Great trip to Cape Cod, but now we need a new sailboat.

(written Saturday, July 21)

Here I sit in MI, again, after driving back from the Cape. The trip itself worked pretty darned well and I really enjoyed my sunrise walks and one delightful sunrise coffee with cousin Lisa, even though one must get walking before 5am to see the sunrise. As it was, I overslept and she had to call me and most of the days were foggy or cloudy, but 50% is OK.

I got to sail almost every day. For the first couple days I had no rowboat, so simply swam to and from the boat (five minutes each way), but swimming out into a surprisingly strong current, having to fight to get to the boat before being swept past, hanging on to the mooring line to regain my breath, then laying on deck and gasping for a few minutes inspired me to put the dinghy in the water.... although I found I missed the tingly aliveness I always feel after that cold, scary (sharks?), long, aerobic swim.

I took out so many friends in such a short time! My mom, brother Peter, and Bailey the dog..

The St George family...

Cousin Deb on her Beetle Cat..

And more..

On Wednesday ( July 18) I took Bob, Jo, Clint, and Sherrie(sp?) out, fearing we might barely move in the light breeze. Within ten minutes the wind had risen to something decent and in a half hour blew very nicely. Wonderful sail! 

And on Thursday, before I needed to depart at noonish, my parents and a couple friends joined me for a final sail (we had no idea just HOW final) in absolutely perfect conditions: wonderful cool wind, on clear water, under brilliant blue sky. I unloaded everyone at the beach, sailed to the mooring, carefully put everything away neatly, rowed to shore, and drove back to MI.

Cynthia and I immediately went to Home Depot for various projects, but before we entered my mom called to tell me the boat caught fire and was totaled.

Very very sad.... but we still have the good memories and I do not believe anyone was injured or significant environmental damage.

So... what in heck happened? Well, I can't imagine this being caused by anything but an electrical fire and the only electrical was a battery and bilge pump I installed. Could the pump have frozen over the winter or the float valve stuck in the ON position? Either could easily have caused a fire.... and, in hindsight, could have been prevented with appropriate fuses and/or testing. I feel pretty bad about this... but all I can do it apologize and make sure to do a better job in the future... and really pay attention to electrical fire possibilities in my boat in NC: fuses, protection, etc.

We have a number of boats (same model) we are looking at as replacements. With luck we will have a nice boat for everyone this summer.

Isn't life interesting? Let's appreciate the heck out of what we have while it lasts.

Back on Cape Cod! Sand bars keep moving....

6:15 am Thursday.

I've been here for nearly two days after driving overnight from MI and just came back from my first sunrise beach walk in FAR too long.

Walking from the Chatham Lighthouse south along the beach, the first thing I noticed is that the beach is smaller. As I walked past Occupy Chatham (something Cynthia and I unknowingly started as a shelter from the frigid north winter winds years ago), the beach loss stares one in the face, with a good deal of the front yard gone entirely.

And as I walked around toward Outermost Harbor, the southern tail of the beach has swung far west, pushed back from the ocean by currents and waves.

This obvious change became even more obvious when I saw a patch of marsh growing on the exposed face of the beach.

This bit of green must have been dormant while the spit of sand got pushed back across it during the winter, falling asleep in the fall in a sheltered marsh and awakening this spring to strong currents and ocean waves. Amazing to think the beach traveled that far just this winter.

Well, that's all for now. I'm here for another week, then back to MI briefly.