Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Last night I made cut up lobster tails sautéed in butter, capers, lemon juice and a touch of vermouth cooking wine, served over angel hair pasta. It was delish!!! Cookies for desert with romantic music from the 40’s. It was nice. We watched the 50th anniversary of my parents DVD I had made for them in 1998. I remember making it and crying through most of the whole ordeal, wishing I could go back in time. I missed my family last night. Fred loved it. He had never seen it before. We also watched “Troy”, the new version with Brad Pitt. I fell asleep and missed the ending. I didn’t hear the alarm go off this morning but it was our intentions to leave just before sunrise. Then Inga from s/v “Island Girl” hailed us, wondering if we were ready. It was daylight...more daylight than it should be if we were leaving at the planned time. I asked Fred if he set the alarm, something we do very rarely and he indeed did but went back to sleep. It’s okay, we still have months left on this trip. There is no such thing as late when one is sailing. He hesitated and answered, then paused. Knowing he was trying to get his head on straight this morning I helped him out, “tell them 10 minutes, we will be on our way”. He relayed that and the anchor was pulled in less time than that. Rocky and Inga were right behind us. I went below to start the coffee, something I didn’t have time for earlier since we had to make priority adjustments and Fred prepared to hoist the main sail. ‘Uh oh” I thought, but kept silent until he worked it out, whatever it was. I have seen that ‘studying puzzled’ look on his face and know better than to interrupt his thinking. He made it back to the cockpit and said, the spreader stay broke got wrapped up in the jack line. Not that I knew what that meant but was pretty sure I would find out in due time I asked, “can we make it there with just the Jib”? “Yes, motoring we can”. That was good enough for me, although, little did I know he was still ‘thinking’. “The turnbuckle needs to be fixed if we are going to use the main sail” he said as he gave me a serious look. I knew something was up and he was not finished thinking about this. “I am going to need to send you up top fix it”. “Me?” I said...looking at the height of the mast. I had seen this done before and like any fool hearted green Admiral, I said “OK!” I knew what a turnbuckle was and I knew how to tighten them but I wanted specific instructions and a ‘show me’ lesson before I was going to be hooked into a swinging canvas seat and hoisted up there. The more I looked up there, the windier it got. 15 knots the gauge said. I never was good with converting those things, I’m a mph type of gal myself but I knew it was windy. I also knew if I didn’t go, we would not make our destination tomorrow. I also knew I didn’t have the strength to hoist Fred up. There was only one option left. I was it. Rocky from s/v “Island Girl” called and asked if he needed any help. As usual for a man he said no. I know he was thinking ‘I can do this all by myself’. He kept looking at the mast and the wind gauge and called Rocky. “I changed my mind Rocky, I could use you here to help, just in case”. “I’m on my way Fred” and he was. Poor guy rowed his way to Casa Mare’ in this wind so he didn’t have to attach the dinghy motor to the dink. As luck would have it, we were upwind. ‘Just in case’ kept going through my mind as I watched Rocky row against the wind. ‘Just in case what?’ I thought. ‘Does it take two guys to keep me from blowing up there like a human windsock?’ “You guys aren’t going to drop me are you”. “Oh no...no...no they replied in unison. ‘Must be a guy thing...hook the lady to a rope and lets send her up there to swing in the wind, better her than us...is that what they were thinking?’ I thought as I climbed in the bosuns chair. The higher I got, the more I swayed in the wind. Not only did I need to stable myself but first I needed to untangle the lines. I needed three to four hands but only had two so I used me feet. Ambergrist Cay must be some kind of secret island. They won’t let you on it unless you have a pass and I actually thought it was uninhabited and protected. But it had buildings and a few homes on it. There are two jeddys coming out from the island that from a boat looks like one but from my “human’s eye view” I saw differently. It was in fact two jeddys that actually was like a canal leading to the island. ‘AH HA” I thought. This is a secret island, a spy island, top secret, this is the only entrance to the island. The only thing missing were outposts with machine guns or cannons. Perhaps submarines enter here. I had already started a spy novel while screwing the turnbuckle. I weaseled myself to the other side of the spreaders to try to take a look at the other side of the island but the wind kept me way to busy for even a glance. Another reason this island qualified to be top secret. It’s barely on the charts, no waypoints to get there, it’s pretty obvious it was uninviting to outsiders. I guess if I fell overboard and drifted to shore someone would show their face. But that’s another time and story. The cotter pin was in and my job was done. I swung to the other side to make sure the starboard side was nice and tight, which it was and then checked the deck light that refused to work. Nothing found there so down I came. The ride down was much more fun than the ride up until I got my foot caught in the main sail. Fred laughed, why shouldn’t he have, and freed me from my nearly upside down position. Yep, I would do it again. Lesson? When getting ready to be hoisted up in a bosuns chair next time, make sure my bum is all the way to the back of the seat, otherwise, it does havoc on the back. I actually believe I was hanging by my crotch and it was then I knew why the guys wanted to send me up instead. Fred owes me big time for this one! This wasn’t on my bucket list but I am glad I got to experience it! It was rather fun! For a bit I felt like a kid again.
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