Exciting NY Eve!

December 31

This morning we got up at 6:30 [can't help it...sun up, we're up]. The boat gets too hot to stay inside.  We turned on GMA and watched while we ate breakfast and waited for the Cruiser's Net to begin. After breakfast [that lasted until around 10:30] Keri and Ben stopped by on their way to town to see f we needed anything and to say they would be back later in the day. When they left we went for a swim over to the beach and checked the anchor.

The weather predictions call for a wind shift to the north, which means we will swing 180 degrees on the anchor, and we needed to make sure we wouldn't go aground if we swung that far [or hit the rocks along the beach] By then it was lunch time so we didn't get to anything important until after lunch. I started going through the extra stuff that we brought down for various groups. Apparently the Red Cross here has nothing left after sending all of their collections to Long Island and Cat Island after the hurricane, so one of the boaters is collecting stuff for them. It's time to assess exactly what we have and need here o the boat. We still have to get rid of a lot of weight so we can manage to sail more efficiently. It seems to me the stuff I am sorting is insignificant in terms of weight but it makes sense in terms of space allotment. I can't think of a reason to keep 8 shades of red sewing thread, or four cloth measuring tapes or 12 pairs of scissors. They will rust whether or not they are being used, so someone else should make use of them before that happens.

Rick spent the afternoon checking all the systems and we are good. Now we have to get the nav. table organized and the Single-Side-band radio installed today. Sunday there is a lecture on the beach about balanced electrical systems in your boat so we are going to that.

Keri and Ben came back in the afternoon and we visited for a while. Rick showed them pictures of travelling the Great Lakes and they think that when they sell this boat they will get a boat t do that trip.

We went over to Hamburger Beach and spent the evening talking to boaters. We met Sherry and Rick [boat- Sherick] from St. Petersburg who are headed to Grenada. They will leave tomorrow, along with Saltshaker.

We met another guy Carl, and when he found out I had been a NL officer, he dragged his son over to see if I could "make him do stuff."  His son Paul was an air cadet from New Brunswick. He had aged out as a Chief warrant officer and was currently a Mechanical Engineering student at Lavalle University. We had a long talk about his cadet years and his current plans. The kid was at least 6'6"...I was thinking basketball!

So we got back to the boat we discovered it was 10:00 pm. We will watch TV until midnight and fireworks. Happy New Year's Eve!