Messing about having sailed around the World,

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Sat 11 Jun 2011 16:42
SATURDAY  11th  JUNE  2011
 
Here we are, back at sea again, motor sailing on a course of 320 T bound for New York. a distance of 670 miles
It is now midday and the weather is beautiful, slightly cloudy, and the 10 knot breeze is fine on the port side,
If we maintain this speed , we will be in NY by Tuesday evening,
 
Last Thursday, Aileen went to Mass and skipper treated the sprey hood with water repellent in an effort to control
the seeping seams, all this took 2 hours and we really will not know if it works or not untill we are stuck in bad weather again,
 
Later we took the 3 big heavy duty warps, ( thick black shore lines ), plus the 3 blue spring lines, the main sheet and a number of
other ropes and sheets to the local Laundrette, Skipper gave instructions to an amazed " Zina" ( Big dark Mama ) about
seperating them into two wash mashines, washing them properly and then giving them a bottle of comfort in each machine..
 
Zina definatly thought skipper had lost it, " washing ropes ! what next " she exclaimed   " but I will do what I am paid to do "
we went off and had lunch at " Wahoo's "  where skippers sun glasses blew off the friggin table , over the quay wall and into
the water,  what next ! ohh , skipper could have cried but along came this crabbit old fairy, small, black and skinny, but within
five minutes she had the glasses back on the table , all washed and cleaned and duly said in front of everyone,
" Dont be so dumb the next time love, just put them in your bag "  ok.
 
15.oohrs  We toddled back to the Launderette where a grinning Zina had all the ropes and warp's neatly coiled and stacked waiting
our return, We were dumb founded , but then she explained that this young fellow from a sailing ship had done all the work.
but the ropes and lines were all nice and soft, mission accomplished !
 
Back on board, we were hailed by this guy swimming beside the boat, His name was Hugh O Donnell, from Wexford and he invited us to
his house for drinks later on, which we duely did, we had a pleasent evening and talked a lot about poor old Ireland,
Hugh is in the  Re Insurance buisness, which seems to be big buisness in Bermuda,
 
 
FRIDAY 10th  Cloudy day, but skipper got in his early morning swim before taking A ashore to do the readings at Mass,
We got the 10.45 bus to Hamilton,where we met John Kane ( the Irish Consul ) for lunch at the Royal Bermuda YC.
John , originally from dublin and went to school with poor old Freddy Cooney RIP. now lives permenantly in Bermuda,
He is very much into the rugby and set up the International rugby series for retired professionals held every year in Bermuda.
 
John brought skippers new passport and Visa with him, so we had a great lunch, knowing that we are now back on track
and can leave tomorrow,
The Yacht club is twinned with the Royal Cork so we were given great attention,  we were very impressed with the amount
of people there for lunch, not to mention all those youngsters going out sailing,   The whole place was buzzing.
 
Later, we stopped at the " Swizzle Inn " where skipper had a couple of swizzles for old times sake, ( having been there in 1984)
This family owned place had a steel band playing and was chock a block with winers and diners,  we remained there for a while
before returning to the boat and preparing her for tomorrows departure.
 
This morning, while we were taking deisel on board at Dowlings fuel dock, we had a visit from Hugh O Donnell, with his 3 boys
and some friends, all down to say good bye.............  So we took them for a small trip in " A Lady " around the bay and dropped them off
at the public docks before we motored out the harbour entrance and finally departing a truely lovely Island.............
 
Aileen fell in love with the Bermuda, and skipper had to get a can opener to extract her from the place so we could keep
some programme intact..
 
Thats it for today 
 
Signed :-   Stephen Hyde  (  Skipper )