Weekend with Friends and Sailing with the Master - 1 Aug and 11 Aug 2014

Lori and Todd Visit from DC
We were thrilled to host Linda's deer friends of nearly 30 years, Lori and Todd, for a weekend in Boston.  Lori and Todd are in the marines currently living outside of Washington DC.  (They were with Linda during the birth of her first son when he was born nearly 8 weeks early as they vacationed together more than 26 years ago - so there is a lot of history among this group.)

Lori chills in the cockpit while docked at Constitution Marina on a warm, sunny Friday afternoon

Todd naps in the hammock

Bob plays killer guitar and keyboards with Tsunami of Sound at Sally O'Brien's in Somerville Friday night

Sailing
Despite low wind, clouds and rain in the forecast we set sail Saturday late morning.  Motored out of the harbor and beyond Deer Island but then were able to hoist the sails and catch some gentle winds.

Todd, Lori and Linda (I love this couple)

"Lori O" lobster boat - coincidental connection to Lori Oneto D'Agostino :-)

BFF

Marblehead for the Night
We grabbed a mooring with Boston Yacht Club (no hats) for an overnight stay.  Met up with Brenton and Jillien for a fun visit over drinks at Jack Tars (forgot to take a pick - but we remember the laughs!).

Moored in Marblehead Harbor for overnight stay

Departing Marblehead Harbor for a leisurely trip back to Boston

Final visit back at Constitution with Gersham and Ajay before Lori and Todd head back to DC

Argon taken from Prairie Gold as we glide northward in the mild wind 

Bill Shaw Jr
We had the most awesome broker for Argon. Bill Shaw Jr. has an illustrious family heritage in Sailing. He grew up immersed in the sailing business as his dad Bill Sr. ran Pearson Yachts for many years. We were lucky enough to have Bill and his wife Lynne join us for a sail and show us all the things we do wrong (lots).

This sail was at the same time as our "super moon" and we were out at low tide - by which I mean REALLY LOW tide. This next picture shows Lower Middle - a spot that is normally two or three feet under water at low tide. This is the first time I have ever seen it exposed

Busy week before taking off
We're getting ready to take off for three weeks of sailing but first we had a busy week between our normal day gigs and three charters including our first ever wedding charter. We picked up the happy couple after their reception at 22:30 and sailed around the harbor until after midnight.  We had that beautiful (super) full moon and a nice light breeze over the beam. Below are some photos of the pick-up at Liberty Wharf in South Boston.

Cubicle With Sails: Charlestown-Scituate

Linda was in a hurry to get started. Bob needed to put a full day of work in.
Around 1400, Linda cast off the lines and my cubicle was underway. My newly setup iPhone hotspot worked perfectly at the dock this week and now while underway!

Passing the recently-purchased Graves Light. Note the construction workers' porta-potty.

Linda motored most of the way out of the harbor but raised the sails (all by herself) out around deer island (I think).  I was doing java.  I finally closed up the office around 17:30 (note to boss, I started at 0630 today)

Enjoying an after-work beer. Note the product placement. Peroni: you know how to reach me

We're heading to Scituate for the weekend where we plan to meet up with friends on Saturday. We had a nice steady 15kt wind but it was on our nose hence all the tacking on our track below. Finally we motored the last couple miles because we wanted to make sure we could get a mooring.

We enjoyed Salmon and squash (from Whole Foods so not really a cost savings over going out for dinner) onboard. Later on we were treated to a surprise fireworks show from the carnival going on in town.

Scituate Morning 

After a nice calm night in Scituate Harbor, we woke up just in time to see the fog come in:

 

 

Sailing with Friends
Good friends Greg and Lee Ann came up from the South Coast to see Argon and go for a spin. Wind was light but Greg still got us going 6kts while at the helm.

 

Photos from Android

Working on a starboard tack	New owners fixing up the place
	Surprise fireworks show in Scituate

Chasing Arthur

What do you do after a hurricane passes? Go out in a sailboat of course.

My son Jon and his girlfriend Lyndsey visited us for the Fourth of July weekend (my birthday), and actually agreed to do an overnight sail with us.  This is a big deal because:

• My son is not a big fan of sailing
• We've never had guests stay overnight with us onboard before.

It turned out to be a bigger deal because the trip up to Salem was pretty extreme sailing.  The forecasts underestimated the wind by... a lot.  We were seeing True winds peak out in the low 40s.  Even Argon was a bit over powered and we ended up with nothing but a reefed Jib and we were struggling a bit.

This was definitely not a sail for inexperienced sailors to be on, but Jon and Lyndsey were absolute troopers about it.

At one point, Linda lost control of a Jib sheet and we had a pretty violent thrashing of the jib happen as well as a very sore and swollen wrist for Linda.  Later on, we noticed that the lowest batten pocket for the jib had torn open and the batten was gone! I assume it happened during this fiasco.

At this point my son says "And you find this relaxing?"  Well, not really at the moment.

When we finally pulled into Salem harbor, the winds were still up in the 30s. We watched a power boat try 5 times to catch a mooring next to us (we nailed it first try).

Birthday present testing
Jon got me a hammock from REI which can be tied up between the forestay and the mast. It's awesomely comfortable. It is also popular.

 

 

Jenga on a Sailboat
Definitely adds an element of challenge.  We eventually switched to blackjack and Jon cleaned up the table (winning a huge pot of fender washers from the spares kit).

Jon and Lyndsey went ashore on the Launch to explore Salem. Later we all went in for dinner at Fins. Much yumminess was had.

Linda in Sick Bay with her sore wrist on ice

Not a great picture but you can see the torn batten pocket on the jib

Chivalry is Dead

Last weekend, we had an issue while raising the main sail out in Boston Harbor. And by "we" I mean "Bob". The halyard had gotten around the front of the mast and got wrapped around our combination Steaming / Deck light fixture. When the sail got up to that height, it sheared the fixture right off the mast.

Telephoto shot of where the light used to be after the incident

Examination

Our good friends Emily and Greg have a Bosun's Chair and the came over to help us climb to examine the damage.  The worry was that the wiring inside the mast was damaged which would have been a very bad thing.

Emily went up and had a look.  Then Bob went up. This was Bob's first time aloft and he is not exactly a great fan of heights. Linda arrived from work while Bob was up sitting in the chair. Of course she wanted a turn too. You can see from these photos, who is more comfortable hanging 40 feet in the air.

The Good News
The wiring in the mast is fine. We tested everything with a volt meter and it's all good. We ordered a new light from Defender, and while shopping for that, noticed that they also make a stainless steel guard for it.  Hey - let's get one of those too!

The Repair
Bob was all set to go up in the chair.  Really he was. Sure it was going to require a shot of Gin first but still.  But Linda really wanted to go up and do the repair so that she could expand her CV and add this to her Fuel Systems Repair a few weeks ago.

There is light

That's her way up there

Installation of Light and Guard is complete

From Below

Linda's view while working on the light

She snapped this one from the chair

Long Weekend Before Career Transition: Charlestown-Rockport

Bob had the week off between jobs. Linda had a week from hell. The stars alligned and on Friday we were able to take off for a three day trip. Departed Boston around noon for Rockport where we could anchor for the night. We had a great ride up on a beam reach for most of the way. Bob predicted arriving at 1930. Actual was around 1900 (stil getting usd to how fast this boat goes) When we got to rockport there were only two other boats in the sandy bay anchorage. The next day the away team (us) went to town where Linda found the elusive perfect lobster roll. Destination for today would be Manchester. At 1630 we were on a transient mooring at Manchester marine.

Photos from Android

Zzzzzzzzzzz. Had a hard week	Looking north from our anchorage in Rockport	Smells too good
Rockport waterfront	Shuttle Craft	Bfg
Nessled in Manchester	Tied up at misery island	No crackers here
Away team in the beach	Misery island summit	Lets go here
View from misery	The old pump house at misery island