Delaware Bay

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Mon 2 Jun 2008 23:58
Time: 7 pm
Position: 39 20.8 N 075 26.6 W (Delaware Bay)
Course: South East Speed: 2.5 knots
Wind: light North Westerly
Weather: Clear skies, sunny and warm.

After a short sleep, Bob the cat dragged me out of bed, not sure for what,
but I could ignore him for only so long. It's OK for him, he pretty much
sleeps most of the time regardless of what is going on - so far. So after a
short four hour sleep we weighed anchor and were underway again, sailing and
motoring through the Chesapeake Delaware Bay Canal. We stopped at a marina
close to the Delaware side to top up with fuel and water, and I kept a wary
eye on Bob just in case he had any thoughts of exploring or jumping ship.
Not likely it seems, I disturbed his sleep by pulling the settees apart so I
could top up the water tanks but he just resorted to an early hiding hole
under the cockpit. Once fuelling and watering were complete we got underway
again and motored the rest of the way to Delaware Bay. Here we set sail in
light winds and found a strong ebbing tide to add a few knots to our speed.
As I write I have the jib and mainsail set wing and wing and they are
drawing us along at a respectable two and a half knots. So it's slow going
and it is probably going to be late tonight or early tomorrow morning before
we have clear deep blue water under Sylph's old keel again.
Now you know about Bob Cat, but rumour has it that the Annapolis Bookstore
mouse, Copernicus has stowed away on board as well. Now I've never met him
and I trust that Bob Cat never will, but I've heard he's a well read and
travelled mouse so he may have hitched a ride to check out Greenland.
Now Bob Cat wants a go(and I've only been at sea for a day!)

Hullo, my name is Bob Cat, yes, no need to say the obvious, but my human was
only 3 years old when she named me so what can I do. Somehow I've ended up
crewing on skipper Bob's boat, awfully confusing having two Bob's on board
but my duties are pretty straight forward so communications shouldn't be too
much of an issue. My job is to eat, sleep, keep clean, eat and sleep, oh
and keep skipper company, I let him pat me. Skipper Bob's job is even
simpler, namely to feed me, minimize any disturbance to my sleep, clean up
after me, and brush my coat. I figure this only requires about two active
hours of his day though monitoring my work environment is a 24 hour
commitment, anyway what he does with the rest of his time is his business.
I moved in with Skipper Bob almost three weeks ago now and I have to say it
is a bit of an improvement on my previous arrangements. My human had to go
off to college, her sister is allergic to me (hypersensitive to my fine
coat) and her Mum had to move into an apartment where the landlord doesn't
allow animals, so I was temporarily accommodated at a friend's place. Well,
what a crazy mixed up place that was, three children who think they're
musicians and have to "play" any time it seems to take their fancy, a very
large black and white dog, who is a great slobbering mad thing that just
wants to jump all over everyone and everything, including me, and a whole
bunch of young cats who just haven't learnt that a cat's primary job in life
is to sleep, with the odd meal in between. For my part I am an expert in
this vocation and have devoted much of my life to perfecting it, I find it a
wonderful preparation for the tenth life.
So far skipper Bob has done an OK job, but I must say I found yesterday less
than satisfactory, at one point my bunk started moving around and when I
complained he just gave me this dumb blank human look. And there is this
contraption under the floor boards which starts making some awful noise
every now and again. So far I have worked out that the noisy contraption is
mutually exclusive to the bunk moving. This bares some sleeping on.
Anyway this is catting into my valuable time so excuse me, if you're lucky I
might add something more of my life experience and wisdom when it takes my
fancy, otherwise I must continue perfecting my art.


Skipper Bob: The tide has turned and is now working against us, I have been
looking at the same beacon for almost an hour and it hasn't moved.