Sailors Take Warning

October 17, 2015

Goodbye Falmouth

Red sky at night sailors delight
Red sky in the morning sailors take warning

...almost a rainbow

Water on the window and in the windows

Coordinates 43.05614N, 70.72013W  Little Harbor, Portsmouth, NH

It is 3:44 in the afternoon after a very long day. We left Falmouth at 6:45 am today intending to make it to Annisquam Canal in MA but gave up after a very rough day at sea and took cover in Little Harbor on the Piscataqua River in NH.  We settled in around 4 pm. The wind was blowing so hard it made it difficult for Rob to hold the boat stable. After bending the boat hook and flirting with falling over board I was able to pick up the mooring.  It was so cold in the wind that it felt good to be inside the cabin.  

The windows and the hatch in the v-berth started leaking. There were 3-4' seas as well as a large, annoying and uncomfortable chop.  I guess we were warned by the morning skies.

I set the bread maker to be started around 5 am to make WW bread for the morning. This is such a nice treat to look forward to and since we are not going anywhere tomorrow, it will be a leisurely morning.  Plans are to play Tichu with our traveling buddies and appreciate being out of the wind and rolling seas.

For dinner we are having spaghetti and meatballs.  I made the sauce while we were home, froze it and are enjoying it tonight.

It is hard not to change personal values while boating.  We recycle everything possible at home, we have a compost bin and separate our trash for recycling. We rarely use paper towels, instead use rags. We rinse out our cans with water and recycle them. When boating, all this changes. There isn’t any way to recycle anything and water is at a premium, so rinsing anything out is not practical. I wipe out everything with a paper towel before washing it.  Running water until it gets hot to do dishes is a no-no.  I don’t know if anyone else does it that way.

Before we left we were told that plastic bags from the big box stores and the grocery stores were very valuable on the boat, yet another change from home where we bring our own bags or get paper.  We got everything in a plastic bag.  I learned how to fold those bags to take up the least space and easy to store, my dear mother-in-law would be very proud of me.  These plastic bags are used to line the waste can in the head.  If you have not been on a boat that travels the seas then you might not know that flushing paper is not possible. It does not dissolve causing problems with the plumbing and I heard that NO ONE wants to fix that problem.

Tricia