The weather was too rough to to go out in, so we partied at the dock with a few friends, who eventually made it over to our boat for a late night. Everyone was feeling pretty good, but not enough to have prevent a good sail the next day.
As you can see, Deb is now healthy. She just needs to get rid of that cough so she doesn't freak everyone out.
A picture of Jeff in the Hunter, toying with Allan in the Pearson. If the wind and seas were up, it would be the other way around.
Finally, after all this time I actually got the kayak out and paddled my ass off. I had to paddle my ass off, because when I reached my destination, a squall came in. Did not know how long it would last, but the waves were kicking up on the lake, and I didn't want to get stuck on the beach. I launched at Chimney Bluffs, and paddled west, half way to Sodus Point. I should have rode it out, as the weather cleared, and I could have got another hour or two in. I had to get back to the pc to check on the cats flight status.
Yes, the cat finally made a flight. After the worst customer service experience, at an airline (Delta), I got Chewy on a flight. After getting to the ticket counter 2 hours ahead of time, and first in line, I was told they could not help me until the Northwest ticket folks showed up. What, didn't you merge? "Sorry sir, please have a seat out of the line". How am I supposed to recognize a Northwest ticket person? "Light blue shirts sir, have a nice day". So I was escorted out of the ticket line, and told to wait an hour. Five minutes later they let six other northwest passengers in line to wait for the NW people. What the hell? I got into line with the cat, but now instead of first, I was seventh.
When my turn came, after an hour and a half, the woman at the counter decided to clean up the floor, and surrounding area. "Hey! Can you please stop cleaning the floor and help me buy a ticket, I've been here for over three hours!" She reluctantly helped me, seeing a crazed looking customer, but eventually deferred to someone else, who then got on the phone for 15 minutes, who then told me I had to drive to the cargo area. I was going crazy here trying to remain cool.
I drive over to the cargo area, and it's closed! I managed to invent some new swear words at this point. I drove around the airport, found a cop, who told me I might want to look at the older building next to the bombed out looking building, as there are some people working there. What the hell. I get over there, and some guy yells "You the cat man? Let's go, you runnin out of time man." The guys there were actually pretty cool, one ended up being a neighbor, and they got Chewy on a plane.
Then....they lost her.
My daughter called, sobbing, saying they lost the cat. No one knew where the cat was, but it turned out they never scanned it in on the way to Detroit. Phew, that could have been a disaster.
Chewy is now a resident of Portland Oregon, and can now rub her butt against someone else. I think I still smell like cat :(
Oh, almost forgot...DELTA SUCKS!
Time to forget about all that, and enjoy a little nature. Today I'll try to paddle Port Bay.
Below is a map showing the kayaking route. Kind of a wimpy trip, but the weather did not cooperate.
View chimney bluffs kayaking in a larger map
You know you're getting old when you totally enclose your cockpit. We used to sail with no canvas at all, because we felt it interfered with the wind on our faces, and kept you from moving around the boat. Sun, wind, water in the face felt great, now it's only fun once in a while. We do get to extend our season a little, plus it's nice to be in the cockpit when it's raining, and it keeps the cold lake wind off our old bones. Yes, we're wimps.
Oh yea, we still have the cat. She's going to fly out on Monday....right.
I race on Tuesday nights with GYC in Rochester. I'm currently crew on a Santana 20, which is a fast little boat, when the waves are down. We went out last night in what looked like a passing thunderstorm. The race was postponed for a half hour, then we started, late to the line, but caught up to the leader downwind. It looked like we were going to catch them at the leeward mark, but all holy hell broke loose. The lightning and thunder started, and radio calls announcing DNF's were starting to come in. One more bolt, and the race committee bagged the race. We turned in towards the Genesee river, and WHAM, the wind and rain smacked into us, flogging the sail as we motored in; the little outboard screaming to fight the wind. The lightning was a bit too much for me, and I held on to the mainsheet with fingers crossed while we motor sailed to port.We broke a batten, and it poked through the sail. Skipper will not be happy. Now if lightning struck that little Tohatsu "piece of crap" outboard he has, I would be smiling the whole summer.
Yesterday was very frustrating, as I was stuck at the house, again, trying to get the cat on a flight out of here. This time it looked like a go, and I went to the airport for the drop off. Continental was the slowest moving ticket counter I have ever seen. I waited an hour and a half to hear the flight was 2 hrs delayed, and the cat would miss it's connector. Son of a $^%$. I just got to the yacht club in time for the opportunity to get zapped. Now the cat is going out at 8am tomorrow, so I miss an overnight on the boat, because I have to be at the airport at 6:30 AM! This week sucks so far.
It will get better when my daughter Nicole shows up. We haven't seen "Tex" in a while. Maybe she can help me fix the windlass :) She better bring a raincoat, and a fleece. The temps up here are a bit cooler than the coastal bend.
