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Journal: Plans
Mon, 10 Dec 2007
| SVMOP:Plans: Getting ready to go south 12/10/2007 00:38 | |||||
| My stepdaughter Kristen and her boyfriend Pete will be with me as I fly to St. Lucia (January 1) and put the boat in the water. They will crew (standing watch, etc.) for the trip from St. Lucia to Tortola. We plan on going directly, without any island hopping stops. It should take us less than 3 full days. We are all looking forward to this trip. Trellis Bay, Tortola, is definitely a place we feel at home.. and the snorkeling is pretty good right from the boat! Join us at the Loose Mongoose or Last Resort in the evening. My wife Gretchen will join me in February. Meanwhile, the snow and cold set in around us in New Hampshire. | |||||
| SVMOP:Plans: It is time for Mother of Perl to see the U.S.A., at least the part that we inhabit most 09/30/2007 21:25 | |||||
| of the year. The current plan (10/1/07) is to relaunch in January of 2008 and sail her back to Trellis Bay, Tortola, BVI. She will sit on a mooring for the months of April through July. Then, Capt. Ben and fine crew will sail her in August, from Tortola, to Puerto Rico, and then north in Atlantic all the way to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, U.S.A. While in New Hampshire, we will polish her up, and, hopefully sell her to a loving family that can sail her to other parts of the world. She is, after all, a blue water sail boat. | |||||
| SVMOP:Plans: Current status as of Monday 6 January 02/05/2007 09:56 | |||||
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I have now consulted with two different spine specialists as well as a physical therapist. The prognosis is that there will not be any significant damage to my spine as long as I continue wear the brace until the vertebra knits and heals, a process that may take up to ten weeks. The turn of events has confirmed that I should be owning, maintaining, and sailing a significantly smaller boat than Mother of Perl. I love her. She is the creation of my family. She is beautiful, strong, comfortable, but much more of a boat than a singlehanded sailor can enjoy. So, as my backbone heals, I work on cleaning up these web pages and posting here availability on the Internet. |
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| SVMOP:Plans: Plans fall apart 02/05/2007 09:46 | |||||
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I did get to the boat on the third and worked on her (replacing windows, chipping, grinding, and painting) for about ten days. I scheduled her to launched on the afternoon of Monday, the 15th of January. It was not to be. The morning of the launch, I was sitting in the dinghy replacing the lines that secured it from tipping and swinging. As I cut one of these lines away, the dinghy tipped and I fell some ten feet to the ground. I landed on my back. I must have been stunned by the blow because I wan't able to move or call for help. Once I was discovered (20 minutes later), I still couldn't talk or move. An ambulance arrived, the paramedics checked my vital signs and loaded me into the ambulance for ride to Victoria Hospital in Castries. My friend Kelly Charles followed in his car. Kelly stood by me through all these proceedures, provided food and transportation whenever it was needed. He is a true noble friend. The doctors tested my reflexes and X-rayed my chest and spine. They couldn't see any damage so I soon was released and returned to Mother of Perl. with Kelly While at the hospital, I was able to phone my wife, Gretchen, who is working and living in New Hampshire. She booked a flight and arrive Thursday afternoon. The good folks who work at the boatyard had been generously helping doing favours and bringing by food. But having my loving wife by side, especialy when there are personal hygine activities that I needed help performing. By the following Monday, I was feeling strong enough to move and make the flights back to New England. The airports provided wheelchairs and someone to push me around. My stepdaughter and her boyfriend met us at Boston's Logan Airport. The next day, Gretchen took me to the local hospital for an evaluation: I had fractured on of my vertebrae. An MRI confirmed the diagnosis. So, here I sit with full a torso brace 24x7. No sailing in the Caribbean this year. |
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| SVMOP:Plans: Packed and Ready to go to the Boat 12/31/2006 20:39 | |||||
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I have packed and repacked (to get the bags so neither is greater than 50 pounds. Monday moring, I leave for Boston, and Tuesday morning 0630 I leave for St. Lucia. I will arrive at Castries airport in the early afternoon and be at the boat (which is on the hard) that afternoon. In the meantime, I am working on my Hydrography page. Take a look, if you are interested. |
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| SVMOP:Plans: MOP Commissioning - 2006 12/28/2006 16:29 | |||||
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The following outline describes what I plan on doing (or have done) for the commissioning of Mother of Perl in January of 2007. She has spent summer sitting on stands on land at Rodney Bay Marinia, St. Lucia. (The percentages refer to the percent completion of that category.) [50%] While in USA
[50%] Documents &
licenses [10%] At boat
[0%] First check |
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| SVMOP:Plans: Starting the third year of mapping the Caribbean 12/27/2006 11:14 | |||||
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This winter ('06-'07) will be the third year that I will be developing and testing my low cost bathymetric mapping system in the Caribbean. During the first year that I used the system, I surveyed Trellis Bay, on the Eastern end of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. The second year, I mapped Rodney Bay Marina, part of Rodney Bay (both in St. Lucia), and most exetensively, Admiralty Bay of Bequia (the northern most of the Grenadines). The Admiralty Bay survey made it obvious that bathymetry was not enough. I needed bottom catagorization and depth/thickness of sand where it exists. The primary client is the cruising boat that is looking for a good place to anchor. Burying their anchor in sand is the only secure mooring method in this harbor. This year, I will visually sample the bottom using a cable-connected underwater camera capable of going to 60 ft. The samples will be taken on a grid. Hopefully, the result will be a map of bottom classification. |
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