Another tropical storm has turned into a hurricane her name is Dolly and she is heading for Matamoros Mex./brownsville Tx. my old stomping grounds.

I have been touching base with potential crew for next winter everything is beginning to come together so get or be getting ready if and when November comes.

I hope to circumnavigate the delmarva peninsula in late Aug. or Sept. getting my sailing at night certification and some clestial navigation under my belt.

Later………..

They breeze through with a fury, and leave high water and rough times for boats on the water, so far this year we have had two of them. Bertha is now in the north atlantic with Christobal curning up the coast of North Carolina and with another tropical storm [noel]  crossing Cuba the east coast of Florida and the Bahamas may be next?

The storms are necessary to break a drought or put out wild fires or clean the air or just readjust the thinking of the inhabitants of the coastlines. But for sailors these storms represent the fury of nature directed at their boats so riding out a hurricane or tropical storm can be harrowing to say the least [during the storm] and after, to those that have survived, to embrace the calm sun filled skys and seas with a cool one is so very rewarding that in a strange way you can not wait for the next one. The excitement is larger than life itself!!!

Personally I can wait but I know that reality, when it sets in as a hurricane, is waiting like the black hand to reach out and touch a sailor that ignores the weather I sometimes have to wonder how many return to talk about it?

Summer is breezing by faster than a subway train or a hurricane!

Here it is all ready July and in a scant 90 days we will be voting on a new president, finishing up with hurricane season, and preparing to sail south toward marco island Fl. and the carribean this winter.

Progress on the puffin is comming along, we have taken her out 8 times this spring and made some command decisions about the deck. Work on the cockpit will begin in late aug. Then the plans for the winter are coming together so shiver me timbers.

What a day,a little overcast, cool or should I say not all that hot, slight breeze , not all that humid, all in all a great day to be out on the water. I have no lidea just where the crew is haven’t heard from any of them but i’m sitting on deck watching the parade of boats leaving ingrqam bay after anchoring for the night to watch the fire work display which got delayed for rain on the 4 th.

I guess this life style of a cruiser has it’s ups and downs I’m not crusing yet but to go you need crew you can count on. A boat needs crew that are dependable and are there when you need them not just when it is convienient for them! This is all so new to me I really just do not know what to expect next with crew it seems like they are kind of like the weather unpredictable? Or what ever  …—…

The weathers fine 78 dungrees light winds forecast calls for storms and high winds tonight. I’m on the boat. tomorrow the crew should be comming for a day sail and crab feast I’m going even if they don’t show cause I rigged up a system so I can bring the boat into the slip solo. Step one is done…—…

We’ve had her out a number of times for day sails and taken some pics. check out the puffin web page for the sail and sailing pics. I think it is under the newer slide show tab.

Mike and I are about to begin the rebuild of the cockpit and maybe the aft cabin enlargement at the same time and a cruise to tangier island, a great day sail across the bay. Later this summer the Potomac and after that who knows guess it will all depend on crew.

Well it is about half way through summer and the crew is comming together it looks as if the cruise south will be happening this winter hooray.

I have been out more times this spring and each time the boat is eaiser to sail. I rigged up some extra lines and now have a system that stops me befor I run into the pileings or another boat so now I can come and go solo If I want to.

The rerpairs are on schedule so every thing is looking great 5 folk have joined as day sail crew with one ready to commit to this winter the others want to join for a week or two at a time so get ready the plog will be more regular so keep watching.

                                                                      Fair winds 

Tuesday: A mix of clouds and sun. High 81F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.
Tuesday night: Showers and a few thundershowers. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Well tomorrow it will be about 2 months since I posted anything my son got married and the garden season and farmers market started so I got busy and other things besides the puffin were calling.

But thats all over now…—…

The cushions for the main cabin are finally in my hands and sailing season can finally start so crew get ready.cause sail plans include a weekend trip to tangier island and a up and down sail on the bay then a circumnavigation of the delmarva peninsula. Appears to be a sailing summer and next fall south…..

TODAY>>A few showers this morning. Isolated thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 71F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
TONIGHT<< Thunderstorms this evening will give way to a steadier rain overnight – a rumble of thunder still possible. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
 

We had rain all over the bay yesterday and today and tonight showers. April is coming in like it should [wet] and as the temperature rises the spring flowers will be busting out in May.

Sailing next week on thursday prediction is for 69 dungrees all you crew get ready.

TODAY:>>A mix of clouds and sun this morning followed by increasing clouds with showers developing this afternoon. High 54F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
 

TONIGHT:< Cloudy with periods of rain. Low around 50F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall may reach one inch.

If you follow this plog and read the pages on the left side {the plan for year one especially} you will notice that not much of the plan for year one got together. Why? Any number of reasons could be produced but the fact remains that a lot of things have to come together in order to sail and the idea of constant change {like the weather on the horizon} is forever looming.

As it turns out change is the only constant. Like the plog starting out posting was every day till now it is every month. Well what happened??? Change!!! Thats about the only answer. Year two will be up in the pages section soon so watch for the news and the dates of all sails…until then—

The bottom work and transducer are working fine. The Puffin in in her slip and waiting for crew to come aboard and sail and crew are waiting for the weather to warm up. Over the time on the hard the interior has been redone in american flag motif for all curtain’s and cushions and now I am removing everything not screwed down leaving a bare boat on the water.

After the dust settles on the removal process the deck work begins as I try to stop all the downward migration of rain water this spring and make plans for any repairs to the deck and cockpit in betweeen sailing and living back in luray.

The immediate plans are to sail out into the bay a few more times with the millwork men in order to make plans for the cockpit repairs and gain sea time, have some fun on the water exploring around the bay and potomac river, train potential crew, and wait for the crabs to come out of hibernation.

Keep reading … — …

TODAY>>Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High around 55F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
 

TONIGHT<< Mainly clear. Low 42F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.

 The puffin is back in the water and she looks fine in the slip. An old wooden boat takes on water when it comes off the hard after any length of time, the puffin was on the hard for 83 days to long but she is not taking on any more water than she was back then before any repairs.

I’m just hoping every thing swells back to closed. The first night we had gale force winds and harder than hades rain maybe an inch or more and the deck leaked in more water than she was taking on from below. That night I pumped her out well befor the automatic bildge pump came on a good sign I think. I got up more than once to manually pump because of the rain more than any thing else. The next morning She was still in the sling but the tide had come in and she was totally floating. About noon the boat yard cut us loose I fired up the engine and took her out to run for a few minutes then returned to the slip and secured her for a while waiting for the deluge of swelling to properly take place. The repairs must be working or she would have taken on more water than she was. I wraped it up and tied her in place and pumped once more and left her to the tide.