Being both a pilot and a biker means I have had my share of weather delays. This one is hands down the best one I have ever had. Instead of heading home or to New Orleans, we will be spending an extra 2 or 3 days on Lady Marian. Extra days on a 40 foot cat with Deb, parked on the Pensacola beach? Twist my arm!
Truth to tell I am moving a bit slow today anyway. We took one of our tests this morning instead of heading off into the still building winds. (Deb was nice enough not to score 100% this time, but she still scored higher than me.) Then, since no one is going anywhere right away, we helped Rick and Fred pull the torn head sail down for repair. That was kind of fun though it did take all four of us to wrestle the thing to the trampoline in the breeze. I'm kind of glad of the repair. Blowing that monster of a sail into rags while sailing in 40 knot winds, bashing through 3 or 4 foot seas, and maybe dodging thunderstorms at the same time, is probably not a normal part of the ASA 114 syllabus. In fact I think the school would be paying me for that one rather than the other way around.
So for the time being Deb and I are just tourists; our hotel room a floating condo just steps from the boardwalk. If you have to be marooned somewhere, there are lots worse places than this place. Thunderstorms, rain and high winds might make it a bit exciting even tied to the pier. This "condo" has a Raymarine weather radar to paint the incoming storms and a wind meter that (as I type this) is reading 30.4 knots. (Equipment not normally found at the Holiday Inn.) But all weather eventually moves and we will be sailing again soon.
2 comments:
Waiting for the weather to cooperate is just another facet of cruising. You really have to hand it to the ASA people for arranging weather to coincide with your classes. :)
As I said I'm used to waiting on weather. Unfortunately we are working on a tight vacation time budget, but we can only do what we can do. Good luck with your trip.
tim
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