Summer Cruise 2009

June 17, 2009 -Only two weeks to departure from Point Bay Marina in Charlotte, Vermont. This port has been our home away from home for the past year. The staff as well as the fellow sailors are most welcoming and the Marina is excellent. We depart on July 3rd with the Royal Savage Yacht Club annual cruise on Lake Champlain and will continue North after spending several days exploring several ports together with other members. We hope to sail first to Shelburne to watch the Burlington fireworks and then to Malletts Bay to catch the Colchester fireworks. We may have two families enjoying the 4th with us. Both the Baums and the Helfrichs have told us they may come. The more kids on the boat the better especially in ports that will have lots of activities. Sue is driving us up so we sill have a car to tote people around.

We have upgraded all of the ports this year and will not longer have to look through crazed lexan or deal with leaks. I installed a weed cutter just in front of the prop to help deal with the River weeds that tended to really slow us down last year. We also have a new engine hourmeter and fuel gauge. The liferaft box cover blew off in a 60 knot wind last week and I was not able to locate it. Perhaps fiberglass does not float well on its own but it may fly. A search beneath the boat revealed only mud. I've constructed a new teak and mahogany cover with a gloss polyurethane finish that will turn some heads. The old Atomic 4 engine has been tuned up and all of the filters and oil changed. The fuel and water tanks are full. The batteries are 3/4 charged and will remain at that level until we dock at Burton Island. We've loaded some long term provisions and will do the ice and perishables on the day of departure.