I recently purchased a 48 foot reefer trailer (an insulated trailer pulled behind an eighteen wheeler.) it is 48 feet long and 8 feet wide outside dimensions and 7 feet 4 inches by 47 feet 6 inches or so on the inside with about 336 sq feet of floor space.
We took valkier (a Downeaster 38, Mast head sloop cutter rig) out a couple of Sundays ago. It was supposed to be Angela, Zsanic, Jay, Eva, Barbara and me on the boat but a few days before we were scheduled to go out Angela found out she had to work. When she did she offered to let me captain the boat and take everyone out anyways. To be honest I have several people that have made similar offers of letting me take out their boats and I never have felt comfortable being responsible for their boats. Up till now I have always just said thank you for the offer but never taken them up on it. However, in this case, there were a lot of people looking forward to going out on Valkier and it would be the only chance Eva would have to go sailing before she went back home to Slovakia. I have probably sailed as crew on Valkier more than just about any other boat other than my own so I am very comfortable with how she handles and sails. The next positive is that Jay was going to be onboard and I knew that I had a very experienced boater and sailor to give a hand if I needed it.
I used to get practical sailor magazine up until I had some issues with my subscription. When I tried to contact them about it I got no response at all. Not a yes, no or maybe. Just silence. So I quit renewing. I received two promotional offers to renew today in email and it just struck me wrong so I felt motivated to send them an email back.
We went sailing today from Valkier’s new home. What a difference a face dock on the the ICW makes from being buried deep in a marina. Leaving is just a matter of pulling away from the dock. No backing and carefully missing the other boats in their slips or worrying about the current carrying you into them etc.. It also is really nice to sit on deck looking at the unobstructed view of the marsh accross the waterway and watch the sun come up.
I got to help Angela and Zsanic take Valkier to her new home up in Southport. It’s sad that they are now more than a hour away but I have to say that the new digs are 1000 percent better. Valkier now has a marsh view the a strong breeze almost all the time. You can come out and sit on deck in the morning with your coffee or hot chocolate (poisen of choice) and watch the fishing boats and private boats heading for Bald Head Island or Oak Island heading out while the sun comes up.
After a lazy morning Orin decided we were going to motor back down the waterway to Little River. We spent a fairly quiet and uneventfull day on the water. Maybe 6 hours travel time.
Spent the night on Walkabout. Jay and Barbara invited me and Zsanic to stay on their boat while we were up in southport instead of staying on La Bon Vie. Being a bigger boat and with less people spread out it was nice. 
also the air conditioning didn’t hurt.
Spent the day motoring to southport for the race on saturday. We had hoped to sail but the wind was just not there. Most of the day the ocean was so flat you could see the clouds reflected in it.
It took me a while to get to where I could write about this. It still leaves me feeling sick, stressed out and enraged.
Friday was Zsanic’s birthday and I took her, my sister and mother to see “Get Smart” at the Coastal Grand Mall In Myrtle Beach, SC. We parked at the far end of the row right in front of the movie theater entrance. Three hours later when we came out my car was gone. Stolen.
I went out on Valkyr with Angela and Zsanic yesterday. We were planning to go sailing but everyone on the boat was tired and the weather was really kicking. I would have been an challenging time sailing so we all voted to just anchor out behind Bird Island and grill some steaks and sausage. It was the right choice!!!! The wind started out about 20 knots and we were gusting to 30 knots by the end of the day. It would have been some fun sailing but a lot of work.
Another topic on a web forum that I got to thinking about had to do with regulation of pleasure boats to protect people. This conversation ranged rather far abroad into topics of gun control and personal responsibility. I defiantly have opinions on these subjects and ended up writing a little mini response. It is not complete or comprehensive but I wanted to keep it around. One day maybe I will come back and expand on it some.
I was recently reading a yahoo group post about kindle etiquette in looking at books in a local bookstore such as barnes and nobles and then purchasing the book on your kindle from amazon.com. I really got into my musing about the appropriateness of this and wrote my musings down for what they are worth.
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