Fast Forward

The rest of 2019 and most of 2020 — As some followers of this blog have observed, we have been somewhat delinquent in our postings for the past year or two.  The time was mostly focused on getting Emmanou ready for crossing the Atlantic in May-June of 2020 to enjoy a few years of cruising in the Med.  The onset of the pandemic put paid to our plans as the EU was shut down to US boats, leaving Emmanou all dressed up with nowhere to go — except another run up and down the Eastern US (even Canada was shut down to US boats).  In an effort to catch up on the blog for this period, here are the high/lowlights (our precise itinerary is contained in the events calendar):

• On our three-day return run from the Bahamas to Hilton Head in company with Mermaid Monster we came across a Falcon 9 spent booster returning to Cape Canaveral on its drone barge.
• Ian and Reese’s VT wedding weekend where Theresa offered to give Thach a fluid infusion after a particularly boozy pre wedding evening.
• Phamily trip to Vancouver to help Emma settle into UBC
• Early morning off Dolphin Marina in Harpswell Maine on Lexi’s lobsterboat with Andy Hobart to haul and band our lobster dinner.
• Leaving Emmanou at Cove Haven, RI, for repairs/maintenance/upgrades while we went to Japan for the RWC2019 and to hike the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route.
• Thach and Karin both attending and passing the 100-Ton Captain’s License two-week course at the Annapolis School of Seamanship (ASOS)
• Extended Phamily gathering in Chicago for Thanksgiving and to celebrate Thach’s mother’s sale of her Grand Rapids house and move to senior living.
• Rushing to complete refitting in Seminole Yard, FL ahead of COVID shutdown.  Emmanou was finally ready with:
  • A new main generator
  • A dedicated DC generator to tend to the house batteries
  • A back-up water maker
  • A back-up auto-pilot
  • An Iridium GO satellite weather system/satphone
  • A new six-person liferaft and survival suits
• Hiding out at Hammock Beach Marina in Palm Coast, FL with Jim and Margaret Andreassi (the inspiration for our current adventure) playing tennis and golf at an empty resort while waiting for pandemic developments.  (Jim and Margaret enjoyed the life so much they never left: buying a house there and trading their beautiful Fleming 55 for a golf membership).
• July 4 gathering in Nonquitt and New Bedford with the kids and Alex, Zhach’s girlfriend, and her family.
• Sailing the Wanderer, our old 28.5′ Pearson Triton, from CT to NJ so that Tom and Christine could look after her and go sailing. After being abandoned on the hard for three seasons, she started up first time. Conditions only allowed half a day of sailing in the three-day trip (an unfortunate truth in sailing).
• Making new friends — the extended Howard/McIlvaine family — in Southwest Harbor, Mount Desert Island, through an unlikely sequence of events where we somehow ended up “rescuing” two Howard kayakers in a foggy dark night in the middle of a power outage in SW harbor.
• Visiting Roque Island, with Richard and Asher Skeen, Andy Lawson and Dylan Williams, and its pristine white sandy beach within sight of the Canadian border.
• Hanging in Portland with Myles, and his best buddy Lucas Carrey who had moved there, on his way to a new job in the Midwest with Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer.
• Sharing anchorages with Rising Sun (the largest mega yacht we’ve come across at over 450ft) and Scout (the most beautiful motor yacht we’ve come across).
• Spending a continuous 80 days at anchor/mooring from Massachusetts to Maine, thus proving the self-sufficiency of Emmanou as a live-aboard vessel.
• Thach going back to the ASOS for a Marine Electricals course and not electrocuting himself.
• Visiting old friends: in Del Ray (Rob and Kathryn Stewart from Wharton and DC), Gloucester (the Connolly’s from Westport), Vinalhaven (Alex Bageris from New Haven), Marion (Emily Kaulbach from Wharton), Boston (Tim Andrea, Ed Sevilla, and Randy Parker from Wharton), Southwest Harbor MDI (Rebecca Williams from Wharton), Brooklin (the Illicks from New Haven), Monhegan Island (Ann Johnson and Rick Prum from New Haven), Newport (The Silvias from Mt Snow and Tony and Jane Leach from forever), and Montauk/East Hampton (Elliot and Barb Cooperstone also from forever). We also had many friends and family come stay on board including Andrew Hobart, Ian Hines, Matt Weber, Parker Connolly, Todd and Emerson Smith, Jonathan and Bettyann Nettlefield and their dog Dylan, Richard and Asher Skeen, Dylan Williams, and the whole Palmer (Mermaid Monster) family.

Which brings us to the Wharf Marina in Washington DC.  We cruised up the Potomac to witness the election and ended up staying two months until (thankfully) Biden’s victory was confirmed by the electoral college – although the Trump background noise may be with us for a while alas. This gave us the chance to catch up with Rob and Kathryn Stewart, Tim and Laura McDonald, Mike Young and Michael and Caroline Van Vleck all from Wharton and Emma’s schoolfriend Ashlyn O’Brien. As snow and ice started to accumulate on the deck we finally left for Norfolk, VA and tied up at Ocean Yacht Marina for a 25-hour drive to Denver to hang with Zhach –Myles was stuck at work on a wind farm in Indiana and Evan and Emma in Vancouver under COVID travel restrictions — a suitable ending to 2020.