Hi - Marilyn here ...

Well, the long-awaited day hasn't arrived yet :(! We were planning to be off at 5:30 tonight for the 12 hour sail across the Gulf Stream. But our buddy boat partners just came over to say they think the sea conditions aren't as good as they thought they would be - and I'd been thinking the same thing. So we decided to delay for now, and maybe go out to anchor tomorrow to assess the situation. Disappointing - but better safe than sorry.

Last night we had a "farewell" drink on our boat with our new friends  - so this just gives us a chance to do it all again (and again and again ....). I'm sure there's some important learning here for me in "going with the flow" :).

Here's Sea Change all decked out for the sail, and the other green boat - Dame Des Mers - which
is our "buddy boat" to go across.

Yesterday, Jeff announced that his boat task list was finished :) - so we're pretty much ready to roll. We're provisioned and laundered, the boat is clean and full of fuel and water, and now we're checking weather charts for the right "window" to do the crossing. It looks like Sunday, overnight is the time. We had dinner with our French "buddy boat" partners last night, and are discussing the weather patterns regularly. Here's the kind of information we get on-line ... we're looking for South winds, preferably at 10 knots or less, with seas from 2-4 feet. And here's what the boat looked like yesterday ...

Bonjour

Voici donc la mise à jour pour traverser de Lake Worth à Lucaya

GULF STREAM

BUOYWEATHER.COM Virtual Buoy Forecast
 Location : 26.6N  79.6W              
 Model Cycle: 2013 DEC 28 06Z         
 UTC - 4 Hours                        
----------------------------------------------------
                 WIND                  SEAS
DATE   HR  dir/deg  range(kt)   dir/per   range(ft)
----  ---  ------------------   -------------------
12/28 02     E  80  13 - 18      NE  4sec   3 -  6
12/28 08     E  86  15 - 20     ENE  4sec   4 -  6
12/28 14   ESE 100  14 - 19       E  5sec   4 -  7
12/28 20   ESE 106  15 - 20       E  5sec   4 -  7

12/29 02   ESE 127  17 - 23     ESE  5sec   5 -  8
12/29 08   SSE 158  14 - 19     ESE  5sec   4 -  7
12/29 14     S 180  13 - 17      SE  5sec   3 -  6
12/29 20   SSW 196  12 - 16      SE  4sec   3 -  5

12/30 02    SW 225   9 - 12     SSE  4sec   2 -  4
12/30 08   NNW 334   5 -  7      NE  7sec   1 -  2
12/30 14   NNE  24   6 -  8     ENE  9sec   1 -  2
12/30 20   ENE  72   8 - 11     ENE  9sec   1 -  2

12/31 02   NNE  12   5 -  7       N  4sec   1 -  2
12/31 08     N   6  21 - 29       N  5sec   4 -  7
12/31 14   NNE  29  15 - 21     NNE  6sec   5 -  8
12/31 20    NE  43  16 - 22     NNE  5sec   4 -  7

1/1   02   ENE  60  14 - 19      NE  5sec   4 -  6
1/1   08   ENE  71  13 - 18      NE  5sec   3 -  6
1/1   14     E  96   9 - 12      NE  5sec   3 -  5
1/1   20     E  81   8 - 11      NE  5sec   2 -  4

1/2   02     E  80   5 -  7      NE  4sec   2 -  3
1/2   08     N 358   7 -  9      NE  4sec   1 -  3
1/2   14     N 356  14 - 19     NNE  4sec   2 -  4
1/2   20     N 356  18 - 24     NNE  5sec   4 -  7

1/3   02     N 351  16 - 22     NNE  5sec   4 -  7
1/3   08     N   6  19 - 26     NNE  6sec   6 -  9
1/3   14     N   7  18 - 25     NNE  7sec   6 - 10
1/3   20   NNE  26  16 - 22     NNE  7sec   6 - 10

1/4   02   ENE  54  15 - 21       N  7sec   5 -  9
--------------------------------------------------

LUCAYA

BUOYWEATHER.COM Virtual Buoy Forecast
 Location : 26.5N  78.75W             
 Model Cycle: 2013 DEC 28 06Z         
 UTC - 4 Hours                        
----------------------------------------------------
                 WIND                  SEAS
DATE   HR  dir/deg  range(kt)   dir/per   range(ft)
----  ---  ------------------   -------------------
12/28 02   ENE  78  13 - 18       E  4sec   2 -  3
12/28 08     E  83  14 - 19       E  4sec   2 -  4
12/28 14     E  96  14 - 19     ESE  4sec   2 -  4
12/28 20   ESE 100  14 - 19     ESE  4sec   2 -  4

12/29 02   ESE 121  16 - 22     ESE  5sec   3 -  5
12/29 08   SSE 152  14 - 19     ESE  5sec   3 -  5
12/29 14     S 181  12 - 16     ESE  4sec   2 -  4
12/29 20   SSW 205  10 - 13     SSE  4sec   2 -  3

12/30 02   SSW 209   9 - 12     SSW  3sec   1 -  2
12/30 08     W 277   5 -  7      SW  3sec   1 -  2
12/30 14   NNE  16   2 -  3     ESE  9sec   0 -  1
12/30 20   ENE  78   6 -  8     ESE  9sec   0 -  1

12/31 02    SE 149   2 -  3     ESE  9sec   0 -  1
12/31 08     N   4  17 - 23     NNW  2sec   1 -  2
12/31 14   NNE  27  16 - 22     NNE  4sec   2 -  4
12/31 20    NE  44  16 - 22      NE  4sec   2 -  4

1/1   02   ENE  63  13 - 18     ENE  4sec   2 -  3
1/1   08   ENE  73  13 - 18       E  4sec   2 -  3
1/1   14     E  93  10 - 14       E  4sec   1 -  3
1/1   20     E  87  10 - 13       E  4sec   1 -  2

1/2   02   ESE 121   5 -  7     ESE  4sec   1 -  2
1/2   08    NW 321   1 -  2     ESE  4sec   1 -  2
1/2   14   NNW 343   8 - 11     ESE  3sec   0 -  1
1/2   20     N   2  16 - 22      NW  4sec   2 -  3

1/3   02     N 350  16 - 22     NNW  4sec   2 -  4
1/3   08     N   3  18 - 24     NNW  4sec   2 -  4
1/3   14     N   5  17 - 23       N  4sec   2 -  4
1/3   20   NNE  26  16 - 22     NNE  4sec   2 -  4

1/4   02   ENE  52  15 - 21     ENE  4sec   2 -  4
--------------------------------------------------

Hi - Marilyn here ...

Well, we finally slipped our lines today! But don't get too excited - it was only for a trip to the pump out, which we abandoned after the fourth time going aground. What was that about three-foot tides?
H-m-m- that must have been low tide ... another lesson learned experientially :). We now have a tide chart, as well as a membership with Tow Boat U.S. - though fortunately this time we didn't need to get towed.

The rest of the day was spent in finishing up all of the major tuning and testing jobs - the more minor tasks will get done tomorrow. One last laundry, provisioning jaunt and water fill-up, and we'll be ready to roll. No pics from today - we were too busy getting ourselves unstuck and redocked!

What a wonderful Christmas day! We lolled around the boat all morning, fuelled by a French toast brunch cooked on the bar-b-que, as our propane stove is currently not working. We opened a present to each other of t-shirts embroidered with "Sea Change ll" (see pic below), and then had many phone calls with friends and family in Toronto and Montreal. The good news is that everyone survived the ice storm in Toronto, though several families were without power, and some still are, but all are coping. Our thoughts are very much with you - hope power is restored really soon.

Neighbours reported to us that our back yard is filled with broken limbs from the near-by maple trees - but the fellow we hired to clear the snow is taking care of that for us - and thankfully there is no damage.

So, relieved to hear all of that, we took ourselves out for nachos and lattes, and then went to see the newly released film - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Well-done bit of entertainment - do see it.

Nice to have a day off - tomorrow it's back to work to finish up. Looks like next weekend might provide the weather window we're waiting for. Could be New Year's eve in the Bahamas - let's hope!

Happy holidays from Marilyn and Jeff (Marilyn writing) ...

Christmas morning and all is well! We're celebrating by taking the day mostly off, having completed putting Sea Change back together yesterday, with the help of a new friend, Pierre, who assisted with the radar installation. It took some blood, sweat and tears - we all sweated, Jeff cut his finger (not serious) and dripped blood all over the freshly cleaned and sparkling cockpit, which almost brought me to tears :).

But it all got done, and then we celebrated our 29th anniversary by joining Pierre, his wife, and 6 other Quebecois (highly experienced sailors), newly arrived at the Marina, for a Quebec-style Reveillon in the crew lounge. The conversation was an amusing combination of French and English - a "Fringlish" that I'm very familiar with from having lived half my life in Quebec. These lovely warm people toasted us with champagne, and we ended the evening by agreeing with one couple to sail across to the Bahamas together at the next good weather window - a bonus!

Hope all of you are enjoying the holidays with family and friends - know that we miss you a whole bunch, and think of you often.

Now on to a breakfast of French toast - seem appropriate. Here are a few pics of how Sea Change looks now, in comparison with when she arrived here, and pics of our little party last night.

Hi - Marilyn here ...

Hope all of you out there survived the ice storm without undue hardship. We've been reading about it and seeing pictures on the CBC Radio 1 web-site - yikes! It seems like every time we leave Toronto there is some major weather event (do you think we're responsible?).

Apparently, we're having unusually high winds here for this time of the year. But it's no problem, as we're still not ready to leave in any case. We are making good progress - all that's left to reattach is the radar. Then lots of checking out of systems - Jeff's got a long list. We've been meeting nice people here - one couple from Quebec, and another from this area, who all plan to be in the Southern Bahamas when we're there. So we might have a little community when we arrive - fun.

Tomorrow is our 29th anniversary, and we plan to celebrate with dinner at our favourite restaurant - the Tiki Hut - about a 15-minute walk away. So happy Christmas eve tomorrow, for those of you to whom this applies, and happy holidays to all of you ... more anon.

Happy Winter Solstice! To celebrate, we had a lovely bar-b-que chicken dinner in the cockpit tonight, with fresh corn we bought at the farmer's market this morning - and ate under our holiday lights. It's starting to feel like a vacation ....

Images of West Palm Beach, Florida ....

Hi, Everyone - Marilyn again ...

I just read about the weather in Toronto ... we may be working hard, but I'm glad we're here right now!

Today was the day! We're masted and launched, and now we need to do all the rigging adjustments, install the radar, clean the whole boat, and then wait for a weather window (could be a while). We're keeping life exciting by doing things like throwing our whole set of boat keys away with the recycling
:( - luckily, we have duplicates. I've decided that these events are just part of the adventure, and we're both staying relatively calm. Since a picture is worth a thousand words - here are a few from today.
Jeff just said that this whole affair is the biggest and most complex project he's ever taken on! Me - I'm just excited, and a little nervous about the Gulf Stream crossing to the Bahamas.

Marilyn here ...

Today may be masting day - we're still waiting for it to be confirmed. Meanwhile, we took a couple of hours yesterday for some much needed R & R at the near-by gorgeous Riviera Beach - some pics, below (the first is our boat damage to the gel coat being repaired).. Now, back to work!

Hi - Marilyn here (I was asked to identify myself) ...

We're still "on the hard" - awaiting masting (hopefully today), and then launching (hopefully tomorrow). Everything works at its own speed here ... a lesson in patience! The car needs to be returned tomorrow, so for now we're using it to provision, etc.

The weather has turned sunny and gorgeous - can't wait to be on the water! Might make a quick visit to the beautiful near-by beach today, in between doing laundry, shopping and so on. Not much exciting to report right now. Happy holiday preparations, all.

Yeah - we're now living aboard Sea Change, having moved in on Friday night. The downside is, no wifi connection in the yard, where we are still waiting for our mast to be placed before we can be launched. So we had a weekend off the computer ... reminded me of the old days!

The boat is pretty much ready to go - except for a few big things like the mast, the radar and the solar panels. That should all happen in the next couple of days, and the weather is getting warmer and sunnier. So this all may work for us to leave for the Bahamas before the end of the week.

Meanwhile, we're exploring the area a bit - yesterday we discovered a lovely outdoor shopping plaza and I visited my favourite clothing store - Chico's. Also saw a wonderful children's dance performance in the commons there, and then Jeff and I had a salmon dinner near-by - the best meal we've had since we arrived here! Today we'll start cooking aboard, and only eat out once in a while - we're both feeling ready for home-cooked food.

The pics below are from yesterday - the dance performance, our dinner, and a little Christmas light spirit at Rybovitch Marine Centre. Nice to have a day off ....

Friday 13th - and our first uneventful day, except for the fact that our dear friend, Tom, went through a serious surgery today in London, Ontario. We're wishing him the best ...

By 5:00 p.m. we toasted each other with a gin and tonic (see pics below) because Sea Change finally looks more like a boat than a storage unit! Then we celebrated with dinner out. Lots left to do, but we're over half-way there. We may move aboard on Sunday, though still on land, as we're not masted yet. The "Norther" cold front continues - good timing, though - maybe it will be followed by fair weather for our big crossing!

Here is a link to the Delorme site that you can access to see a map of exactly where we are located at any point in time. Not much fun right now, since we're in a boat yard - but once we're moving on the water it might be more interesting .... off for day 3 of reassembling Sea Change.

https://share.delorme.com/JeffSolway

Day 2 working on the boat, today during a cold front (a windy, chilly 70 degrees F) - good working weather! Mostly successful, except for a small mishap in the morning. We used a product intended to remove the glue left from duct tape that sealed our hatches. Unfortunately, it also removed the gel coat around the bow hatch - sheesh :(. Fortunately, we're in a full service marina - so it'll get repaired before we leave.

One funny incident - Jeff was working on the mast, which was supported by sawhorses, when he noticed that they had the name "Sea Change" written on them - in his handwriting! He knew we'd left our sawhorses in Rochester for later pick-up - so he had a moment of disorientation, before he realized that the trucker had taken our sawhorses with the mast on the truck. So much for picking them up later.

Here are some pics of our view from our hotel room and from Ribovich Marine Centre, where the boat rests for now.

Here's how we left Sea Change in Rochester in October, and of course, how we found her today, after a truck ride to Florida (though much dirtier than when she left!). The next few days will be devoted to putting the boat back together. Lots of work ahead, but we enjoyed 82 degree sunny weather all day today, and discovered that a security guard at the airport found Jeff's camera case intact! What's more, the office manager at our marina has offered to pick it up for us, as he lives nearby - saving us an hour and a half of driving ... so it's all good.

December 10, 2013

Well – the end of Day 1, and Murphy’s law definitely prevailed. It started out all right – we even saw a “beginning of vacation rainbow” from the cab window on the way to the airport, and it hadn’t been raining. But then it began – one thing after another.

First we ran from one line at Air Canada to another – not realizing that though we’d booked with Air Canada, we were actually starting out on United Airlines. When we finally found the right line, Jeff said in horror – “Oh my god – I think we’re a day late!”. Turns out his cell phone was showing the date as December 11^th – and we were booked for the 10^th. There was lots of time for our hearts to calm down once we confirmed that this actually was December 10^th, as we found ourselves waiting at the front of the United line for 30 long minutes, while the frazzled staffers listened to frustrated travellers complaining. “What’s wrong?” we asked, when we finally wrangled our way to a kiosk. “Don’t you read the papers?” the staffer replied. The US is buried in snow, and by the way, they’ve rerouted your plane. You’ll have to change planes twice enroute to Florida.

Yikes, we thought – not a good thing, especially with snowstorms likely delaying things everywhere. So I asked if we could switch to an Air Canada flight directly to Ft. Lauderdale instead of West Palm Beach (they’re not very far apart). “Sure” said the accommodating attendant – I’ll book you on a flight at 3:00 p.m.” So, having arrived in the airport at 9:15 a.m., we patiently waited until 3:00 and boarded our direct flight to Ft. Lauderdale, where we landed a few hours ago. All was well until we arrived at our hotel and discovered that we had left Jeff’s camera case full of expensive equipment back at the airport – now an hour’s drive away!

We drowned our sorrows in a shared chocolate fudge sundae, stared at the half moon over a palm tree, and decided that things could be worse.

So we now are waiting until the lost and found opens tomorrow to see if some honest soul found the case and turned it in. We really think we deserve a happy ending to this day … hopefully it covered off all the things that can go wrong for the rest of the trip (famous last words). Time to get some shut-eye – tomorrow we check out the boat for the first time since it arrived on Monday. More anon …