I enjoyed the Holidays in Vermont and caught up on all my Doctor, Dental and eye appointments (I even squeezed in a colonoscopy as well as a couple days on the ski slopes ). I’ve been away from the boat six weeks longer than I had intended and now it’s time to head for warmer weather.
My friend Gordon, who had helped me move the boat on my last leg, introduced me to Rick Walker as someone who loves the ocean and was interested in an adventure. Rick lives in South Woodstock, VT but spends much of his time with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on their 80′ Research Vessel “RV Martin Sheen”. Because of time constraints, Rick was unable to join Sea Shepherd on their latest voyage but was eager to join me for a quick trip from North Carolina to Florida. On Wednesday February 23rd I met Rick in Lebanon, NH and we took the Dartmouth Coach to Boston to board a plane to New Bern, NC. When we arrived on the boat, we found that the boat refrigerator had stopped working and also noticed that the hull cleaning I had previously scheduled had not been completed. After a few phone calls we were able to schedule a technician to repair the refrigerator on Friday. With the refrigerator now working, we could provision the boat. It was late Monday afternoon before we finally got the diver to clean the hull. The hull cleaning was important as a fouled hull, covered in sea growth, will slow our progress by as much 1 – 1-1/2 kts. / hr. Fully provisioned and with full fuel and water tanks, we were ready for an early Tuesday morning departure.