elected not to do so because of the duties. We've not heard
of stuff being misappropriated, but delays and costs are a real nuisance
in the Bahamas. And, as seen in a later post, Boat Repair In Exotic
Locations sort of defines cruising :{))

Lydia is doing fine and is in Hog Heaven. She spends her days putzing
around with a handful of other cruising wives and they gossip and cook
and shop and work on their tans. Some of them even manage to stay
somewhat sober while doing so but not my Lydia. She's awfully fond of her
rum, ya know. And rum is one thing that's cheap around here. I don't mind
her staying sloshed, though, because then it's pretty easy to convince
her how great a lover I am.


Heh. Nice try, there. However, shopping isn't on the agenda, though
tanning is, and Rum isn't one of our purchases, either before or being
here. OTOH, there is the OCCASIONAL rum punch at Chat 'n' Chill, though
Lydia usually prefers beer.

As to convincing, sober is a great deal better for appreciation, so you
missed on that one, too. Sorry...

Speaking of cheap, WOW! Don't even think about buying diesel here. It's
anything BUT cheap! Try seven dollars a gallon.

Another nice try. Gasoline is expensive - more so than in the states -
but we were very pleasantly surprised to see diesel very much cheaper in
the Bahamas than in the states. At the time of our only fill, it was
about a buck cheaper than road diesel, much less, I'm sure, than marina
diesel stateside.

I think I'm going to have to learn how to sail into and out of the
harbor as it costs too much to motor like I used to do all the time in
the States.

Interesting, there, too, in that we routinely sail off our anchor, now.
We usually have the motor on to put out the hook, more that we're in
crowded spaces than we need it, per se, and likely, when we get to open
places, we'll do that. It is, in fact, more a cost issue than proving any
skills, as we're already confident of the skill level. Good shot.

Speaking of that, we were sailing out of Elizabeth Harbor the other day
for an afternoon sail and, as usual, Lydia went on the wrong side of a
channel post and there we were again, hard aground. We did listen to
Wilbur Hubbard this time though and departed on slack low water so we only
had to wait about a half hour for the incoming tide to lift us off.

Heh. No channel posts here, or at least extremely few. And we usually
disregard the tide advice, preferring the lift of the direction to the
tide state. You'd have to presume grounding to follow his advice :{))

I always thought Wilbur was something of an ass but now that I've
started taking his advice I have to admit that sailing goes a lot
smoother. Sometimes we can go for an afternoon sail and not have but five
or six things go wrong instead of the usual dozen or so.

Like the other day. We went sailing and I forgot that I had taken down
the forestay to repair the roller furling.

Excellent! He remembered all the way from our trip to Maine, when a
casting weld broke on the furler, and worked it into the story.

When I yanked the mainsail up and the wind filled it, down came the
mainmast. So we had to tie it alongside and use the motor. But it
wouldn't start. I traced the problem to a corroded ground connection
which I fixed but it still wouldn't start.

Also excellent, in that he worked a bad ground we'd uncovered (very long
ago, but, still...) in our chasing the non-working spreader and foredeck
lights into the story. Not the same, but still a good insertion.

So I then traced it to a bad battery.

Wow! The man's prescient, too. Our start battery gave up the ghost, and
started vampiring our house battery...

So I switched it out for one of the house batteries and it started.

The (presumed) man's amazing. While swapping a house battery for the
starter wouldn't work (6V, 125#), we did take the start battery out of the
system, and all is very well with both starting (which wasn't a problem
before, since it was set to "both") and, very particularly, with charging,
but our house battery is now the starting battery.

But then it quit again. I traced this to a clogged fuel filter which I
changed out and it ran long enough to get us back to our anchorage in the
cove by Volleyball beach.

Heh. Not so good on that one - we have a killer polishing system, and the
tank is very well agitated, then cleaned, from the wreck which I estimated
had 3000-5000 impacts on a half-full tank, and the trip back to St. Pete,
where we rolled 30* in each direction (while running the fuel polisher,
having changed the filters twice in Marathon, before leaving). I would be
stunned to see a fuel clog-related problem - but if we do, we have dual
Racors, too, plumbed for non-bleeding restarts.

But we had to stop twice to unwind mast halyards from the propeller.

Well, nice simile - but we've never had to stop while under way. That's
not to say that we haven't occasionally had to unwind some line (on more
than one, but fewer than 4, occasions). Nice touch.


Well, anyway, friends, fear not. Flying Pig and crew are pursuing our
dream.

Ain't it the truth! Had fun with the swimming pigs today, and tomorrow
I'll finally dive the boat to clean off the slime (that being all that's
accumulated here in over 4 months).

We never really were cruising sailors so we don't mind admitting we'll
probably be in George Town for years.

:{)) Longer than we'd have thought, or for that matter, wanted, but we're
gone. Great time, and we'll return, no doubt.

We might even buy a house as we finally realized we will always be lubbers
at heart.

Ah, well, you're allowed one gross mistake. We can take (we'll see this
coming trip with more accuracy) about 10 days, max, ashore, before we're
absolutely climbing the walls and can't wait to get back to the boat.
That's despite our combined 8 kids and soon to be 7 grandkids.

Apparently, you managed to recall that we'd sold our houses, after an
earlier comeuppance claiming that we weren't real sailors, always going
back to our shoreside digs, but buying a house is literally the furthest
thing from our minds. Lydia's even talking circumnav, now...

Good job, otherwise. Entertaining read.

L8R

Skip and crew, lying Big Majors, through Staniel Cay WiFi

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

The Society for the Preservation of Tithesis commends your ebriated
and scrutible use of delible and defatigable, which are gainly, sipid
and couth. We are gruntled and consolate that you have the ertia and
eptitude to choose such putably pensible tithesis, which we parage.

Stamp out Sesquipedalianism





You're such a good sport. You take all the fun out of trying to pick on
you. ;-).

But, some others got really riled up about it and posted to that effect so
it wasn't a total loss. Bwahhahahahhahahahah. One guy was ready to punch me
out for suggesting Lydia loves her rum. No sense of humor at all in some of
these people.

Wilbur Hubbard