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Debating Health Care Reform
Carla Peay | 8/12/2009, 12:01 p.m.
Tristen Blue doesn€t eat; she is fed through a G-tube. She has had three major heart surgeries so her upper and lower extremities and her internal organs can get the blood flow needed to sustain her life. Born with a congenital heart condition, she has only two chambers in her heart instead of four, and will need special care for the rest of her life. Tristen is five-years-old.
€I drove here from Baltimore so that Congresswoman Edwards could hear my story,€ said Gloria Blue, 40, Tristan€s mother.
Blue was among the approximately 400 people who attended a town hall meeting on health care reform held by Maryland Congresswoman Donna Edwards (D-District 4) on Thu., Aug. 6 at the Oxon Hill Library.
€A lot of times people don€t hear the small voices. I pay out of pocket costs, about $1,000 every month, for my daughter in addition to the health care I have. My health insurance does not cover things like her medical equipment,€ Blue said.
Both Blue and her husband have to work more than one job to pay for all the things their insurance company does not cover, which includes Tristen€s food.
€I have written letters to my insurance company to try and get them to cover it, but the answer that they give me is that it€s not medically necessary. This is her only nutrition. I can€t let my child starve.€
Blue€s battle with her insurance company is a common story, and one of the issues Edwards addressed during her presentation and question and answer session regarding the health care reform legislation that is currently before Congress.
€We had a great turnout, and there were a lot of differing views in the room, but the important thing is to hear it out, and to let people know where I€m coming from. We know that passions are really high surrounding this issue, because each of us feels the health care system in a very different way,€ Edwards said.
Despite the highly publicized outbursts of health care reform opponents that have been breaking out across the county at town hall meetings, Edwards stressed the importance of civility during the meeting, and there were no incidents during the forum.
€We have to keep the tension and the tempers down because otherwise, I think it makes it really complicated to have an informed and productive discussion,€ Edwards said.
In addition to stories like Blue€s, citizens spoke of struggles with their insurance companies, of losing jobs and coverage and of being unable to afford health care. Likewise, there were members of the audience who were opposed to health care reform, or specifically, the bill that is currently before Congress, an approximately 1,000 page document that is available on-line at various Web sites, including Edwards€.
One such opponent was Mykel Harris, chair for Republican Central Committee for Prince George€s County.
€The primary concern I have about the bill is that it doesn€t work. By their own admission, it costs a trillion dollars. What she [Edwards] said is that it was going to be paid for with 1.2 percent charge on people who make over $500,000. The Congressional budget office says that there is not enough money in the millionaire€s tax to pay for this,€ Harris said.
But Harris did not articulate any specific details of a Republican alternative to the current heath care reform bill.
€I can€t tell you the details of it since I€m not in Congress, but I can tell you some of the things that have been proposed by both Democrats and Republicans in the past €" to put it on a market basis to allow you to own your own insurance program,€ said Harris, who supports a plan that would allow insurance companies from across the country to compete in Maryland, as well as other states. Harris also stressed the importance of Tort Reform, which he said is not in the current bill.
€One of the things they€re going to do to pay for it is to basically shove the Medicare costs back down to the states, so they achieve their savings by forcing Maryland to pay more. The bill is entitled the Affordable Health Care Act. Where is the affordability?€ Harris asked.
But Edwards€ stressed her belief that the U.S. cannot afford not to pass health care reform.
€It€s really clear that the system that we have now for millions of Americans is really unsustainable and unaffordable, and that if you€re not caught in a bind right now, I€ll give you a year, two years, 10 years €" you will be.€
Edwards also has a message for her fellow Democrats, the so-called Blue Dogs, which make up the more conservative element of the Democratic members of Congress, many of whom are opposed to the current health care reform bill.
€To my colleagues in Congress, I€d love to bring them out here to hear how people really are clamoring for us to do the right thing when it comes to their health care.€
Edwards told the crowd not to listen to the €talking heads,€ but to become informed consumers.
€There are ways to find information that will get you the answers that you need without relying on somebody else interpreting for you what this will mean in your life and to your family and for your health care coverage.€
The full legislation is posted on Edwards€ Web site at www.donnaedwards.house.gov. The bill can be found by searching Affordable Health Care Act of 2009.


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Michèle Roberts
Jeanne and Marie-Angele both grow up in the village of Ste-Marie-du-Ciel, and both survive the Nazi invasion. Jeanne, whose mother…
The Secret Gospel of Mary Magdalene
Originally published in England in 1984 under the title The Wild Girl, this is what has almost become a genre…
About our Reviews
Over the last 15 years The Historical Novels Review (the society's print magazine for our members) has published reviews of some 12,000 historical fiction books. We plan to upload them all and make them searchable here.

subset: commoncrawl


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True nutritional supplement
Formula designed to maximize digestibility
Scent and flavor enhancers included
Lightly mix with soil
Whitetail Institute's Imperial Whitetail 30-06 Plus Protein Supplement is a true nutritional supplement with essential macro and trace minerals and vitamins A, D and E. The inclusion of protein gives a deer herd the nutrients it needs to stay healthy and foster antler growth. Use a rake or shovel to clear a 2' - 3' area then mix the 30-06 in with soil to attract deer. Scent and flavor enhancers are included so deer will keep coming back for more. 5 or 20 lb bag.


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32 CFR Part 275, Appendix M to Part 275 - Format for Certificate of Compliance With the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978
Appendix M to Part 275—Format for Certificate of Compliance With the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978
[Official Letterhead]
Mr./Mrs. XXXXXXXXX
Army Federal Credit Union
Fort Anywhere, VA 00000-0000
Dear Mr./Mrs. XXXXXXXXX
I certify, pursuant to section 3403(b) of the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978, 12 U.S.C. 3401 et. seq., that the applicable provisions of that statute have been complied with as to the [Customer's authorization, administrative subpoena or summons, search warrant, judicial subpoena, formal written request, emergency access, as applicable] presented on [date], for the following financial records of [customer's name]:
[Describe the specific records]
Pursuant to section 3417(c) of the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978, good faith reliance upon this certificate relieves your institution and its employees and agents of any possible liability to the customer in connection with the disclosure of these financial records.
[Official Signature Block]
Title 32 published on 2015-07-01.
No entries appear in the Federal Register after this date, for 32 CFR Part 275.


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Medford's Donuts With a Difference 'Best of Boston'
July 29, 2014 | Business News, Medford Eats | 1 Comment|
Medford's Donuts With a Difference has made the 2014 Best of Boston list. The annual list includes 286 winners, according to Boston Magazine.
"Visit this delightfully retro storefront, and you'll be rewarded with melt-in-your-mouth honey-dipped spheres, jumbo coffee rolls, and coconut cake rings with the perfect bite. Best of all: Each confection is affordable enough to justify buying a dozen any day of the week."
As any Medford resident knows, it's always best to get to Donuts With a Difference early; their delicious treats go fast!
– InsideMedford.com
One Comment


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TORONTO — One of two men accused of plotting with al-Qaida members in Iran to derail a train in Canada became radicalized to the point that his father reached out to a Muslim support group for help and advice, a local religious leader said yesterday.
Muhammad Robert Heft, president of the Paradise Forever Support Group Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides support to Muslims in Canada, said Mohammad Jaser went to him citing concerns about the radicalization of his son.
"He came to me about his son, saying how concerned he was getting about the rigidness of his son and his interpretation of Islam," Heft said. "He was becoming self-righteous, becoming pushy, pushing his views on how much they (his family) should be practicing as a Muslim."
Jaser's son, Raed, 35, has been charged along with Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, with conspiring to carry out an attack and murder people in association with a terrorist group in their plot to derail a train that runs between New York City and Montreal.
Canadian investigators say the men received guidance from members of al-Qaida in Iran. Iranian government officials have said the government had nothing to do with the plot.
The discussions took place between 2010 and 2011, while the father was renting a basement apartment in Heft's home in Markham, Ontario.
Yesterday, the other suspect appeared in court where he made a statement suggesting he did not recognize the court's jurisdiction.
"This criminal code is not a holy book," Esseghaier said at the hearing. "We cannot rely on the conclusions taken out from these judgments."
At the hearing, Esseghaier rejected the allegations against him and declined to be represented by a court-appointed attorney.
Jaser appeared in court on Tuesday and did not enter a plea. The court granted a request by his attorney, John Norris, for a publication ban on future evidence and testimony.
Both men must return to court on May 23.


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Reneltta Arluk on "Night"...
At 2 pm today (April 24, 2011), Human Cargo is performing its newest play Night at the Factory Theatre in Toronto, ON. Reneltta Arluk, who plays Gloria Muktar in the play, describes her wonderful experience.
"An email arrives in my inbox from Christopher Morris the Artistic Director of Human Cargo, a Toronto-based theatre company. He has been given my name and is looking to meet up to discuss playing a role in his play Night. He tells me it is to fill the role of Gloria Muktar, best friend of Puiyuk Auqsaq. A doomed character from the beginning but truly one of the most hearted characters I had read for in a long time.
"The premise is that Gloria, pretending to be Puiyuk, strongly requests (via email) that her grandfathers' bones be returned to her family. This is in an attempt to help Puiyuk and her father, Jako heal from the loss of their mother/wife from a terrible snowmobile accident. The recipient of the email, Daniella Swan, compelled by this request risks her job and reputation and brings the bones back to Pond Inlet, Nunavut; the setting of the play. It is a play about the clash of cultures, good intentions, family dysfunctions and friendship. Christopher tells me that it will be performed in Gananoque, ON at Thousand Islands Playhouse and then tour to Nunavut where we will be performing it in Iqaluit, Igloolik and the place of inspiration, Pond Inlet. "Ever awesome!" I said.
"These are still the words I utter when I look back on that tour. You see, my father is Inuit and my mother is Chipewyan-Cree. My mother raised me as a single parent so I was raised culturally as First Nations. All my beliefs and understandings come from that sacred place for which I am very thankful but as a child of an absent father, especially one who also comes from such a rich culture, I felt like something was missing in my life. Part of me felt this…disconnect. The one thing great my father did when I was young was put me under his beneficiary, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC). It is like treaty but for Inuit people in the Northwest Territories. It was through them that I felt like I had a string of connection to an unidentifiable part of me. They knew who I was. They knew I was an Inuk, like them. They sent me newsletters, Christmas cards and helped pay for my education. As I got older I started reaching out to relatives from my father's side of the family. They always knew who I was, remembered me as a little girl, songs I used to sing to them, I used to speak the language they said. It was not that they had left me, they were just waiting for me to come back to them they said.
"This is one of the beautiful things I love about the Inuit/Aleut that although there is no common word to describe our people (other than Eskimo) we do not see blood quantum or boundaries. If you are an Inuk you are an Inuk and that's all. So although I am Inuvialuit of the Inuvik region of the Northwest Territories, I knew that going to Nunavut to be immersed and seen as an Inuk would alter my blood in some way. It sounds strange yes, but how else could I describe this? For lack of word space and time I won't go into details of this experience but all my life I have not known what it was like to be seen as Inuit first and then First Nations. To be seen as only Inuit, to be talked to as an Inuk and live as modernly as one can in the short time I was there changed me…melded me. We cannot control the pains we encounter in our lives nor can we always be healed from them but sometimes life gives you a gift and this was one of them. On the First Air flight from Iqaluit I was an Inuk all the way but when the wheels hit the runway in Yellowknife I knew was Dene again and that felt good too.
2 Responses to "Reneltta Arluk on "Night" (by Human Cargo)"
Nicely put Reneltta, there's no place like home and home is where the heart is. I'm glad you've found your sisters and brothers in so many places. It is a gift to know all the places you belong and to be wanted. You are such a warm and wise woman and I look forward to seeing you again this summer. Congratulations on a successful show!
Thanks so much for sharing. It is a wonderful and mysterious journey we have as humans, looping in and out of our past and our inherited perspectives, always finding the core of ourselves. We are so lucky to have art as our guide! Mahsi-cho!


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ARLINGTON, Va. — Terry Levee has been named director of the Food Marketing Institute's food safety programs. He'll be responsible for developing and implementing initiatives to help retailers meet critical food safety needs. Levee's food safety experience includes roles with Giant Food/Ahold USA and Winn-Dixie Stores. At Giant, he monitored companywide food safety performance to ensure all practices met Ahold, Giant, local, state, county and federal food safety standards and regulations. ...
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Ice storm
Someone ought to publish recipes that ice-constrained menus go into effect. What do you do with so much milk and bread?
We didn't shop for a week and survived, so far as I know. Once the initial surprise snowstorm has snowed itself out and only then does hunger strike little boys who are drenched and red-cheeked, and the snowstorm itself history.
We got regular updates on the part of the storm that bulldozed metro-Washington, D.C., and tried to ignore the infamy of "snow on snow, snow on snow on snow." When your grandsons have two feet of the stuff in their yard, it seems a bit pathetic to tell them that G-ma's and G-pa's place got nearly two inches, with drifting to 3-½. Inches.
We have always been on the southeastern sweep of bad weather, from when we realized that being just west of Harrisburg, Penna, meant we were shadowed, in a sense, from bad weather out of the west and north.
When we lived in southern New Jersey, it seemed as though the only bad (or good?) weather we got was usually petering out before it so much as dusted the land east and south of Philadelphia.
So now, of course, the pattern has swung out of our favor at all. We're south and east of Atlanta, where snow is truly exceptional. Curses, Red Baron! Foiled again!
Never lost power and never got really serious winds. Cold it was, so the thing to do was what we did, staying put and inching the gas-log flames up just a little. You heard it here first, "This is the best part of retirement, not HAVING to go anywhere."
Unabashed Über-consumers that we are, we had only one storm-related chore, and that was to buy a new electric mattress pad. The old one just stopped working and begged replacement. Naturally, just in time for the furnace to roar almost incessantly.
We feel like we could live forever on a pre-warmed mattress which stayed warm all night, grinning foolishly as two little kids, scrootching around to find nothing but toasty surfaces and feeling so smug.
By now we had a number of errands to run, none storm-driven, and we stopped at or phoned every place we could think of, to see if they still had an electric mattress pad to sell a couple of old fools grieving the demise of their own. After several hours and feeling chilled to the bone, we made one last foray into the Kmart in our own neighborhood, and guess what! You got it, there were two such pads: in Queen size, thermostat-controlled, with deep pockets for the mattress to tuck in right.
Seems like it took hours to work out which way the wires run, but other than that, all was well and we went to bed early, just to see how it was going to feel under our flimsy legs. Now we're looking at a new storm on the way, but we're ready.
Life is good.
[Sallie Satterthwaite of Peachtree City has been writing for The Citizen since our first issue Feb. 10, 1993. Before that she had served as a city councilwoman and as a volunteer emergency medical technician. She is the only columnist we know who has a fire station named for her. Her email is firstname.lastname@example.com.]
- Sallie Satterthwaite's blog
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SailNet Community (http://www.sailnet.com/forums/)
- General Discussion (sailing related) (http://www.sailnet.com/forums/general-discussion-sailing-related/)
- - Lost at Sea (http://www.sailnet.com/forums/general-discussion-sailing-related/56387-lost-sea.html)
Lost at Sea
It is with sad heart that I report my good friend George lost his boat just off the coast of Bermuda, 9 days into his around the world cruise. The following video on YouTube was taken by a passenger on the NCL Dawn during his rescue. There are two videos here, this is the link to the first one and the other one will come up as Rescue 2.
YouTube - Rescue 2
George spent 5 years 24/7/365 days to fix up his Vagabond 42 for this cruise. I posted George's log entries on Sailmonster.com in two parts in my blog section. It is too long to post here. The comments on the Second post are my perspective of the tragic event as well as others.
Account Login » SailMonster Part 1
Account Login » SailMonster Part 2 with my comments at the bottom
It makes for a good read and tons of lessons learned.
post it somewhere where we don't have to sign up to see it..
sailnet can handle a long post..
Did anything work for him on that trip?
Sad to hear.
What happened?
Saw the U tube video and what looks like a rescue attempt...heard the people on the ships 'comments' but don't really know what happened. If he left the boat, its really sad. Though I completely understand how the ocean can become too much for anyone.
He abandoned the boat. No engine , bulkheads moving, mainsail torn, water contaminated, no tow to Bermuda. The boat was still floating. Real horror story.
Quite a tale. Should be must reading for anyone going off shore... so many mistakes yet from an experienced cruisers. Lots of lessons.
Here is one case where the boat WAS falling apart more than the crew. This may also be the reason why Vagabond 42's are not on the Mahina Bluewater Boat lists despite protests that they should be.
Thanks for those links Mel. Sorry for your friends loss but given all the circumstances, abandoning the boat was probably the right decision for him.
Note...it is tough to get to the story on your blogs for non-members...it would be helpful if you could post it here or somewhere where it would be more easily accessible.
78 Attachment(s)
Melrna - I'm with Brakes - can you bring those articles over here? I don't want to sign up over there to read them. Like I need to belong to any more sailing forums.
Not enough bandwidth on my part...
Ok here is the log:
Lost in the North Atlantic
At the time I write this I had planned to be in the Azores Islands, I am instead in South America grieving the loss of GRINGO, which I had to leave near the Bermuda Islands. Though the decision was a no-brainer for me, losing my home still hurts a lot…In a nutshell, after a fast 7-day passage from Miami we arrived at the Bermuda. GRINGO was battered up by the heavy weather that we had encountered but still in one piece. Though the storm damage would have been reparable in port, I was unable to get a tow into Bermuda.
Continuing on a several week passage to the Azores, across the roaring forties (Latitude 40 N), without the engine, mainsail, mizzen, electricity (navigation lights, autopilot, and electronics), life raft, dinghy and a contaminated water-supply was too much of a risk to take, there was a
chance I could have pulled it through, but it was more likely to turn into a survival ordeal. It was with a heavy heart -but with no doubt in my mind that I was making the right call- that I left GRINGO. For those of you interested in the details, here is the full-blown tale.
It was June 16 2009 at 6 AM local time (10:00 Zulu), when GRINGO and I left the port of Miami for the port of Horta on the Azores Islands. The first day was uneventful as I charted a course following the Average Axis of the Gulf Stream. This served the purpose of picking up the most current in our favor, but also as traffic separation from South-bound vessels as they all kept a good 4 to 6 miles away from the axis. It was very hot and the seas were calm; the wind was 5 MPH from the South. At barely 1500 RPM we were making turns for at 6 KTS, while picking up a 3 KTS current. GRINGO´s theoretical displacement hull speed is 8 KTS, which means that anything above 8KTS implies pushing water or surfing instead of "displacing water"; though on the water we were only making 6 KTS, over the ground we were at 9 KTS. Progress was swift and spirits were high.
At dawn on the second day, a nasty chop had developed after a night of fast –moving thunderstorms that left behind some very confused seas. The seas were only 3-4 FT but with a very short interval and coming from all directions, making the motion very uncomfortable.
The battery of 16 Jerry jugs full with Diesel and Drinking Water that I carried on the port-side of foredeck was lashed "spider web" style to the 15 FT aluminum boarding scaffold that doubled as a boarding board, but with the violent motion some managed to sneak out of the web and a Diesel jug spilled all its 6 GALS on deck, making for a VERY slippery deck. Two water Jerry jugs also managed to pop their caps and spill everything on deck. I re-lashed all the jerry jugs with more webbing thinking that this time they would stay put, but I was wrong, once the jugs get a little play, the constant motion keeps them tugging at their lashings and its only a matter a timer before they worked loose again. I had encountered the same problem before, and I chided myself for not building a crate or at least having a two by four to "sandwich" the jerry jugs together. By noon I had enough of the nasty washing-machine motion, and having already cleared the Bahamas, I changed course to the East so as to get out of that very uncomfortable windagainst-current situation. The change of course produced the desire result, s few hours later we had left the nasty chop behind and we were now making good progress towards Bermuda at 6 KTS.
A significant problem was discovered when I tried to refill the galley 2.5 gallon water dispenser on the galley: I found out that the water was over-chlorinated. When I refilled the jerry jugs at the marina fuel dock, I found that some of the water had turned green over the last two weeks, so instead of just adding a teaspoon of chlorine to each jerry jug, I added a dash. And a larger dash for the water tanks… as a result, the water was completely undrinkable. I figured that in time the chlorine would evaporate and that in the meantime I could accelerate the evaporation process by boiling it, but since I had a supply of bottled water for a few days in the fridge and a water-maker that I could rig, I was not too worried about it.
Considering the two-plus days of motoring with no wind, the spilled diesel and the water supply problem, that night I decided to call on the Bermuda Islands to top of the fuel tanks, so that I could motor through the Azores high, into the Azores. High pressure systems have little or no wind in them and are geo-stationary for long periods, a sailing vessel can get stuck in
them for couple weeks while making no progress… Topping the tanks would allow me to motor for a couple of days instead of drifting at 1 KT toward my destination, or even more demoralizing: drifting away from it!
According to the Pilot Charts, the Gulfstream is supposed to curve towards the East in the Sea of Sargasso, were I was, yet the direction of the current proved to be quite elusive: sometimes we were picking up 1.5 to 2 KTS and sometimes we had 1 to 1.5 KTS against us. I attributed this phenomena to the many eddies created as the Gulfstream flows like a river on the open ocean Northeast of the Bahamas.
The seas remained calm and there was a light breeze from the South-Southwest. The sails came out and we were making 5 KTS with Jib, Staysail, Mainsail and Mizzen. GRINGO looked great, the motion was mild and from one direction only, so life was good. Before noon, the wind died and we could not keep 3 KTS, so I fired up the engine again. After two days of sailing I was down to half a tank of diesel, so I loaded four 6 GALS jerry jugs into the tank. This Diesel was from Admiral Oil, as opposed to the one in the tank which was from the gas station at 22 nd Avenue and 22nd Street. At first, I wanted to conserve fuel in order to be able to motor across the Azores high pressure zone, but I did not want to dilly-dally West of the Bermuda Islands and risk having a surprise encounter with a Tropical Storm or -even worse- a full blown Hurricane. Once East of Bermuda, GRINGO and I would be out of the Hurricane Alley, more infamously known as the "Bermuda Triangle".
Around noon I received a call on the VHF: "Sailing vessel 60 degrees from my starboard bow, this is United States Warship." The warship was trawling a large sonar array. After arranging with their skipper for a passage with a 3NM separation, he asked me if I had seen a submarine in the vicinity... he explained that they were hunting for a (hostile?) submarine that had been
sighted earlier. We were 140 miles East of Cape Canaveral and there was a shuttle launch in progress which had been already delayed a couple of times. I wondered if the sub sighting had anything to do with the delay…
A couple of hours later, we approached NOAA Super-Buoy "41010" which I was very curious to inspect. The buoy is all painted in yellow and resembles a 30-FT trawler built in heavy steel with all sorts of equipment on deck and on the roof. Colliding with it would for sure ruin your day! There are two interesting facts about this "Super" buoy, the first is that it is located on
2700 feet of water (yep, that is half a mile deep, about 850 meters!) To anchor it with a 5 to 1 rode you would need to lay two and half miles of cable!!! The second fact is that it was located almost two nautical miles South East of its charted position; I couldn't help to wonder
if this was its normal swinging radius… In any case it is a significant danger for short-handed small boats. There are a few of these buoys on the Eastern seaboard, but you would need detailed charts to find them.
After sighting "41010" and taking a few pictures, I change course to due North, impatiently looking for the Westerly wind that would carry us to Bermuda. Despite the calm weather that surrounded us, I knew that we wind would come and come it did.
The wind finally came in. It was blowing from the Southwest at a steady 15 to 20 MPH, and it picked up to 20 to 25 MPH in the afternoon. We were sailing as the saying goes: "three sheets to the wind" at 6 to 7 KTS under jib, mainsail and mizzen. GRINGO was comfortable with the wind, but the short, steep seas were a problem. As GRINGO rolled, the sails regularly collapsed and then filled up with an extremely violent tug on the sheets. I solved the problem on the mainsail and mizzen by rigging preventers downwind. These worked great and were really life-savers for the sails.
The jib problem was solved by rigging a spinnaker pole to windward, complete with topping lift, foreguy and aftguy. Handling the pole on a heavy pitching and rolling deck is no picnic, every few seconds I had to hang on with both hands in order to stay onboard! But all the effort that I put in rigging the pole system paid off now, as I was able to deploy the whole thing in small increments, never out of control. Once rigged, I trimmed it in a straight line with the mainsail boom, a similar arrangement to what a square rigged vessel does. The seas were on the beam at 8-12 feet with a short period, making for a very uncomfortable ride. Motion relief could have come from changing course a few points to North, but I had already decided to call on the Bermudas and did not want to be blown to the North, since it would had been very hard –if not impossible- to make any Southing later on. If we wanted to make landfall, I had no choice but to stay the course to Bermuda, and damn the seas on the beam. To complicate things, there was a second train of swells coming from the South and when the two swells synchronized and joined, it made for 15-20 feet seas. That means that when GRINGO was on the trough (-20 feet), the waves (+20 feet) were taller than the mizzen mast. I had encountered much larger waves in the South Pacific, but this time the period between waves was much shorted, resulting in extremely sharp wave faces, especially when waves from the two wave trains synchronized. Every few minutes, a very large wave would hit GRINGO rolling her on her side making me brace with both hands...
The ride was miserable, but all-in-all I was coping fairly well. All chores aboard became extremely difficult: forget about cooking, I ate the sandwich ingredients one at a time while bracing myself with the other hand and shifting all my weight to one leg. Taking a leak became an adventure on itself, as I had to brace myself hand-on-hand just to make it to the head.
When we were hit by one of the large steep waves, the roll was so violent that it threw me on the lee-lines that I had rigged in the starboard settee, in lieu of the lee-canvas. Staying in the cockpit was not comfortable, nor safe and I kept getting thrown out of the starboard berth was To my surprise the wide master cabin was much more comfortable, since I was laying in an athwarship position, I was able to read a book or sleep, though once in a while a deep roll would slide me down to port with mattress, featherbed, pillows and comforter. I would end up standing on the "foot of the bed" for a few seconds and having to rearrange al the bed items again and again... Nevertheless, sleeping athwart-ship vs. fore-and-aft was comfortable and I was very grateful that the aft cabin gave me that option.
Some of you may be wondering what happened with all the loose stuff that was on the shelves. Well, believe or not, all the stuff loose on the shelves -and also all the stuff loose on deck held somehow managed to hand in place! But the pantry doors manage to work loose of the lock and spilled the contents on the cabin sole… I spent two hours cursing like a drunken sailor, while crawling on the floor, cleaning broken glass, all this while fighting motion sickness.
Before sunset I lost the mainsail when the leech tape stitches gave in and the tape started flying like a pennant. The panel stitching was also breaking up as the sail luffed while I rolled it in, but since I had caught in time, I figured that I could re-stitch it in port and make it good again. Rolling the mainsail proved to be a major challenge, as this task required that GRINGO
be pointed into the wind while the sail was being rolled. This was made difficult enough by the high seas, but further complicated by the fact that the roller-furler took a loooong time to roll while the mainsail was luffing. Meantime, the jib and the staysail would also be taking a beating, so I had to roll the headsails in before rolling the mainsail. All this, while motoring to
keep the boat pointing into the wind. During one of these maneuvers the engine high temperature alarm came in, I shut it down and when I looked into the engine room it was full of smoke. I vented the compartment and waited until the engine cooled down. At first I thought that it had lost the coolant through a loose hose but no, the coolant level was fine. I tried to start the engine again and had to shut it down right away as it was exhausting inside the engine compartment. The gassing was very bad, I could not keep the engine running even for a few seconds to see where it was coming from, without getting sick right away. I suspected a blown head gasket, but then I found out that the hose from the exhaust riser (the manifold) to the muffler had melted down. Obviously this was the result of overheating due to the lack of raw water flow. I checked the hoses and they were all attached, so it could have been either a failure of the raw water pump (impeller?) or a clogged heat exchanger. I suspect that the problem was caused by barnacles in the lines dying and clogging the heat exchanger. In any case, a repair at sea was out of the question, unless were encountered a calm, but no calm seas were in store for us. Another challenge was to find a replacement for the 3" exhaust hose, or the means to mend it, not to mention that access to the engine compartment was tortuous, at best.
The wind picked up to 25 to 30 and the seas too. I was puzzled by the steep swell which I could not explain by the current wind we were encountering, so I started to suspect that there was some heavy weather to the South of my position. After all, my last weather report was three days old, and it doesn´t take long for tropical weather to form. I figured that the weather was still far away and that since we were travelling perpendicular to it, we should be able to get out of its way should it decide to track North. To confirm my suspicions, the barometer kept dipping at a slow but steady pace. We were now sailing under staysail and mizzen only. It was great sailing, GRINGO was making good time at 6 to 8 KTS, keeping a steady course thanks to the full keel, after all, this was what the boat was design to do.
Unfortunately, the waves were much larger than what the wind warranted and we were taking quite pounding, hour after hour. A major problem developed when the shackle holding the dinghy bow to the davit lifting bar parted. The dinghy was left hanging from the transom to one davit and both the dinghy and the lifting bar where banging wildly on the transom. The best course of action would have been to cut it loose and stop any further damage, but since I had no liferaft (the dinghy was my survival platform), I was reluctant to cut it loose. Instead, I decide to lash the good shackle tight to the transom, so as to reduce the movement, and to let it play out. There was always time to cut it loose if things got out of hand… like the dinghy showing up for a visit inside the aft cabin! Jumping in the dinghy to attach something to the bow lift-harness was out of the question, even after lashing the rear harness tight to the transom, the dinghy was bucking wildly and I would not have lasted two seconds in it. Never mind that it was difficult enough to get back on board GRINGO in a calm anchorage, it would have been easier to ride a mechanical bull with no hands than to climb back up the transom with the sea motion. Cutting the tender loose and bringing it along side GRINGO in order to lift it up was also impossible: imagine trying to pull the dinghy transom first, semi-logged with water was a sure ways to lose it on the first wave that passed...
Life on board came to stand still, I was able to do the basics, but every task became very difficult, mostly because of the need to maintain balance. Work on deck was particularly dangerous due to the seas hitting us abeam which caused the deck to buck widely up and down, while dangerously rolling deeply. Even laying down on the cockpit was not safe, because I kept been thrown out of the settee. But I was managing to move around with difficulty, lashing things that became loose, trimming sails and untangling lines on the foredeck. By the way, I never got around to building a canvas cover for the windlass and surely enough, just as I had feared, the leeward sheets kept tangling on the windlass brakes when I slacked them. By taking enough time to do each task and taking long breaks in between, I was able to thwart seasickness and fatigue. I felt proud of being able to overcome all the challenges and felt a deep sense of accomplishment.
Notwithstanding my positive frame of mind, some disturbing thoughts were brewing in my head. GRINGO´s hull was flexing and the deck was creaking a lot. Places that had been recently caulked and should not have been leaking were leaking like a sieve, for example the cabin portholes, the chainplates and the mast base. Having properly caulked them with abundant sealant, the only possible explanation left for the leaks was that the hull was flexing.
A very disturbing thought indeed... I inspected all the accessible bulkhead-hull joints and they look like they were moving. The confirmation came later in the day, when I felt the floor move. You could stand on certain spots and feel the floor boards bucking… As I replayed all these findings in my mind, I came to the conclusion that the bulkhead-hull joints were delaminated or flexing, which had previously caused GRINGO´s hull to flex, cracking the
external gelcoat. The telltales had been there, but I had mistaken attributed the multitude of hairline cracks to gelcoat aging instead of the real cause: hull flexing.
Though there was no immediate danger to the hull, it was clear that GRINGO was in no condition to go around the world. Regularly sailing in high latitudes while encountering strong-winds and high-seas, or even just going through a particularly nasty storm, would eventually tear GRINGO´s hull apart. The cure is very straightforward: remove all the bulkhead and floor joints from the hull and then reattach them with a proper resin lamination.
Easier said than done! This implies removing EVERYTHING from the boat, including the bulkheads (walls, for you landlubbers) and cabin sole (floor), then tearing out the interior and grinding out the fiberglass surfaces before laying several fiberglass layers to reattach them. Cost, time and the logistics of not being able to live in the boat while doing this, precluded a
repair in my near future...
Incidentally, when I bought ALLEY CAT, my previous boat, a Catalina 38 (a Sparkman and Stephens design) it had a tinny Danforth anchor and the insurance company gave me 30 days to replace it. Before the 30 days were over, ALLEY CAT was anchored on a cove at Anacapa Island and when the wind veered she dragged anchor and ended up on the rocks. I was able to
get it out with a heavy commercial tow that was at a nearby oil platform, but only after halfhour of being lifted by the waves and then pounded on the rocks, it was not a pretty experience. As a result of the grounding, the fin keel became loose and there was damage to the bulkhead-hull joints. The later one was discovered after insurance company had authorized the work on the yard, and was repaired at GREAT cost: the insurance company
paid more than $60K to the yard, on a boat that I had just purchased for $40K... This was a blessing in disguise, as ALLEY CAT was late on able to withstand severe weather with no damage, while a friend on a much heavier boat saw its floor boards pop-up from hull flexing, while sailing hard on a fresh breeze in Australia.
One thing was for sure, my dream of globe-trotting on GRINGO was over. While the hull could hold its own forever on mild sailing conditions, it would come apart on the seams if stressed hour-after-hour, day-after-day, month-after-month, on high-seas and high-winds. After five years of effort, and a year dedicated to prepare the boat for cruising, my mind refused to
accept this obvious conclusion. It took me a while to process and accept this, but eventually I came to the accept it, there was no feasible alternative.
Sunrise came and I was in good spirits. Nights are always long and sometimes they feel like never-ending, sunrises never fail to lift me up. I had decided to enjoy the sailing time that I had and that nothing was going to keep me from it. After all GRINGO was still good for some local cruising and a great home to live in. Now and then, the Southerly wind went down to 20-
25 MPH and a couple of hours later it was back at a steady 30-35 MPH, occasionally gusting 50- 60 MPH. GRINGO was tracking nicely under Staysail alone doing 6-7 KTS, but holding a 94 degree magnetic course (90 degrees true) was a major challenge. Steering 115 degrees, we were able to gain some Southing a few feet at a time, but when we were hit by one of the
"synchronized" large waves we would lose several hundred feet of cross-track error (XTE). Steering more that 110-115 degrees caused the staysail to occasionally collapse, loosing even more ground. The course had to be kept, or we would blow by Bermuda without a chance of coming back.
Dealing with the Mizzen sail proved to be a major challenge. Though the Dutchman/StakPak system worked great, it requires the sail to be luffing. Pointing to the wind without the engine assistance was very difficult to do with the large seas. Most important of all, the mizzen boom
height required me to climb and stand in top of the aft deck table underneath the rapidly swinging mizzen boom in order to reach the canvas while lowering the sail. On a heavy pitching and rolling deck this was extremely hard to do as there was always the imminent risk of being thrown out clean out of the boat.
Another troubling discovery was that the generator was not getting any fuel. After much work tracing the clog, I was able to open the inspection lid on the fuel tank and pulled the intake tube out. To my dismay, I discovered that the Diesel had turned to syrup and that the pick-up tube was clogged with gravel… I reckon that the either the Diesel from Admiral Oil which "May
have ethanol." or the constant violent motion from the storm, had caused the hard and soft deposits inside the tank to become loose, resulting in a gooey ¼ tank with loose gravel on the bottom… and all my fuel was in that tank. I cleaned it up and fired up the generator, but it soon died again. The Racor filter manometer read "-25 PSI" again, instead of the normal -5 PSI,
or even the 10-12 PSI when the filter elements need to be replaced. The tank would need to be emptied, the gravel removed, the insides scrubbed, re-filled with clean fuel and the lines purged. A few days project to do in port, but out of the question under gale-strength winds and seas.
Today, we would make landfall on Bermuda. Calm waters, a good meal, several hours of sleep, many projects to tack and a new and exciting port environment, full with new sights and unusual characters. Conditions were as miserable as the day before, but despite all the issues that had popped, I felt confident and I was in control, though a bit anxious about the Bermuda landfall. Since I did not plan to call in here, I had no detailed charts to guide me in, so I would have to depend on their tow in service. Because the islands have claimed countless ships over the years, Bermuda has a very developed maritime system, reaching to all vessels within 30 NM of the island. Buoys are not reliable, but they do have a radar station, a traffic control radio, and a towing service to bring vessels in. The Sailing Directions stated that the towing service was strongly recommended for all vessels without detailed current charts, as the reef pass is very dangerous and more so in heavy weather.
Bermuda is an old island, much smaller than when it was born. The reef, which grows an inch a year, marks the perimeter of the original volcano island. This reef goes up to 12 NM out. The only vessel entrance is in the East end. I was coming from the West, so I had to cross the island in order to get in. I had planned to take the island to Port, so as to have the wind behind when approaching the entrance, but the Sailing Directions were very specific about recommending against it, favoring an approach from the North. With the strong Southerly wind, it made sense not to have the island on the leeside and sailing to lee of the island should also provide some protection from the Southerly swells, so I changed my approach plan. It later proved to be a critical mistake.
The wind was unchanged, but the seas somehow were bigger. Progress became slow. I was concerned about making landfall late on the day and having to enter the harbor at night, so I trimmed the staysail for comfort instead of speed, and resigned myself to making landfall on the next morning. The boat interior was a mess and there were water leaks were they should have been none, but we were about to make landfall, and there would be time to fix things in port. My bottled water supply was almost exhausted, so I started hitting the OJ. I sighted a couple of ships, one of which was a huge Japanese container carrier that crossed in front of me. It was quite a sight to see the waves crashing on the side of this monster hull and the spray and
foam jettison deck high. The night was busier than previous, as I needed to keep an eye on traffic since we were approaching land and as vessels converge to a point, the risk of collision increases exponentially. Also, we were pinching, which meant that I needed to adjust course often in order to make landfall. We were tracking true, but it required constant attention and
effort to get all the Southing that we could and not get blown up North, out of reach of Bermuda.
The wind remained unchanged. Though I could not see the island, I knew that we were slightly North of the West end reef. The VHF chatter had increased, which told me that there were several vessels in the vicinity. I was able to establish radio contact with Bermuda Radio and I requested a tow from the NE corner of the island. A few hours later they could see us on their radar screen, and I was asked to report every hour. The lee of the island provided little or no protection from the seas, so I still had hard time keeping the course. I spotted a sloop (a sailboat with a single mast) a few miles South of our position, hugging the reef making way on a Westerly course under deeply reefed mainsail and a tiny storm jib. They were probably heading for a tight pass on the NorthWest side of the reef, but I could not confirm
this. Rain kept coming and going, making for poor visibility.
When I was closing on the rendezvous position with the tow, I got on the VHF and requested confirmation that the tow vessel was on its way. Bermuda Radio surprised me with another rendezvous point several miles South of the first position. Since this was straight upwind, over the next several hours I tried every I could to get them to meet me a bit North, but due to the heavy weather, they commercial towing company refused to go out… they said that they did not wanted to risk their lives. Towing a 25 ton vessel in heavy seas is no picnic, when a large wave hits the tow, it displaces is with the inevitable tug on the towing cable. In mild conditions, a long towing cable with its deep catenary can absorb this motion, but in heavy weather the load can make the towing vessel to go backwards and founder. Large commercial tows use a wire spool with a clutch, so that when the tow pulls hard there is no danger to the towing vessel. And there is also the risk of the cable parting and slicing through the crew bodies… I can't blame the guys for refusing to go out.
While still trying to get the tow guys to meet me, I tried everything I could to make some way upwind, but it was useless, the GPS showed little or no upwind progress while tacking and coming about was an ordeal, as the waves prevented GRINGO's from crossing the wind. Each tack I lost ground… I also tried to start the engine and let it fill the cabin with fumes, but it
soon died from fuel starvation. Now I had a cabin full with smoke! With a pounding headache from the fumes, I opened some hatches so as to get some cross ventilation while I sat on the cockpit going over and over my options.
The weather forecast was for 30-35 KTS and rain to continue for several days. Sailing back west ward to make another approach was a dicey proposition. With the increased seas after several days blowing I may not be able to make landfall on the Island after turning and coming
back East. I tacked back and forth in the lee of the island, but I was unable to make any Southing. I even tried to ride the current eddies on the edge of the island, to no avail. I tried with and without the mizzen, it made no difference, the heavy seas were pushing us downwind faster than any tiny upwind progress that we could make. The GPS "crumbs" showed the track history, which told the whole story: no progress. The result of all that
exhausting sailing effort was just to prevent us from drifting downwind… and I could not sustain it throughout the night, much less over several days. It reminded me of the accounts of old ships unsuccessfully trying to "claw" their way out of a lee shore in the middle of a storm hour after hour, only to lose the battle in the end. On one of the tacks, the bailer for the mizzen sheet blew clean out of the boom. With the boom swinging widely, I painfully rigged a preventer to the rigid, but fragile rigid boom vang attachment to stop the swinging that threatened to "bat" me out of the boat. It worked, but a much better attachment point was needed for the sheet if the sail was to be deployed. Lashing a line to the end of the boom was an option, but this would require me to climb on top of the table, put one foot on top of the aft railing and another on top of one of the davits in order to attach the lashing behind the sail. Not an easy task to do with the vessel at anchor, but on a rolling and pitching deck, where I could barely keep my balance crouching, this was out of the question. Now the mizzen was out of commission until we got some respite from the heavy weather and I could do a proper repair.
Heaving-to would take me further North, making a Bermuda land fall impossible unless the wind shifted to the West, which was not bound to happen any time soon. The most likely scenario was that tacking or heaved-to, GRINGO would drift further North, scrapping any chance of a landfall within a week.
By sun down I was physically exhausted from tacking without success, attempting everything I could think of to make some upwind progress towards the rendezvous point, now 15 miles upwind. My brain was also tired from jugging all the options, weighting the probabilities and possible outcomes without coming up with any good answers. The only possible course of action was to continue unto to the Azores and with all the problems I had onboard, that was a very dicey proposition. I needed some rest, so I heaved-to, ate something and went to sleep while GRINGO kept drifting downwind at 1 KT.
At midnight I woke up and reviewed all my options, which I already had analyzed time and time again. I contacted Radio Bermuda and ask them whether they had found any vessel willing to tow GRINGO, now virtually disabled, but nobody wanted to deal with a tow in heavy weather.
Looking at the GPS, we were approaching the 25 NM mark, so by dawn I would lose VHF contact with Bermuda. The HF radio was not working. The 406 MHZ EPIRB would be my only outside contact, and it had a 5 year old battery… life support –even without the comfort of electricity- was dicey because of the tainted water supply, the dinghy could not last a few weeks if left hanging on one tackle (I was surprised it had lasted three days), I had limited propulsion to make a very slow passage to the Azores, a good chance of getting stuck for days or weeks on the nearby high, and without electricity no autopilot, no chartplotter and no radar. If someone offered me a million bucks, I would not have jumped on board for this passage. It was time I got out and try to find someone to tow GRINGO into port. I called Bermuda Radio and told them that I was declaring an emergency, and that I was requesting a salvage tow, which meant that the vessel would now have to be sold to pay for the salvage and hopefully I could have all my personal items shipped somewhere. They arranged for a rendezvous with the closest vessel, the cruiseship NORWAY DAWN, carrying 2800 passengers and 1000 crew.
On June 24, at 3 AM local time (0600 Zulu), the NORWAY DAWN maneuvered to the windward of GRINGO and launched a tender. By 3:15, I had unleashed the dinghy, walked it alongside, tied it to starboard and boarded it with a small bundle of personal effects (the giant cruise ship
was acting as a breakwater, there was huge surge, but no; transferred to their tender with three people, and we were hoisted out of the water and into one of the upper decks via a crane cable. From there I saw GRINGO disappear into the dark rainy night…
The ship crew was extremely helpful. After a trip to the hi-tech bridge -where I made a last unsuccessful plea for a tow- I took a shower, was given a medical, and I was shown to passenger cabin. My mind was numb, but eventually I got some sleep… at 8 AM the ship was at an alternate dock on the West end of the island. There was a custom official on board
checking in the ship passengers so that they could go ashore, but he refused to check me in, instead directing me to go downtown, which ended up being a two hour drive in the traffic and rain. Fortunately, once ashore I was able to persuade a K-9 customer official into giving me a ride to downtown. After the formalities of checking in myself and GRINGO (don't ask me why…), I went about to find a tow. GRINGO was only 25 NM out there and I just needed a vessel that could go and fetch it. By now I was set on salvage, so cost was not a problem. I was told that the only tows that might go out were the government ones, which charged an exorbitant amount (something like $150K for the whole thing) and that even then it would take a long time to complete the formalities an get them moving. I spoke with the harbormaster who promised to look into the fishing fleet (I had already exhausted all the maybe's that customs gave me).
Back on the NORWAY DAWN, I was told by the hotel people that I could stay until Friday, when the ship had to leave, but later on they told me that security required me to leave the next day. Bermuda is extremely expensive and my funds were limited, so I had already reserved an AM flight on Thursday and Friday. I booked the Thursday flight and was lucky to get an
upgrade with my miles.
As I sat on the plane, waiting for take-off I was thinking that I had being privileged to been able to pursue my dream, even if the dream didn't pan out as I hoped.
What will happen to GRINGO? The vessel has an extensive battery bank and two solar panels. Before leaving, I turned everything off, except for the strobe light and the bilge pumps. Problem is that the propeller shaft uses water as a lubricant, so there is a constant drip of sea water coming into the bilge which would accumulate overtime. If the solar panels are able to keep up with the strobe light consumption, the bilge pumps will have enough power to cycle ON now and then, keeping the bilge dry. If not, the bilge water will slowly accumulate and eventually encumber the vessel until she is low in the water and a wave swamps it and she founders. There is a strong possibility however, that the solar panels will produce enough power to keep up with the strobe light (or that the strobe light bulb will burn out) and that there is enough power to keep the bilge pumps, which only run occasionally for few seconds. If the bilge stays dry, GRINGO will stay afloat drifting due East with the prevailing wind and currents, either heaved-to or with the staysail pinching at about 1 KT (waves and wind could cause her to come out of the heave-to). This would put GRINGO near the European coast in about 3 months, by the end of September. Depending on the currents and local winds at the time, GRINGO could be blown off ashore, making landfall anywhere, or, following the Southern the current South turn, it may end off the North coast of Africa in a few more months. If the vessel is found, it is more likely than not it would be sacked… but there is a very slim hope that a government vessel could tow it back into port for investigation. Time will tell.
Losing one's home is a very emotional experience; I am still recovering from it. I have replayed the scenario in my head a thousand times and I am still convinced that I made the right decision. But rationale aside, the loss still hurts. They say that time heals all wounds… Well, if there is something I have plenty of right now, that's time.
Until the next time we meet!
George had no insurance on the boat. It would have never passed survey. As more and more details are coming in on this George made every know error in seamanship. First he never did a shake down cruise. He never sailed this boat since he owned it. It was towed to the Marnia when he bought it. For 5 years it only left the dock less than a handful of times and all except one on the motor. Second, he lost his electronics 6 hours into the sail. We told him to turn back to fix them before continuing on. He refused. His damm South American macho BS got in the way. Here are the rest of the errors.
Knew all the tanks were bad both fuel and water. One water tank was inoperable. Never polished the fuel before leaving.
Unproven sailplan. All the rigging and running rigging was re-invented on this boat.
Electrical wiring.. Each bulb, equipment or anything electrical had its own wire run. While it sounds grand, it wasn't done properly and we told him so.
Engine - sat for over 8 years. He ran it a few times but never for any length of time. Had a few problems with it and fixed what was needed but from the blog it let him down. He had every known spare except a muffler hose for that engine.
His mainsail shouldn't have came apart like it did. It was restitched and like new. Also, he should have been able to reef it in any wind direction being a furling mainsail. I am puzzled by this. George, having never sailed this boat and unfamiliar with a roller furling mainsail he made a huge error.
The boat or George himself wasn't ready for such a voyage. But one cannot argue with a man when his mind is made up. He thought it would be like his Coconut Milk Run in the Pacific where he took a Coastal Cruiser Catalina 38. The Atlantic is different especially the North Atlantic.
Some more thoughts. Well I might belittle George, first and foremost he was a true friend. He and I went sailing on my boat a few times and I went twice on his, both times motoring; one to get his boat out of dry dock after a 4 month refit on deck and hull and another to the sandbar. I have seen this boat go from a total waste to it last state of near completion. He was a very handy man with considerable boat craftsman skills. When ever I needed a part he always had it on his boat. In someways he was better than West Marine. His waterline was a foot or two lower by the amount of tools and spare parts. He help me a few times to over come problems that I faced on my own boat. In his own right he was an able body seaman. How many can say they had over 10,000 miles of sea time, all of cruising the Pacific in a Catalina to boot. Most of it was single handle or with an Admiral who knew almost nothing about sailing.
This a tragedy that hurts me to the core. For those of us that dream of bluewater sailing, armchair with other sailors blogs there are many lessons learned here. The man had considerable seamanship, more than most beginner cruisers. He had a solid made, reputable bluewater cruising boat that is made to take the world oceans. However, as one can see judgement and boat came together to create such a disaster when mother nature doesn't play by the rules. Georges judgement began to fail when the cut the lines at all cost mentality started to corrupt his thought process. He worked on this boat for 5 years with set back after set back on getting systems right. We saw a change in his mood and thoughts about 6 moths ago. He set a date to cut the lines and by golly "Damm the torpedo's full speed ahead" he did. He lived on the hook, just outside the marina, for about 2 months after his date to finish the boat. It wasn't ready. We told him it wasn't ready. Go cruising in the Bahamas for 2 months or go up the East Coast to shake out the boat. He said no, for he was trying to beat the weather Gods before Hurricane season to cross the Atlantic to Spain, down to the Verde Islands to get to Brazil before winter. Put as we know the weather on the East Coast has been the weirdest on record with very cold wx to the NE, to storm after storm hitting everyday since April the entire east coast. All the cruisers have been complaining about what a horrible winter it was in the Bahama/Turks chain. As they made the annual Pilgrimage up the East Coast the rain, thunderstorms, and windy conditions made everyone hunker down vs cruising. George saw all this and figure the Atlantic crossing was better than what we proposed. In some ways it was as I was flying back and forth to Europe and saw the weather below. Most of the time everything east of 40 W past Bermuda was looking pretty good. Just had to get there.
So the bottom-line is here is man who had the knowledge with a true bluewater boat failed. Failed due to judgement, pride and dignity getting in the way of sound seamanship. Both the man and the boat failed because neither were properly prepared.
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text:
Little Village is a waterfront shopping and entertainment venue located in historic St Andrews. A place where you can trade in the sun and sand for shade and serenity. At Little Village you can find items from around the world and from local artists. Much of our inventory comes from fair trade companies that pay above average wages to the craftsmen and give back to improving the living conditions of their communities. That's why we like to call it "feel good shopping" because chances are that what you are buying is having a positive impact on someone less fortunate.
HOURS of OPERATION
Tues – Sat 10am-9ish
Sun 11am-5ish
Closed Monday
Hungry? Little Village joined forces with Finns Island Style Grub. Bringing you some of the tastiest, freshest menu items you'll find anywhere on the Gulf Coast. Call 215-9273 for phone-in orders or check out their menu on http://www.facebook.com/FinnsIslandStyleGrub