A little help from my friends

We are anchored off the beach where they filmed Jaws.  Thinking of that made diving off the boat yesterday a bit spooky.  It is rainy this morning and quiet while the rest of the crew sleeps. This weather will change the pace of things.  We’ll probably play a lot of games, maybe break out the musical instruments.  It would be nice if the weather allows us to get to the library and download books onto the iPads.  

The remarkable thing about the trip so far has been the generosity of people we’ve met.  Because. I did the Bermuda 1-2 race in June I needed a crew member.  Finding crew is always hard and I couldn’t find anyone from Minnesota so I reached out to another competitor which led me to Gerry Leger and the people of Ram Island Yacht Club in Noank, Connecticut.  Gerry is an electrical contractor who has started two businesses and who  employed his skills to fix all sorts of things on the boat even when I was back home in Minnesota to work.  He came out to Bermuda for a week before the return leg with his wife Amy, but spent nearly all his time helping me put the boat back together.  

Gerry introduced me to Sandy Van Zandt, a retired sailmaker who built a boat and sailed it around the world with his wife Sidney.  Somehow I made an immediate comment ion with Sandy that first day I arrived from Maine.  He noticed my drooping spreader immediately and has not stopped helping me out.  We designed a stowage shelf for the sewing machine and created a foam and metal insert for the centerboard trunk of the dinghy to prevent water from coming in while towing it.  He and Sandy picked us up from the train station with our year’s worth of stuff and continued to drive us around all week.  Sidney took Kate to the grocery store twice and anticipated our need for laundry before we even thought to ask.  And all the while they filled us with knowledge and stories about their sailing trips.  Sandy, at 87 years old and after a career in the industry, has quite a few stories to tell.

Mac Turner, along with Sandy, stepped in to do my safety check before the race after my trip down from Maine was delayed and I missed my scheduled check in Newport. The safety check is not merely an inventory but a several hour discussion and I had he not done that I would have needed to fly out east again in the midst of our preparations for this year aboard. He then found a way to get way into the binnacle and replace the piece that attaches my engine shifting cables.  He let me use his mooring while he is up in Maine for the month, has suggested stop overs for my route north and is staying in touch for my little questions underway with the plan to rendezvous when I arrive.  

Dan and Claire from the 1-2 recommended our current anchorage in Menemsha and have offered us a place to stay in New York.  Brian from the 1-2 has offered a place in Annapolis.  Gerry’s friend Brian arranged for my electronics to get replaced in record time, between the race and our departure, and he facilitated getting my outboard repair done same day.  The electronics installer, Lucas, who has started his own business Ocean state Marine and who is a family friends with the Van Zandt, could not have been more helpful.  Doug and Tony and Craig all helped redesign my Solent halyard after it chafed on the way to Bermuda.  Kristen, who recently spent a year aboard, has offered to share her connections throughout the Caribbean and ship us stuff anywhere.  She also explained the practice of calling out for other kid boats when approaching anchorages in the Caribbean.

I once asked one of the guys, maybe it was Mac, why everyone was being so helpful.  “We’ve all been there” was the reply.  I like to think of myself as self-taught and self-sufficient, but its not true.  It is people like this who have taught me how to do this and who are making it all possible