Thinking about leaving Portsmouth

The rains are over (well, for the most part...), Luke continues to improve, and our hopeful departure date of Oct. 2 is beginning to look real.

We are starting the "pre-departure routine" that is necessary after such a long period of not sailing. The water intake filters have all been taken off, cleaned of *^$#^!!(&%! seaweed. Extra ropes put around the sails to protect them from unfurling during high winds have been removed. Water tanks refilled. One of the club members dove on the boat Sunday to check the bottom for barnacles and other growth (declared it clean!!!). Luke has been busy with checking weather forecasts (a constant activity) and route planning for our return trip. Wednesday I'll put away things that can fall or go flying during brisk sails. That will include the electric lamp and heater, things we can't realistically use when not hooked up to shore power.

On Wednesday, we also make a final grocery run, Luke's final PT appointment in Portsmouth, and Matt will move aboard. The plan is to move Latitudes to a new slip during the day Wednesday; a slip that will enable us to simply pull out into the fast running river as we leave too bright and early on Thursday morning. As mentioned before, this is one of the fastest running rivers in the world. This is the red nun that sits just outside of our marina - these guys usually sit straight in the water no matter what. This one just tilts with the river flow. You can see the flow going around it.

Here's the view from our boat at the marina. This is the Memorial Bridge and downtown Portsmouth, plus a full moon just for ambiance.

We've enjoyed these past few days with friends. The marina had it's end of season party, lots of people and fun, even though it rained the whole time. The dock master put up tents, chairs and a sofa, plants, and created a great party place.

We also had a good-bye dinner with our friends Gail and Eric, who have so generously taken care of us during our stay here, and friends Marina and Dave. Here are Scot (our diver), Wayne (dock master), Gail, and Eric, in the "Tiki Bar" on the dock.

And Wickie has been enjoying the relative stillness of the boat, ever discovering new places to sleep....even in Luke's hat.



I probably won't blog again until after we leave, unless we are delayed. Our trip will be goal oriented, longer days than before, and I may not have the ability to blog as much as we return. It won't be as much of a discovery adventure this time, but I'll definitely keep you updated on our progress.

White Mountains and Portland

It's been busy for the past few days. First, we visited the White Mountains late last week. They are in the early stages of fall color and absolutely beautiful. Full of beautiful mountain vistas and roaring streams.

We REALLY looked for a moose at this quiet lake, but, there was none to be seen....

This flume is part of the National Forest area.

We drove to the top of Mount Washington, home of the Mount Washington Observatory. Another good website is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_(New_Hampshire). That's the observatory at the tip top of the mountain.

The mountaintop has the distinction of the highest wind ever recorded at earth's surface - 231 mph! It's an 8 mile drive on a narrow, sort of 2-lane (well, traffic comes and goes in both directions), partially paved, un-guard railed, 12 degree incline road. I was glad to get up there AND glad to get back down. In honesty, a lot of folks drive it every day but that didn't mean I liked part of it.

The views from the top were 360 degrees of splendor. It was unusually clear - they get an average of 211 days per year of cloudy weather. On a clear day like we had, you could see for 100 miles.

We were above the treeline, so it looked quite different from the forest below.

We also drove the length of the Kancamagas Hwy, a National Scenic Trail. The highway runs in and out of the White Mountains National Forest. It was full of scenic overlooks, trails, waterfalls, and even swimming holes.

We recuperated on Monday, catching up on "house chores" and then headed off to Portland for the day on Tuesday. One of our boating friends lives there, so he met us and showed us around the area. Portland is Maine's largest city, about 230,000, but the downtown area still has that feel of an old small town. This is part of the harbor area.

A not so subtle reminder of Maine's rocky coast....

One of Portland's several lighthouses.

We stopped at all of the usual scenic places, including this one that has chairs made out of the bedrock, the common rock in the area (remember Fred and Wilma Flintstone? Lived in Bedrock? :-)

We took the seacoast highway to Portland, stopping in Kennebunkport. Cute little town of 3000 non-tourist residents, expensive shops, and restaurants.

And of course, Walker Island, the George Bush residence. We were one of many stopped on the side of the road, taking pictures of the house. An older man in a yellow sweater was wandering around the yard --- George Sr.???

Back to Portsmouth for Luke's Wednesday appointment --- stitches are out, he can sleep without the sling, and is feeling better. He's got one more appointment next week with the physical therapist, and then we'll leave (weather permitting) for our trip back.

We had to turn in our rental car yesterday, so we did errand's like a vet visit for Wickie (not quite as good as before, but still holding well enough), groceries, etc.

Rain is forecast from last night through Sunday, so I'm working in the boat, making space for guest crew and such. Luke is working on charting a course home. And, just why does NH have a potential hurricane headed towards her in late September!??? Check out Kyle --- right through here. Sigh. But we are safe and sound here at the marina.

So, we're caught up for now. Our new crew member, Matt, will arrive on Tuesday and spend Wednesday with us, moving on board and getting familiar with the boat. We still hope to leave on Thursday, Oct. 2.

Visiting the White Mountains of NH

We've had a wonderful visit to the White Mountains since Thursday afternoon. We didn't take the computer, so now I've got to catch up downloading a gazillion pictures, plus bills, etc. I'll blog later, probably today.

Luke continues to improve. His stretch exercises are getting easier and he's more comfortable.

later!

Wickie helps Daddy

Luke is improving. He's taking it slow today, keeping the ice pack on the arm and taking the pain meds. We'll get the first look at the surgery site tomorrow at his post op appointment. Luke's a lucky guy; Wick is doing all he can to help him recover.

The patient is on the way to recovery

The surgery was successful and Luke is "home" recuperating. We are both glad this part is behind him now. His arm will be pretty well immobilized for a couple of days. We will be back to the doctor on Wednesday for a post-op visit and to begin a little therapy. He'll be taking it easy till then, ice packs, pain meds as needed, arm elevated, etc. He is absolutely resplendent in his knee-high black compression socks, little blue non-skid booties, sling, ice pack (40 minutes of every hour for 48 hours, for swelling and to improve healing), plus a shirt that will go over only one arm. :-)


The plan remains to start back on Oct. 2, after Luke's 2 week follow-up visit. We are pleased to have an experienced sailor who will be accompanying us.


While we're here, we plan to rent a car and do some sightseeing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, probably after his 1 week check-up. We can easily tailor that to how Luke feels.


Back with updates later and hopefully, some pictures of beautiful NH.


Thanks to all for your thoughts and best wishes!!!

Things are improving....

Things are beginning to fall into place for us, much less stressful than a few days ago. We are making progress.

We successfully moved the boat to her new temporary home, Badger Island Marina. Take a look at the webpage---- see the 2 long piers with boats on both sides and the 2 short piers? We are on the short pier between the 2 long ones, closest to the outside. Great location, relatively sheltered. We had a little help getting here from our friends, Eric & Dave.

They made getting into our new slip a lot easier, additional help with the lines, etc. The current is swift here, the fastest current in any river in the US, so I'm told. It can flow up to 6 knots, going up and down the river as it ebbs and flows. At any time other than slack current, there are eddies, swirls, and standing waves that make the boat look like she's moving through the water even though we are secure in our slip. Badger Island is about 2 houses wide and not much longer. The marina is between the Memorial Bridge and the Sarah Long Bridge. Here is the Memorial Bridge, opening, as we are ready to go through it. The bridge tender opened it to 71 feet to let our 63 ft highth go through it -- takes faith because it sure doesn't look high enough.

Everyone one here is extremely nice and accommodating. It's a great place to be. There are laundry facilities in the facility, a nice communial area, and great folks we're meeting. We can walk from the marina, across the bridge, and into Portsmouth in about 10 minutes. There are good restaurants, fresh seafood markets, and fresh produce places just around the corners.

We have a crew member lined up for the trip home. A neighbor's brother-in-law has volunteered for crew duty with us. A long time sailor, he's a welcome addition. He will join us Oct. 1. Luke's last post-op is scheduled for Oct. 1, so we hope to leave within a day or so after that.

Today we spent touring downtown Portsmouth. It's a nice town, many old quaint and grand New England houses. It was not a fishing villiage, but apparently a prosperous commercial center in the 1800s, rivaling Boston in international trade, with many large houses of the successful merchants. It also reminds us of Europe. Maybe it's the street layouts, head-in parking, central market area, busy town center.

There are lots of beautiful old restored homes (Portsmouth was founded in the late 1600's).

We are immediately across the river from Portsmouth - here's our view. That includes a spectacular sunset, too!

A little change in our plans.....

Hannah came and went. I guess we weren't far enough north to completely miss this one, but happy to be as as high a Latitude (get it? har, har) as we were. We found a relatively sheltered place to anchor near the mouth of the Piscataqua River, which is the dividing line between New Hampshire and Maine, and forms Portmouth harbor. As predicted, the winds started from the east, then NE, then N then NW -- textbook for a tropical storm pasing us out to sea. It rained a lot but winds were mostly 15 to 25 kts, gusting as high as 33 kts -- of course in the dark of Saturday night.

While we successfully weathering tropical storm Hannah, our trip has hit a little snag. During our trip on Friday, we had a "brisk sail" in 15 to 20 kts of wind. Luke overdid the winching of the jib a bit (trying to tighten a rope that's already tight as a banjo string, perfectionist!!), heard three quick cracks in left left arm, pain... We went to a Sports medicine place in Portsmouth NH on Friday, and the diagnosis is that the tendon ruptured at the elbow. Fortunately, he's not in a lot of pain. The choices are physical therapy with about 30 - 40 % loss of strength (primarily in rotating the wrist, I think) or surgery. He's opting to be fixed here in Portsmouth. NH. It's outpatient, so, hopefully, not too bad. It needs to be repaired within 2 weeks for best results. Too short to get back to Rke and get things scheduled. We need to be here at least 2 weeks more here after surgery for follow up, plus no activity (like lifting a coffee cup) with that arm for 8 weeks. The Dr said that if he chooses to sail back to VA before then, as anything more than a passenger, that the Dr will "respectfully decline" to do the surgery, as there is too much risk that Luke will redamage it if he tries to help. While I can do most all of the functions, physically I can't do it alone, especially in some situations like anchoring or docking. We will find an experienced crew member to go with us, preferably someone who wants to just go along for the trip

The surgery is scheduled for Monday, 15th, at noon-ish. That puts us into early Oct before we can start back, a couple of weeks to get home after that. We will definitely be home by the third week of Oct, as we have special friends coming from Japan to visit us!

We have found a good place to move the boat to, to stay in her, for this period of time. It's a gracious offer from one of the marinas --- they will let us tie up to their dock for 3-4 weeks for what would normally cost to sit on a mooring (out in the water instead at a dock) for a week. This means we have electricity hook ups and all the water we need (little condo!). We don't have to use the dinghy to get to shore, and can leave her hoisted on the back of the boat, so there is no physical labor there. Just off the boat and into a car.

We are lucky that we have boat friends here who have let us stay at their home a couple of days, lent us their car on a temporary basis, are letting us use their mooring at their yacht club for a few days, and have facilitated finding a Dr. for us. More new friends have also offered the use of one of their cars, so we may not have to rent one.

We will stay with friends at least on Monday night after the surgery, maybe Tuesday, but will have our cells with us.

Luke has talked to one of the orthopedic doctors in Rke, and he has agreed to do the last follow up check-up and work with Luke on any necessary therapy.

SO... life goes on, doesn't it :-) We can't control the winds, so we simply adjust our sails. At this point, we think this will just slide our winter trip south back by a few weeks.

I think you'll be seeing a lot of beautiful New Castle Island, Portsmouth, and other areas of NH in the early fall for the next 3 weeks in the blog.

I'll give everyone a status report on Monday.

Isles of Shoals, Portsmouth, and Hanna

Back to the Isles of Shoals, a nice sail, to meet friends from Portsmouth for a couple of days. It was fun, and the area as beautiful as we remembered. We hiked Smuttynose Island, this time not confronted and restricted by raving seagulls with new chicks..

Friday morning we left for the short (8 mile) sail to the Portsmouth Harbor. It was a brisk sail over, heeled to about 20 degrees. Wickie was not pleased. But we scooted right along.

As we approached the Portsmouth Harbor, we had a GREAT treat - a submarine was coming in!!! We watched the tugboat chug out to escort her in, and then, the marine police and 2 large, armed Coast Guard vessels.

It was so impressive to watch her rise from the water and appear.




The Coast Guard kept announcing on the VHF to stay at least 500 ft from her. One sailboat was coming out of the harbor, getting too close. The armed Coast Guard boat simply pulled up beside her, pushed her to where they wanted her with their boat, and apparently boarded her to ensure she went where they wanted her.



As she pulled into Portsmouth harbor, headed up river to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the sailors began appearing on the top of the sub. It was really cool!


We also passed the lighthouse at the old Fort William and Mary. Very picturesque. We may go explore it. This is where the very first act of aggression by the Ameican Reps occurred at the start of the Revolutionary War. It's a pretty interesting website, if you'd like to read it.



Now in Portsmouth, we are again seeing our friends Gail and Eric, and waiting out the remnants of Tropical Storm Hanna, anchored near the mooring field of the Portsmouth Yacht Club. As the hours progress, the storm forecast gets less severe. We think we'll have winds of about 30 knots; mainly a lot of rain. We will be here until at least Tuesday. The storm rips through on Saturday night/Sunday. We have some plans for errands, sightseeing, and reprovisioning on Monday.