getting ready to go

There is a song originally written by Cat Stevens and more recently performed by Rod steward and Cheryl Crow called the “The First Cut Is the Deepest.” If I have permission I will paraphrase the song with the line “The First Step Is the biggest.” Terri and I have taken the first step, throwing off the shackles of work, but before we step on board and throw off the lines we need to get ready for life on board. So our second step is to ready the boat for the trip.

There are a number of things that need doing to make life a little easier on 34 feet of boat, especially when it will be our home for nearly nine months. The list includes boosting the insulation of the ice locker so that we won’t need to lug ice as frequently. Next, and probably highest on Terri’s list is to equip Aeolus with hot running water and a shower in the head (nautical for bathroom). She maintains she is too old to stand semi naked on deck under a solar shower washing up as we have done in the past. So hot running water it is my love. For me, a foredeck sea water washdown pump to clean up the anchor chain, anchor and foredeck each time we bring up the hook. A messy job that is tolerable without one, for periodic weekend trips, but for day to day cruising a must (for me at least). Other projects will have to wait ….

Our date to throw off the dock lines is some time after the first weekend in October. We will wait for a favorable weather window (winds with no southerly component) for the race down the Chesapeake to get to the generally accepted start of the ICW, Norfolk. Until then it’s work on little things and stack the boat.