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The Artful Dodger II

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Requested by John

Requested by John captain and owner of S/V Chelone



Hi Pat,

Had I realized you were going to post my email on your ‘blog’ I would have pointed out for others to see what a benefit it was to us ‘strangers in town’ to have been sought out by yourself in St.John’s Harbour and been ‘chauffeured’ around town in your car being given invaluable advice on local resources etc.
indeed we would never have known the existence of Quidi Vidi Harbour and met other great friends such as Peter (S/VTyhina) and Dave Fong (QV Brewery) not to mention the fresh Muffins and coffee for the entire crew purchased at your own expense that you so kindly brought to the boat that cold wet morning!

Right up to our last day when you helped us victual the boat Pat, filling your car to the roof to transport us and the supplies back and forth from the shopping mall, and taking those great ‘leaving harbour’ pictures you forwarded, you are the kind of person that any cruising sailor could only dream of encountering when arriving in a strange port and on behalf of myself and my crew, Thank you so much,

Please post this on your Blog, hopefully you will cross the ‘Pond’ some day, you and Karin would have a very warm welcome here in Saundersfoot, Wales,

Kindest Regards,

John.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

S/V Chelone

John Blair
I have included some pictures which John Blair sent me as well a copy of his email, he sent me the other day of is report on sailing home to Wales.




John Blair aboard his S/V Chelone









Hey Pat!

Sorry I’ve taken so long to write, the boat I use for my business here at home got badly damaged and I’ve been trying to sort it all out - back to reality with a bump!
Well, after we sailed from Quidi Vidi we had a bumpy 24 hrs but as forecast the wind direction soon became more favourable and remained so for the whole way across the 'Pond'.
The sky was grey and cloudy all the way across and we had some days with winds of 30 knots but on our quarter mostly so 'Chelone' just loved that! other days the wind was insufficient to maintain 5 knots so we would motorsail to keep our daily average over 120 miles. The weatherfax via SSB was fantastic and we were able to download surface pressure charts at all times, firstly from Boston and then Northwood (UK). After 3 days the mercury rose and we also felt the benefit of the Gulf Stream as predicted with an extra knot and a half in our favour.
In that first week I think we all felt the same in that we were heading further from the safety of land and increasingly vulnerable should stormy conditions arise but at the same time, 'Chelone' sailed so well we had full confidence she could cope with whatever came our way.
I was fortunate to have a great crew in Laurel, Steve and Chip, We all got on so well and of course this is so important. Having had the sail from Halifax gave us time to see if there were going to be any such issues as so commonly can be the case. We performed watches as pairs based around sharing the 6 hours of darkness, ie Laurel/Chip 2200/0100hrs, Steve/myself 0100/0400hrs and so on. Cooking duties performed together or otherwise, there was never a problem. There was plenty of food, indeed I reckon I could live aboard 'Chelone' right now for over a week without extra provision of any sort! Even the freshwater lasted out and we had no need to break into the reserve in the drums on deck. The Newfoundland Fruit Cake given so kindly by Dave and Paulette Fong was by far the best treat onboard and we savoured every slice with it only being presented during the ours of darkness!.
Apart from seeing Whales and Dolphins almost daily there was not a lot to report in the log apart from sea/weather observations, broken rudder on the Monitor Windvane was cut, drilled ,bolted thru and refitted, we lost a fender overboard, half way across (around 900nm) we enjoyed the only alcoholic beverage onboard and toasted our own achievement with some of the Quidi Vidi beer. (I have one bottle of 'Iceberg Beer' left that I will treasure).
Land was sighted on the 13th day and we sailed into Kinsale (SE Ireland) the day after that at 07.00hrs. We spent the day in Kinsale, a small, pretty harbour and had the obligatory pint of Guinness together that evening before slipping our berth for the final 24hr passage across the Irish Sea to Wales, a passage I have sailed many times myself that was a stroll compared to what we had just undertaken. British Customs were informed on our arrival but didn't come to see us and we were 'cleared in' by telephone, Immigration clearance for Laurel was the same story!
Laurel stayed with my brother and his family while I had some explaining to do to my girlfriend as to why I had another woman onboard the boat! (I had only told her about Laurel the day before in the phone call from Kinsale!) Explaining (and groveling) done I showed Laurel the sights around my home area before handing over to Chip who took her surfing, out on the Seal Safari boat and visit to Caldey Island. Laurel also spent a day with Steve before traveling to London and Catching the flight to Halifax where she immediately joined another boat with friends for another passage to the Bras D'or lakes!
Old friendships reinforced and new friends made, it's the cruising life for me Pat! I just want to get back to it but arriving home a month late to the busiest part of the summer season and a boat with five planks 'stove in' on her port beam (thankfully above her waterline) i have not had time for much else, now the weather has deteriorated so I can't work on her today and can focus on other things. 'Chelone' is languishing on a mooring 20 miles from me and I have only visited her a couple of times since our return, I have so many people to email! All the friends we met along the way, my friends and family here all want to sail on 'Chelone' too.
I wanted to write a 'personal' email to each and every person that we met and feel awful that I haven't done so yet.
My brother suggested today that I should have compiled a brief 'hello' email and mailed it to everyone on the list immediately on my arrival, of course he's right and with hindsight.....

Please accept my apologies for the delay in writing, I treasure your friendship and I sincerely hope you give me the opportunity to repay the hospitality shown to myself and my crew during our short stay.

I hope you like the pics, if they don't come thru right then don't hesitate to let me know and I'll send them some other way. Saw the posting on your blogg and have yet to email Peter we spoke on the SSB once or twice but the reception was very poor, we were glad to hear he’d made it safely to Greenland, sailing alone, truly hardcore!

For now,

Kindest Regards,

John.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

The Crew

The Crew


Karin had come down Saturday to help out while I was working on Artful's bottom. She helped put on the bottom paint after I had sanded the complete bottom the day before.


We took a picture of her in front of the average fishing boat here, just to give you an idea of there size.








Here is Karin enjoying a sunny day on the forward deck, guiding me to drop anchor.





And here is butch, doing something he is good at resting.




Since returning from Feremuse and doing the boats bottom, have been meeting with more passing sail boats through St John's harbour. There was a Deer Foot boat 68 foot in length, a very beautiful sailboat. This boat was very bright inside with very light fixtures. Mark the Captain on the vessel, had brought the boat from the east coast of the US waiting for the owner who was arriving in a few weeks to sail the southern shores of Newfoundland. With helping Mark out with repairs to some of his gear and getting supplies, he asked if Karin and I would let him cook us a dinner in repayment for our generosity towards him. The dinner was really great, and both I and Karin learned a lot from Mark about sailing the Caribbean.


This was just one visit we've had of late with passing sailors, we've had many others.


The most exciting one is still to come, as there will be a family, father, mother and there two young daughters arriving in about two weeks to also spend the winter here. They live aboard a 30 foot sailboat. I've put their site on my favorite list check it out.