A couple of weeks ago we had the great misfortune to get
caught in a tidal current and in a matter of moments, the damage was done. An anchor on a bow-out boat caught the wind
generator which pulled the life lines, which bent the stanchions, which cracked
the fiberglass, broke the pull pit and obliterated the wind generator. In
addition, we came to rest on a marina sign which took off a good chunk of the
teak toe rail. It didn’t seem like too much but the damage quickly adds up and
it became obvious very quickly that repairs would need to be made before we
went anywhere, and on land. The marina
sign has a nice dent, now dubbed the “American dent.”
There are two boatyards here in the little Town of
Crosshaven, known as the ‘Sailing Capital of Ireland.’ Within an hour of the accident we had experts
on the boat and we were hauled the next day at high tide. The boatyard’s travel
lift pulls the boats at the town boat launch and we sat in the cockpit, up the
ramp, along the main road and turned the corner into the boatyard, it was the
‘walk’ of shame as people stopped to take pictures, smile and wave as we went
by.
We settled into boatyard life again quickly and didn’t lack
for activities including school, consulting, boat projects and everyday life for
a family of four including cooking, eating, laundry, dishes and growing up. Life has been domestic. The kids have been
growing like weeds. Finn was growing so fast he was having trouble speaking for
a week or so and Anna is like a sponge, absorbing life and knowledge. Finn has
recently been asking a lot of questions about the finality of death, probably
based on our dire consequences-warning about falling off the boat onto the
gravel yard 15 feet below. He is very concerned about dying and has asked a
zillion questions. Our preaching was all set aside following our witness of the
Camden Fort military reenactments. The scenes were exciting and well done and
the look on Finn’s face when all the soldiers got up after they had ‘died’ was
priceless, it did not help our cause.
We had big dreams of renting a car and getting out and about
but we have had steady tasks here needing attention. The wonderful family that runs the boatyard
has treated us like family and even put us in the lower yard so that we would
be closer to the park. We have made almost daily visits to the park and seem to
have met most of the Town’s folks. In
this small town, word gets around quickly and everyone seems to know our story
from the German nanny to the attendant at the tourist information booth. The kids have taken a sudden interest in
American Football which is of no surprise to anyone but us. We have had fun with
the little Canadian Football League, junior size football we found in the
lazarette when we purchased the boat and it has provided hours of
exercise-related entertainment in the park and serves as a real
conversation-starter. With the huge
sailing population here, we are finding lots in common with the young, dynamic
residents and have already made a number of new friends. We hope someday we
will see some of these great folks on our travels or back home in New
England.
Another big distraction and item of conversation has been
the America’s Cup races in San Francisco Bay. We were entertained Saturday
evening by a lovely family involved in the sailing industry. Bob and their
12-yr (I think) son spent a good bit of time catching up on races. After the stunning eight-race,
come-from-behind win by the American boat (as opposed to Americans, there were
few Americans onboard), we were surprised to see it hardly make the US News
outlets, but the final race was being replayed on the television at the grocery
store and appeared on the front page of all the major papers. Speaking of sports, today is the national
hurling final rematch; the Cork team is in it! We are still not too sure what
this is about other than it is sort of like lacrosse without the pads and rules
and uses a stick that resembles a flat field hockey stick. They claim it is the
fastest sport going. I am quite certain I have heard this said of lacrosse too
so we shall see… once we have unlimited internet. Perhaps Saint Brendan brought the sport back
from North America when he was there 1500 years ago…
So despite the fact that we have not made it to Blarney
castle or the Titanic Exhibit in Cobh, we have been getting a real feel for
life in small town Ireland. After our
initial shock from the crash, we kept ourselves sane, telling each other it is
all part of the adventure. If you look at our goals for the trip, Taking the
Road less Travelled, meeting new people and seeing new places…getting out of
our comfort zone, we are doing a great job although I admit, other than the
lack of laundry facilities, it is pretty darn comfortable here. We did make it to the Fort, a five minute
walk from the boat for the reenactments and couldn’t help chuckling when the
WWII reenactment featured the Irish Rifles rescuing the “Bloody Yanks”,
sometimes, we do need a little rescuing.
With October rapidly approaching we are also beginning to
think, again, about passage to Spain. The weather is not at all amenable to a
crossing now but we still are confident that it will come. We have been told by
several different sailors that a slow trip down the French coast is not the end
of the world but we know it will be slow and expensive. In other sailing news, the kids and I have
decided to stay on the boat across to Sint Maarten. This
was an agonizing decision to make and I won’t know if I made the right decision
until it is done; but I know I will regret it if I don’t take the trip. Planned
departure is from the Canaries, sometime around November 22.
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