Sailboats Fair and Fine: read oldest post first

The machine shop was sold in the summer 1986 and we put our house up for sale. It sold quick. I probably should have asked more for it?? In September we, moved aboard and was challenged by a hurricane. We were expecting about 100 mile per hour winds. We anchored out in Sarah's creek. With a CQR plow, two Danforths and a Herrshoff yachtsman with Woftrap in the center. I had almost no concern that we would drag anchor at least not more than fifty feet. The storm took a different course and we had about 50 knots of wind. We had spent the night aboard and were really happy that the worst of it missed us. It was really a pretty safe thing to do. We were up in the back end of the creak in a few feet of water. We were nearly surrounded by tall marsh grass and in the worst case we might wind up in someones bean field. The other boats were farther out in the creek and pretty much out of our way. Of course there was always the worry that one of them would drag anchor and hit us. I think that all our boats were in less danger than being tied to the docks with a couple hundred other boats all pulling snatching jerking at the pier and all In danger of climbing on top the piers. In a couple days we moved down to the old Buoy 22 Marina down in Guinea there in Gloucester Va. We had kept a boat there in the late 1960's . We loved the place it was almost all work boats ,water men and a few scraggly looking live aboards. Most of these guys worked at the marina or with crabbers or pound fishermen. Every body wanted to put us to work. we declined. We were busy running back and forth buying groceries and supplies. We ran around telling friends goodbye and all that usual kind of stuff They all wanted to give us a going away party and we wanted none of that. Ten years before we left for Bermuda after a huge going away party and about eight days later had to come sneaking back to the dock with a half wrecked boat. But thats another story. We scratched items off of lists as we shopped and added more. A lot of that was silliness as we were going down the waterway and would have ample opportunity to buy supplies. The water at the marina tasted like river bottom mud so we hauled jugs of water in the car from up on the highway. We only had about 30 gallons of water with the idea we would get all we wanted on the way.

We spent time at the Laundromat , the drugstore stocking up on our medicines and all manner of first aid items. We had been talking about how nice it would be to have one of those new 8mm video cameras. We had shopped around looking at them. I had found one I liked. It was a lot of money. Finally we decided to go look again. That afternoon we lost our minds and paid $1600.00 for a video camera. We had a little portable TV set stuffed up in the bow so we could watch our movies. The camera and the television set both would work on 12 volts DC and that was wonderful.

It was the day be for we were ready to leave. Georgene and I headed for the showers I got back to the boat first and set in the cockpit looking again for the one thousandth time at the waterway charts. Georgen came down the dock carrying he bag of toilet items, damp towels and cloths she had changed out of. There was a line across the finger pier from the stern of the boat in the next slip. IT hung down about three inches off the finger pier. Georgene stepped out onto the finger and the rope caught between her toes and the sole of her open towed candle. She started falling forward. I was standing on the boat seat pulling the boat over for her to get aboard. I jumped over to the finger pier to grab her and she fell forward and I landed partially on top of her. She went off the side of the pier grabbing the topside of the boat. She fell in hanging on to the boat. She came up blowing water and laughing and said, That must have been the funnest thing to watch ever. To bad there was nobody here to see it it. My Golly my shoulder hurts. I helped her out of the water. When on the dock went from laughing to crying. I asked, “Can you raise your arm.” I dreaded the answer. “No,” she said with a knowing look We tied her arm up and I helped her put on dry cloths and we went to the doctor. It was broken alright so we put off leaving for while.