Hello again from VELOMER

Bob's View:

Its been a few months of dry Colorado mountain air for us but PM and I are back in the salt water and ready for another adventure.  We returned to Maine, driving four and a half days across some very flat and very dry American landscapes and are now on VELOMER, getting her ready for a two year cruise.  This transition has not been as smooth as we would have liked presenting us with several mechanical challenges and a few personal ones.

We fixed the newly installed bow thruster after it failed within 2 minutes of splashing two weeks ago at Spring Point in South Portland, Maine. It was an easy fix (an unusual adjective when discussing boat issues) and after increasing the fuse to 400 AMPS from 300 AMPS, which was in line for the older thruster, the system works as it was intended.  Adding a new anchor chain involved three trips to West Maine to get the shackle, the chain, paint for marking the depth and to get the right shackle to accommodate the CQR anchor to 200 feet of 5/16 G40 chain.  Last year we noticed the vast majority of live aboard cruisers use all chain for its holding power.  Our combination of 40 feet of chain and 200 feet of rode worked well but increased our swing so much that we were unable to anchor within a field of other boats, We now can safely do that and intend to anchor often as we cruise down the East Coast to Florida and then start north in January of 2015 for our long anticipated Great Loop Adventure.   I have learned how to do fiberglass work, yea!.  And I hope to get another few coats of Epiphanies High Gloss varnish on the teak before we head south into Caribbean sun.  A routine cleaning of the gas grill showed us it was time to replace it.  And we have been diligently taking things off VELOMER as we need all the storage we can create for all the equipment and stores for a two year cruise.

Phoebe and Erik are planning a trip south in their Naid 39 sailboat from Rhode Island in September/October, and we will connect with them and our then 4 year old twin grandchildren, Trig and Anni, somewhere in Chesapeake Bay in mid October.  We plan then to cruise south connecting with them from time to time to Florida over the next weeks and look to spend Christmas in Key West.  We will start our loop travels in Key West rather than New York and add some 2,200 miles to our travel route but that makes no matter as its the journey, not the destination we seek.

Personal issues have included my taking a temporary job driving the launch at the Centerboard Yacht Club for a month, house sitting, new born chick sitting, cat sitting, plant sitting, garden sitting and generally pretending we were land dwellers again for our dear friends, The Guyots, while they were away in Switzerland for two weeks.  Our tenants have decided to extend the lease on our house for another two years, which kicks that can down the road a bit.  We are turning in our 2012 Nissan Rogue in 10 days as we will not need a car for two years. We also were waiting for PM to testify in a court case.  Her appearance is now scheduled for July 11 after several continuances. My work at Centerboard YC finishes that same day as well.  So, barring any further land issues that get in the way, we will depart Portland for Boston and points south on July 16, 2014, weather permitting and assuming no additional mechanical barriers.  We have learned that boat plans and calendars rarely cooperate, but that is the departure goal for VELOMER looking some two weeks out.

We will keep adding to this blog as time and history permit, so those of you on Google Plus will receive notice when we do and anyone else will need to check e-mail.

It is good to be back aboard VELOMER.  Our nights are peaceful, our sleep is restful and our days are joyful.  We feel we are home again.