Sunday 10/28/18

​Perhaps my head cold didn’t crush all my efforts.  Sunday arrived in a slight haze.  

These old guys haven’t learned how to sleep in.  At 7am, the boat was a buzz of activity.  Thankfully, my noise cancelling headphones, which Tara despises at home, came in handy.  We don’t leave for two days, let’s all just relax.  Be cool, Richard.  Be cool.

As yesterday was gloomy, rainy, and aside from running errands, was crammed with a two-hour safety briefing inside, today was spent topsides.  We rigged the boat (attached all the lines connecting sails to tackle and winches) and did a run-through of various sailing and reefing (shortening sail) techniques.  ​

One important rigging detail was attaching “jack lines”.  These are lines that run from bow to stern on both the port (left) and starboard (right) sides.  As soon as you enter the cockpit, you have to clip onto a jack line with a tether, which is a short, elastic, line that connects your PFD to the boat.  Though we practice man-over-board drills and sequencing, the simple truth is that if someone goes in the drink, they’re not coming back.  Stay attached to the boat, and you make it to the next destination.  I put the knots in the line to secure the jack lines - I know they’re not coming undone.
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Dianne, Richard’s wife made the trip to the boat late morning with their Maltese Terrior, Toby.  The dog was adorable, and Dianne was pleasant.  I’m told that her habits make Richard look like a slob.  Thank God the boat was tidy, or this trip may have ended before it was underway.  

After lunch, I knocked out for a 3-hour nap.  If you have never slept in the hold of a ship, even in the harbor, you are missing out.  The dark confines of the bunk room, combined with the cold and wet weather outside, made for a near-perfect slumber.  I listened to the new Gregory Allen Isokov album on my world-cancelling headphones until I crashed.  Sorry Tara, I’m sure this is difficult to read - you can nap for days when I get back :)

For dinner we went out for authentic Italian food at a cozy family-owned restaurant.  Though this could have been another wild night, one glass into our carafe of Chianti I decided to kill my cold with kindness and go to bed early.  I laid down at 8:30 and read for an hour before turning out the cabin light, and falling asleep.  One more day before departure.