Staycation Day 1

I had such a horrible week at work last week that I decided I needed a vacation in order to be able to continue working at that place. So, I announced that I would be taking the next week off. I've just been so exhausted that I've lost my joie de vivre. After work on Friday, Bruce and I threw some clothes in the duffel bags and some food in the cooler and made our escape to the boat. Once aboard, with all of the food stowed, I took a little rest on the port settee and that was it for the night. I remember only moving from there to the v-berth to find my Binky. I slept in my clothes until 5:30 am on Saturday. Bruce had gone down the dock to drink beer with Doug and Patty leaving me to sleep.

Saturday morning, we had a lazy cup of coffee and contemplated what we might want to do. We took a drive in the Miata with the top down along the island road to the Padre Island Yacht Club where there was a nautical swap meet and book sale. That little car is so much more fun than the motorcycle was. Bruce found some treasures for the boat and a couple of books. We went to a garage sale next where we found a bench for the atrium. The love seat we have had in there has disintegrated. This thing we found is a heavily made futon frame I think, but it's all made from solid boards with rounded edges. We are going to paint it in Miami pastels and maybe find a cushion for it. Let the atrium try to disintegrate this!

We took Elan out for a short sail up the Lydia Ann Channel. It was a beautiful sunny day and I got a start on eradicating the pasty whiteness of my flesh. It turned a bit cloudy and cooler so we headed for the dock. There had been some talk of a dock party and we got back just in time for me to ride to the store with Sharon from Island Time to pick up some stuff to make an hors d'oeuvres tray and some french bread.

We dinghied over to the other dock at about 6:30 for the festivities. Bruce got to make several trips and ferry others back for things forgotten. He loved it. This is as close to "cruising" as we can get without me quitting my job.

We had over 20 people show up for the feast. It's amazing what you can throw together on short notice. It is always such fun swapping sailing or cruising stories with the other boat people.

We ate the snackers and worked on the main course. There was pork loin, chicken and rice, and Bruce's new grill got another workout with the chicken and bratwurst. Sharon did the honors and it was all delicious! We stayed out there talking and laughing until well after dark. We drank all the alcohol and the party broke up as one by one, we all went back to our boats. We fell into bed thinking it must be after midnight, but when Bruce checked the time, it was just after 10 pm. Oh well, it had been a long full day. Not a bad start for Staycation day #1.

Race Committee Duty for Elan

Bruce and I had Race Committee Duty for Elan this Wednesday night. Jacquie joined us while Steve opted for sailing with a pickup crew. We met down at the MORF box and found a vehicle from Canada parked in the Committee parking spot. I asked the man nicely if he would mind moving as we had a race to run. He said "Oh, you mean you're the race committee?". Ahh, a sailor from afar. He moved and after we got set up, I asked him if he would like to help as, obviously, he was a sailor. He declined but his wife, Rose, joined us.

Bruce chose 2 courses, one for the all sails fleet and another for working sails. There was a brisk wind so he sent the all sails boats out to marker #4... the working sails were sent to #19... a much shorter course. Chip showed up to help with the start flags. We had lots of spectators out on such a fine night and many boats as well.

Once the race was started, we realized that we hadn't seen Steve on Cute Shoes make his start. We honked once at 5:59 as a warning then began the race at 6:00 with the white flag beginning the sequence. After all of the boats had their starts, 4 in all, we chatted for a while with other boaters, then we started our dinner.

We had brought out our new grill and some fajitas to cook. I set up a gingham cloth and laid out all of the goodies. Some stoner guy from the crew of Wasabi (I guess he missed the boat) made himself at home and took over the grilling. Jacquie brought some home made peanut butter cookies...yummm! We shared our bounty with all who came.

We entertained ourselves eating, chatting and watching the stupid seagulls try to get a free meal off of the Brown Pelicans.Finally the boats began to come back in. It was getting darker and chilly out there! Steve came in and we had no idea why we didnt' see him start the race. Once he finished and put up his boat, he joined us at the box to wait for the final boat to come in. All became clear... he had started his watch at 4 minutes after the one minute warning, instead of at 5 minutes on the actual flag. This put him over early by 1 minute when we weren't watching for starters yet. I think one or two other boats did the same. We wrote down the start times in the book for those boats and left it to the officials to sort it out.

St. Patrick's Day Bash At BYC

Saturday was a lost day. We got up late and took a long nap. Nothing got done until time to get ready for the next round of festivities at BYC... the annual St. Patrick's Day Social. We had a hard time finding something green for Bruce to wear and I ended up in my jammie top. Oh well...

I prepared myself with a concoction out of one of my bar books called a "Green Eyes"... I considered this an appropriately Irish cocktail... who cared if it tasted somewhat like mouthwash!?!

The dinner was corned beef and cabbage. It was very good. I don't know how to make corned beef so it is always fun to sample other people's specialties. The turnout was great considering that the weather was not so great.

After dinner, there was the usual introduction of guests and announcement of upcoming events. It was also an induction of new members... namely Bruce and I! Yea! We're finally card carrying, burgee waving members of the BYC... complete with our own permanent name tags! Woo Woo! These treasures were presented by our Commodore, Walt. I'm so glad the waiting is over... the uncertainty was killing me.

After the presentation, the party broke up into little cliques. There was a sing-along. After the first song or two, we made our way upstairs where we could hear ourselves think. It wasn't long before others joined us and the crowd downstairs faded away. We found out that there were three other couples from the yacht club chartering a boat in the BVI's the second week we will be there. How cool is that? We're lobbying for a flotilla but it may be too late to get flights there at this late date. We all had a great time and closed the place down. That's two nights in a row! What will my kids think?