Dear Friend of CHARIAD:
CHARIAD is on her mooring in Marblehead Harbor. (Picture from an earlier time)
The CHARIAD crew has achieved a remarkable accomplishment during this time a crisis and fear. As many of you know, in an earlier time before the world as we knew it had ended, ten or so members of our community would meet at the boat yard on 2 or 3 Saturdays. We would tell stories, catch up, and do spring cleaning. OK, making sure her bottom was race ready was part of the routine.
My expectation is that everyone who races on the boat will help with the spring cleaning. We could not make that work this time and limit our efforts to a small group being careful.
Social distancing, face masks, and cold and wet were our realities this “spring.” Some of our gang are in vulnerable and difficult personal situations. Those of us who could contribute did contribute and somehow made this work.
The boat was launched last week. We did some touch up and clean up on the dock.
On Saturday, we migrated the boat to Marblehead. There is no launch service in Marblehead and most boats are not in the water. CHARIAD wintered at the Beverlyport Marina in Beverly. Most of their boats go on their docks. They required us to leave even though Marblehead is effectively closed.
Our first challenge was to find our way to Marblehead. Mike Chester is navigating.
When we got to Marblehead and were on the mooring, we opened a special bottle of bubbly to celebrate the accomplishments of the team and the beginning of a new season on the water.
During the last week, a few boats went in the water and onto their moorings. Here is the view towards the BYC and Abbott Hall.
Now what? No launch service. The yacht clubs are closed.
Richard Side rowed Chris Hardy and me to shore.
Not clear what will happen now. Races? More lockdowns? Return to piracy? We are in a new world. We are creating a new world.
I hope you are well. And I hope we will share a Dark and Stormy in person soon.
My best,
Rick
Leave A Comment