Caroline's Voyage

Anticipation


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Chapter 8

 

Thanks for all the mail and good wishes. Getting through the winter has been a real chore. It’s cold working in the boat yard, and I’m ready to head south as soon as I decide on which boat, the Tri or the monohull. Both are sloop rigged; the Tri is fast and as you can see beautiful under sail; the mono is comfortable, quite pretty, and I’m more used to that type.

I’m going over to see the 35 foot monohull tomorrow after work. If she doesn’t need too much work to get her ready I may choose her. Money is in short supply, although I picked up over a Thousand Dollars giving speeches this winter and accepting donations. Everyone was so good to me. It makes me feel really special. I won’t let them down.

I’ve also decided on the route . . . at least in the beginning. I’m going to sail down the East Coast all the way to Ft. Lauderdale. I’ll spend time offshore, but I’ll also visit as many friends and people I’ve met on and off the internet on the way. When I get to Florida I’ll decide whether to head for Panama or truck the boat out to the West coast and sail directly to the South Seas.

If I take the boat up here in Maine I might be ready to head out by the end of June. I’ll take a shake-down by sailing around here and offshore in a blow to see how she handles bad weather. Who am I kidding – to seeee how I handle it. Working back from June I’ll use May and april for fitting out, painting the hull and tying in the electronics.

Sounds like I’m talking myself into this monohull – do you think?

I’ll leave Maine behind at Mohegan Island and make a landfall on Cape Cod, go through to Canal at Plymouth and lay over at Marion, MA, near where Betsy’s father keeps his boat. Then I’ll hop to Newport and visit some friends in Jamestown. I’ll wait and see from there. I can take a line offshore straight to Cape May and up the Delaware River into the Chesapeake and Annapolis or I can sail down Long Island Sound to New York or sail directly ‘round Cape Hatteras and into the Carolinas. That could put me in the path of an early hurricane, but I’ll cross that bridge if and when I need to. Wouldn’t that be an awakening?

August and September are the worst months for those storms, but I can slow the pace down, keeping out of those really bad areas south of Virginia to the Caribbean. Otherwise I should maybe head out in June for Bermuda and clear the northern part of the Caribbean by August.

          Mom told me the other night when we having a heart to heart that Dad always said it’s better to be lucky than smart. His luck ran out, but maybe he left some to me.

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