-Marc: We arrived by car from Boston and went directly to Burlington for the pre-Independence day fireworks show. We met John, Mindy and our Sara at U.V.M. and took the Shuttle bus to the waterfront. We spent some time walking and shopping on Church Street and a visit to Ben & Jerry's for some ice cream. John led us down to the boardwalk to a great viewing location. The fireworks were the best that I've seen here. We arrived at Point Bay Marina near midnight and brought the boat to the dock for the night.
Sara-- Coffee got me packed and to the bus station, where I presented my comically oversized ticket (I had problems with my printer) to the white mustachioed ticket-checker who was so friendly I fancied he’d stepped out of a storybook (like The Polar Express). When I apologized about my ticket he smiled like he had no one else to see that day and assured me, “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of that.” and took the giant taped-together ticket out of my hands, leaving me standing there relieved and giddy, clinging to my backpack, journal, and Middlemarch. Looking up grinning as a little boy pulled away from his mom to peer over at what I was writing in my diary (“white mustache”), I noticed the sign overhead that indicated the my entryway’s number: 13. And with that unlucky magic number looming enticingly over me, I shifted realities; in the Twilight Zone, I stood waiting in line.
Got through the border. Just barely. When I replied
to the border guy’s straightforward question (“Where do you live?”) with a
convoluted answer (“I live in Montreal and Boston and I’m going to see my
family on a boat in Vermont”), his eyes shifted warily under his deep frown and
he informed me, “You’ve been selected for a random inspection.” (When I texted
my sister about it on the bus later, she replied ‘What were you wearing??’ She
was sure it was my outfit that had sketched the poor bloke out.) The actual
questioning was anticlimactic (I was kinda looking forward to it, though I
really had to pee): a lady inspector asked me where I was from, where I was
going, and if I had any food. “No,” I replied to that last. “Oh, wait,” I
reconsidered hopefully. “I have a peanut butter sandwich.” She managed to roll
her eyes and yawn with just a dull look and an “Ok”.
Afterwards in the bathroom I was surprised by how
un-sketchy I looked; waiting in line to be questioned, I’d imagined there were
deep black bags under my eyes, my clothes were blacker and baggier, and a tattoo
of an anchor had somehow appeared on my right bicep. Alas… Just
blonde-ponytailed, only marginally sketchy me.
Awesome Vermonter friends John and Mindy were there
at UVM to greet me. John gave us a little tour of his old kingdom (he used to
be a beloved prof there).
When we met up with my family, my sister Steph ran
up to me after stopping to check herself out in a car window and cried, “Oh
wait I couldn’t wait to tell you about my new condition!” (My sis loves getting
medical attention.)
Before taking a shuttle to the waterfront to eat
fries (with tons of ketchup) and watch fireworks, we meandered up Church
Street, which was hopping. My favorite street performer also happened to be the
one who totally creeped Steph out: A boy wearing a necklace of tarnished silver
spoons and a Catcher in the Rye red cape
playing with dolls (In one case, taking off one’s child-face to reveal the brown
snout of a pug) and occasionally squeaking a plastic banana toy (Alarmed, Steph
elbowed me and hissed, “What does it mean??”).
As we watched he took up a chalkboard and wrote, “Hi J my name is Kalan and I am I nihilist”. I smiled;
Steph grimaced and pulled at my sleeve.
July 4, 2013 Kingsland Bay State Park, Vermont.
After a quiet night, Sue, Sara and Stephanie went off to South Burlington for provisions. Lucy III was ready to depart when they returned. We motorsailed over to Kingsland Bay where we rafted up to Abigail. Abigail is a 55 foot powerboat owned by Alan and Diane Gotleib. They had quite the extended family aboard including children, grandchildren, and grandparents. Sara and Stephanie were very happy to have kids nearby.The swimming here was fantastic. Sue and I went for a walk and met up with several horses. One particular horse came when called over.
Sara- Oh gosh. The second day, the first day of the trip, was when it all began people-wise. That was the day we met the gang of wonderful hooligans: Wyatt, Annika, Joe, Jake (Pablo), Jake (joke-creeper kid with stick who bade me farewell that day by twitching his eye). We lost Joe and Pablo to football tryouts later that same day, so for the rest of the trip it was Annika, Wyatt, creeper Jake, and other great kids we picked up along the way who I’ll get to by and by.
The greatest thrill of the trip: Wyatt
showed me magic: performing a crazy arm-flailing running leap over railing from
atop the sunbathing area on his grandparents’ fantastically huge power boat. Doing
something that scares me and ends up being crazy fun tears a hole in my
universe, and there’s suddenly so much more to see and do and feel and eep! That
was cool.
That night Alan, Annika’s grandpa
motored us (plus Steph) out in his grey dingy into the serene darkness and we
saw… “Red lightning!” I exclaimed. They laughed at me. “It’s fireworks!” Annika
corrected me. “Only you would say
that,” Steph scoffed affectionately, rolling her eyes. “Or maybe it’s an
exploding lighthouse!” I cried, and Annika probably understood what I was
talking about earlier when I said I couldn’t believe I was twenty.
When we were first all getting to
know each other it was great because instead of avoiding each other like kids
sometimes do these ones all piled onto the suddenly tiny cockpit of our boat
and we passed around strawberries, bread and hummus, and watermelon! (We were
The watermelon boat this trip. We bought FOUR. And my mom just kept choppin’ ‘em
up. It was wonderful. Eternal watermelon, infinite watermelon… I totally get
why people make their food into gods sometimes. It seems so miraculous and holy
when it’s good and it just keeps coming! That trip I think we all
subconsciously praised the Watermelon God, Watta Watta Yum Yum [Well, what
would you call him, hmm?]).
That night all our great friends came
aboard (Easy since our boats were rafted together)—including John, Mindy, Susan,
and Roger. Mom made food; I got my introvert time by doing dishes (listening to
The Smiths' Heartful of Hollow).
July 5, 2013. Willsboro Bay, New York.
We both sailed and motored at times on our way across Lake Champlain to the far shore. Willsboro is a rural town not near the harbor. The harbor itself is very large complete with a very rugged side with waterfalls and cliffs to the peninsula where two marinas are located. We went to Willsboro Bay Marina for ice and pumpout. The " RSYC appetizer night" took place at the far southern end of the harbor aboard the motoryacht ISIS. This boat truely deserves the name yacht and her owner Mary is first class. We had a great time aboard visiting with the cress from the RSYC fleet.
Sara- Next morning: me sitting at the prow of the Lucy III, “sailing fo realz” (as I wrote in my diary), the lake calm, the moutains bluegreen, white sails resplendent, Steph snapchatting with her old friend Becca, the scent of spray-on sunscreen, my trusty purple liter bottle decorated with the silhouettes of tall and tiny evergreens sitting beside me.
“394 feet and lotsa fish!” Dad called up excitedly
after checking the depth-finder.
Mid-day excitement: I bought a bracelet when we
were buying ice. It was made by the store-owner’s daughter and I still have it
though it is not as crazy-awesome shiny pink and chestnut brown as it was then;
Now I wear it whenever I’m going on an adventure (like climbing Mount
Katahdin). In my journal I named it my “fantastically funky pink mystical
tiki-tiki bracelet”.
After we settled down for the night, next order of
business: party on a power boat. With lots of friendly funny boaters and
lemonade that turned out to be… not lemonade (funny when Steph found out: “Ew! What is this?” “I dunno, some sort of alcohol.” “Ewww!” “Tsk tsk—what kind
of college student will you make?”).
I escaped the party early with John and Mindy and
then made myself a pillow nest on the back of the Lucy III. “What are you
doing?” called John. “Working on my novel!” I called back. What I ended up
writing: “IT’S GREAT WHEN YOU’RE TIPSY EVERYTHING YOU WRITE SEEMS BRILLIANT”
and then scribbled a short story called “Magnus, The Electro DJ”.
July 6, 2013. Valcour Island. New York.
Lucy III sailed about a third of the way to Valcour before the wind disappeared. We were not the first to arrive at Sloop cove and we rafted up with Coquina (John and Mindy Donnelly's Cabo Rico 38). Late arriving boats then rafted up to Lucy III. We went on several rather muddy hikes on Valcour Island. The heavy rain of late had left the trails rather soggy. The swimming was fine.
July 7, 2013. Valcour Island, New York.
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July 8, 2013. Burton Island State Park, Vermont.
What a beautiful day for visitors and exploring this island. Our friends Heidi, David and Kate came over and we motorsailed over for lunch at Hero's Welcome in North Hero Island, Vermont. "Hero's Welcome"
is an extensive general store. This store is a real treat in and of itself and they serve up excellent sandwiches and ice cream. I enjoyed a maple creemee.
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July 9-12, 2013: Burton Island State Park
Marc- Burton Island was a great place despite some muddy trails around the island. The weather was nice swimming great and the RSYC activities were fun. The organized events were fantastic. Special thanks to Susan and Roger for all of their hard work as cruise captains. The kids certainly had fun as well.
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July 12, 2013: Converse Bay, Charlotte, Vermont
Marc- We sailed away from Burton Island this morning to Ladd's Landing for fuel. Next came the Grand Isle Bridge. Unfortunately the winds were very light on the western side of Lake Champlain so we motorsailed South. Near the Port Kent- Burlington Ferry crossing we passed our friends Roger and Susan aboard Cygnus who questioned our speed. We were doing 7.5 knots. We cut the motor and continued on at about 6 knots all the way to Converse Bay sailing wing and wing with Spinnaker and genoa out. A very nice sail indeed. At Converse we picked up a mooring that our friend Steve pointed out. John and Mindy later rafted up to us on Coquina. We found some of our fleet here: Cygnus, Spirit, Coquina, Lucy III and Talisman.
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July 13, 2013: Point Bay Marina
Marc- Excellent breakfast aboard Coquina this morning at Converse Bay before motoring over to Point Bay Marina.
A good time was enjoyed by all of us this cruise week.
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Post Cruise trip to Essex, NY
August 10, 2013: Charlotte, VT
Marc- Sailed over to Essex, NY for our first visit by boat to this old town. We arrived at Essex Shipyard at tied at the outer dock The Chef is also the dockmaster and he was away getting supplies. The local boaters directed us to the transient pier where we backed in for the night. The locals are indeed friendly here. Steph and I went for a walking tour. The first comments from Steph was that this village could be on Martha's Vineyard due to all of its shops and art galleries. The homes are classic and well kept. We did make the necessary stop at the Ice Cream shop located directly in the center of the shopping section of town. I enjoyed a visit to the Essex Maritime Museum in the old schoolhouse. Very good displays of historical information and Lake Champlain memorabilia. We scouted out the restaurants and decided on dinner at our marina's deck restaurant in hope of seeing the chef/dockmaster. We never did see him but the meal was excellent and we added the dockage fees to the dinner tab. Most of the boaters here are from Montreal. Apparently this is a good location for Canadians. The docks are poured concrete which makes the marina very quiet and secure except in times of high water. One of the local boaters indicated that they had a late start to the boating season due to high lake levels at least two feet above the docks earlier.
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August 11, 2013: Essex NY
Marc- We awoke early for a return by motor to our mooring at Point Bay Marina. A beautiful sunny day with few boats on the Lake. We saw this cat in a pretty Essex garden this morning.
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