Happy New Year – Editors Note: Effective for the new sailing season, the first person singular “I” will refer to Jim as the poster unless otherwise noted. Amy will be focusing providing content on the SailingVesselRenegade Instagram account.
Our time in Brunswick is coming to an end and I will remember some quirky moments that range from a cellulose plant near the marina that is loud, bright, and smoky at night drawing parallels to a David Lynch movie to having around 75 white ibis fly around me on a run unable to gain altitude under a canopy of live oaks. For the last few months we have been working on a number of boat projects including the installation of two replacement hatches, swapping out a bad radar dome (within days of warranty expiration), interior varnishing, optimizing our storage and servicing the heads among others. Amy ordered a custom spring mattress for the forward cabin from Topstitch to replace the old foam one so sleeping is much more comfortable. In November we were excited to be visited by some of our Thistle friends. As the pandemic up ticked in December we kept ourselves pretty much isolated except for visits to good friends Judy & Jay who live part time in nearby Darrien and a short Christmas visit to Amy’s sister Jill and husband Scott. Judy & Jay even lent us one of their cars during the length of our visit which made running errands a dream. We are looking to go to the Bahamas on the next weather window. Most cruisers like to stage in Lake Worth but we are aiming for a straight shot from here. A lot of things need to happen pre-departure for this to happen including negative Covid PCR tests, test upload and Bahamian health visa approval, and a three-day weather window with both northerly and southerly components in it. The Southerly is for crossing the Gulf Stream and the northerly to get down there. We also have to get a test within five days of arrival. More details of our departure to come!
