May 05, 2008

The First Week


We have been in Essex, CT for exactly one week now, and what a week it has been. We arrived to two days of torrential rains and a self imposed deadline of one week to get all of our gear and provisions on board. Nikita was in great shape riding high in the water, after about 3,000 pounds of gear, supplies, spare parts, tools, 2 extra anchors, 3 additional anchor rodes, five sails, a drogue, outboard engines.... she still rides smartly above her water line. Almost as impressive as the amount of "stuff" she accepted into her multiple lockers with yet much room to spare. So after a truly busy week of starting at 3 am and ending at 10 pm each day we settled onto the boat on Friday taking a short sail on Saturday as per the picture above.
In the coming week we will do additional systems testing including a 3 day outing early in the week, taking advantage of a favorable weather pattern, to various points in Long Island sound, refreshing our sailing and anchoring skills.
The first impression, well about what was expected, a little stressful and more than a bit disorienting as I adjust to no job, the kids adjust to time zones and a whole host of new rules like life jackets; in short much change.

2 comments:

AB said...

Great update Dave - the adventure begins !

Not normally one for details, I have noticed that you seem to be sporting a comfy pair of sailing gloves for use at the helm. The gloves for the kids, affoding them a similar level of comfort, assume are still on back-order ???

Our Family said...

Always felt that a comfortable captain makes for a comfortable crew.