Wet, WET and More Wet. or how I love Ireland!!

He llo all. we're now in Waterford Ireland and the name fits!! Lots of water in the River, running down the streets, in the fields also known as bogs falling out of the sky in bucket fulls etc etc etc. I have noticed some strange openings beginning to sprout on the sides of my neck and my skin is getting scaley!  We arrived here after a long windy wavy day. Seas were about 4 metres getting up to 5 between Cork and Hook head. sally is in Wexford with her Mom and Sister which gives me the time to do this and get the boat ready to head off to either Arklow or Dublin tomorrow morning. I'm enclosing some pictures as they're worth a thousand words and I'm getting tired of typing, besides there is a Guiness with my name on it waiting across the street so enjoy.

18 !/2 days

It's been a while just because we were at sea and unavailable not because we couldn't be bothered to write.  We were sitting around on \kalinka 1 in Bonavista feeling sorry for ourselves having to wait for a part to be returned from the UK when Sally suggested we just leave and have the part held until we get to \ireland. Sounded like a very good idea to me so we left.
We left at 1630 and headed out of the harbour. The forcast was for 15 to 25 knots with gusts to thirty. We saw 10. Little did we know! Cleared the harbour and headed East. on a beautifull Sunny warm day. Once clear of land the weather man was right! Good thing it was blowing out of the S/W and pushing us along at 6.5 knots. We went so fast we caught up with the other well known weather phenominum of NF. FOG. Now it became Cold and  Damp and Windy. Too late to turn back. Sally disappeared into her girl cave and said as she disappeared, See you when \i see you!!! I figured from that point on it was going to be a lonely trip. Jus me Peanut butter honey and marmalade.
Contacted Herb the Weather Guru and he told us/me to head South, so being the obediant person I am I did. After about 4 days we were far enough S/E to catch the gulf strea and the water temp went from the 40's to 65*F. Warm enough to go swimming! Tried fishing the only creature interested was a Shearwater and after seeing one of those caught while I was on the Mathew I pulled in the line. The Sun came out an so did Sally so I wasn't lonely anymore!! (isn't ther a song about that?) We were now heading N/E kind of but the Azores were still the closest point of  land. Kept mentioning this to Sally but she never did take the hint. Sooo we continued up and down,back and forth, side to side on and on and on. mostly in 15 to 20 knots.
But every day we got closer and closer to our goal and \i was able to chat with our newfound best buddies Halifax Win, Kansas Russ, France John and Hearts content Doug( who I knew as a cub at Danforth United church) on the Mississauga Maritime net. 14.167 on your Ham radio dial) This is gettinreally really long so I'm going to quit now and more later with,,,,,, maybe pictures or just  more words who knows what evil lurks Only the mind of.......

Well here we go again! Sally decided it would be a good idea to continue the voyage rather than wait around here for the part to be returned Sooo that's what we're going to do. We'll leave here tomorrow morning and hopefully be in Ireland or Norway sometime within the next three weeks so until then byby.

A quick up date before we go out to a concert here in Beautifull windy rainy downtown Bonavista NF. We arrived here Thurs evening after having to divert as Sally  had gotten very sick with what turned out to be the flu. so far I've been able to stave it off by copius drams of a local elixer. Seems to work anyway. We left St. Pierre and sailed to Fortune NF to clear back into Canada and had to wait for two days to see a Customs officer. No hastles. Then we went off to Burin in the fog and had a very nice vist with the Dunfords Left there last Sunday for Ireland in the fog and very little wind. so motored and consumed much needed fuel. Sally was on watch when we pass Cape Race in the Fog. The wind she started to blow from the S/W and we were making very good time heading N/E in the...FOG alinka1 was trimmed to perfection and we didn't have to touch a sail for 3 days. Sally not getting any better so decided to head to Bonivista as the closest point. Chanded course to the W in the #@#$%^%$#@#$ FOG. and after about 7 hours we popped out into a Brilliant Blue Sky and Sea Day!!! with a Humptyback doing Barrell rolls back flips Tail standing flipper waving one at a time and both together for about a 1/2 hour. And then the porpoises came out to Play. This is what the ocean sailing should be all about. Arrived here in Bonavista a 10 pm local time tied up to the floating dock had a vist from the Harbour Master and off to bed. Fri afternoon Jon Dunford and Elford arrived on the Burin Bay'r on their way to Lewisport. Then a gale blew in so here we are. More later.

Some pictures so far!!

Us amongst the slow boats!! St.Pierre

Sally in the Galley!!

It wasn't me!!

Sunrise June 22/12 0430

Isle D" marines St. Pierre

Viva la France! or in this case hello St.Pierre!! We arrived here at 1830 after a 33.5 hour motor boat ride into head winds and seas. Crew went down early but we managed . just had a nice dinner and 3 two fingered rums!
 It has been a harrowing two weeks getting everything together and working In fact  didn't get the alternator regulator issue resolved until Wed afternoon! Then raced with our second home Northern Yacht Club. We finished DFL but have been used to that for years!! I think we made some life long friends at the club and would highly reccommend it to anyone coming down East as a place to come to.
 We left at 0800 Thurs morning in company with Trollop (not the girl the boat) skippered by my long time friend Ted and his crew John who I have also known for longer than needs be mentioned. We motored out of Sydney Harbour and headed East into an easterly wind and seas. didn't take long for the crew to head below into the bunk. After about 10 hours trollop threw in the trowel and change course for Port Aux Basque and points West.. Ted is taking the boat home to Midland on Georgian Bay.
 We perserverred and kept going. This mornig was foggy cold and damp. Sally woke up at about 0900 with a smile on her face!! I headed below for a nap and when I woke up an hour later the sun was shining the sea was blue there were porpoises around and everything was all right in the world! Will probably leave here tomorrow after a booze run to the local duty free. Might get some pictures off later. by for now

Not so sunny or warm North Sydney! However recruited into the launch and harbour maintenance committee!! Have to keep busy while waiting for boat stuff to get done! do one job and three more pop up. fix one thing and five others quit. Making headway though and since we allowed a month to get ready we're not doing to badly. have made a lot of friends here so will be somewhat hard to leave. but leave we will hopefully the middle of next week. By for now.

Here we are again! Up early this morning as the Lobster fleet was hard at work at 0400!!!! we don't need an alarm as the wake wakes you up just before your tossed out of bed onto the floor!!. so then you lay in bed waiting for the next shift and eventually roll out at about 0700 to start the day. Today was momentous as we stepped the Mast. boom truck arrived at 0850 right in the middle of breakfast and Tea. (it's always like this isn't it?) Installed the Mast didn't notice it had not stepped properly until after the truck had left so spent the better part of the day trying to fix the problem and finally resorted to the club crane and brute strength to get it stepped properly at about 1900 hours. A very long day with many interupptions. Now everything is ok and all the Mast lights work. Bonus. Tomorrow we will get the rig tuned and the sails on and hope to race Wed night and leave on Sat. One never knows though!! More later need another rum!!

Well here we are in sunny North Sydney Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia. ( we wish it was sunny). arrived here last Tuesday started right in working on the boat and got launched on Thursday morning I think. days just running together and I can't catch up. A way to many friendly, help full people around here and can't keep up with that either! Liver taking a beating!!! Kalinka1 survived the winter in quite good shape so just the regular spring stuff to do. Like fix stuff that has never keaked but now decides to. 5 minute jobs take two days and no matter how grummpy I pretend to be People still want to be my friend go figure. Sally and our friend Wilma off to a church concert tonight so I get an evenings rest. (No not that rest I'm too tired for that)Battery went dead so it's now tomorrow here. mast in this morning, New dodger fitted off to storage shed for sails etc and a nice sunny day. More to  follow.

Mon. June 4/12 0730 Van half packed Where to put the rest? Tenant's from Hades out apartment cleaned. Don't know what we have forgotten don't care. 1000 pick up Wilma at MCC then Pick up Linda and Peaches and then we should all be on the Highway to Sydney. Arrive sometime Tuesday. paint the bottom and grease the prop then arrange launch. Re rig the mast  restep it, fix a fuel leak and water tank leak then find room for all the stuff we're bringing then get underway. I'm tired all ready just from typing the job list!! At least there will be five drivers if we can count peaches.Nuff for now tea is finished so back to work.

the saga reborn

     Hello again. We're back!! Just doing the final cleanup and preps to shut the house down and then off to Sydney NS to get Kalinka1 launched, rigged and provisioned to continue the trip across. It has been a long winter!! Sally fortunately lost her job in April so she can now do the crossing with me. It will just be the two of us so that will really be interesting!!! It's a good thing we mostly get along hehe.,
        We will leave Monday morning and take a couple days to get Sydney, no point in getting to tired before we have to.and then a couple of weeks getting the boat ready an a weather window and then off we go to continue the voyage from last year. Nuff for now tea calls